Quote Originally Posted by mam2009 View Post
Besides the questionable probable cause to investigate the two brothers, the officer who asked for their I.D. and threw the punches behaved like a bully. He said, "We're just here to get some food" knowing good and well he intended to confront the young men about whatever words may have been said outside. Doesn't that make you think of a bully who passive aggressively stands in the personal space of his target in the lunch line, but then says, "What? I'm just standing in line?!" when you say something to them about it? That passive aggressiveness then turns to real aggressiveness when the bully makes his overtly aggressive move, asserting his dominance on his victim. THAT'S what asking for the license was about! It wasn't about probable cause. It was the officer's attempt to assert and establish his dominance and bait the young men into a confrontation by pushing the right [[wrong) buttons. How many men, particularly young men, like to have ANYONE overtly assert and flaunt their dominance over them? That officer knew exactly what he was doing. He intended to show that young man to respect the police or else? Do you think those young men learned to respect the police?

That was unprofessional and irresponsible policing. That officer just made it that much harder for officers to do their job safely and have the support of the community. Nobody likes bullies!

By the way, did anyone notice the other officer didn't throw a punch in the clip? He was just trying to gain control of the other brother, and thus the situation. So why was it necessary for Officer "Bully" to throw any punches? Officer "Bully" went from 0-60 in a tenth of a second with a complete over-reaction. There was certainly another tactical option besides punching the young men -- like putting more space between him and the more verbally aggressive brother, not less. Officer "Bully" wanted to confront and didn't care if it led to a fight. Officer "Bully" had no regard for the safety of others [[including his partner) in the restaurant or for the property of the proprietor of the restaurant. Officer "Bully" needs some corrective action taken against him.

All that being said, if I had a son, I would advise him NEVER to become confrontational with police. There are unprofessional police in the world just as there are other unprofessional persons in various professions. And it may be your bad luck to run into one.

It is okay to respectfully ask an officer why he wants to investigate you. A simple, "Did I do something wrong, officer?" would suffice. The police are SUPPOSED to tell a person why they chose to investigate them BEFORE they ask for I.D. But the one brother was dead wrong for walking up close to the officer as if he wanted to fight. They were both hotheads who challenged each other and neither was level-headed enough to de-escalate. ONE of them should be a trained professional at it, however, since that is part of his job training!!! If this video pretty much tells the whole story, DPD better not let this officer back on the street until he has some re-training.
Excellent post and analysis of the event, and some very good advice for parents and offspring.