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Snelling was pulled-over for a minor issue; my guess is that the missing rear license-plate was the red flag that led to the traffic-stop. That's a chicken-sh*t ticket, and Corporal O'Connor was gratuitously aggressive but it sure looks like a legitimate traffic-stop and Snelling started breaking the bigger rules from the very get-go:

#1. Never argue with the officer. You will *never* win. Let the officer ask the questions. #2. Never physically face-off an officer. It scares them. #3. Never do both of the above at the same time; it makes the officer suspect a physical altercation is imminent, which *really* scares them. #4. Never, ever, do the above when the officer is already raising his voice at you.

As it stands, O'Connor was punished and Snelling got an apology. That's just the P.R. machine in action there; it would seem that O'Connor could and should have handled that traffic-stop much more smoothly, but Snelling basically provoked a confrontation with O'Connor.

Dana

Of course it is never a good idea to argue with or fight them, but I have to disagree with the rest. That officer caused the problem to start in the first place with his unwarranted aggression.

I think that he should not only have been fired, but also charged with assault and battery with additional penalties imposed because he did the crimes while on the job as a police officer. I am talking about a number of years in jail, and a fat settlement for Snelling to help stop this crap from happening.

The police force here was once a very decent organization that interacted pretty well with the community. That is a thing that is now long past.

Pat

I don't see how, did we watch the same video? Snelling said, "OK, let me get it."

The video makes it appear that every single move the officer made was umprovoked and improper for the circumstances, he should be fired.

Go XS11E! Nice to have some support. There was a "whoa, whoa, whoa" in there. That certainly is enough to justify shooting potentially lethal barbed electrical probes into a person's chest.

We are almost guaranteed to hear about how they have a thankless job and all of that. It is also a job that they signed on for and even received some small amount of training to achieve.

Just the way he casually says. "I have one tased" is very disturbing. The police are using this toy of their's way too indiscriminately.

The idiot is also standing in front of his car while traffic is whizzing by, and the person on the ground is a guaranteed meat sandwich if the officer's car is rear-ended. Good going APD!

Pat

The officer's aggression was initially a raised "enforcement" voice. That's hardly enough to start a problem. Snelling started the problem when he indignantly refused to comply with the officer's direction in a timely fashion.

Snelling was acting in an aggressive way, too. He was arguing with the officer, and when he got out of the car, stepped toward the officer rather than away from the officer and to the rear of the car. O'Connor's response was harsh but hardly criminal; Snelling's behavior was (perhaps unintentionally) threatening the officer.

I'll whole-heartedly agree that O'Connor's style is terrible from a community-policing perspective, but it wasn't actually criminal.

Dana

We watched the same video. Snelling did not initially offer to get his license out; he appears to initially demand to know why he was pulled over. Then, instead of getting his license out, he complained at the officer for "yelling" at him. Snelling wasn't cooperating, and wasn't just being slow in cooperating. Snelling was arguing instead of complying. A police officer will see that as provocative.

When Snelling stepped toward the officer rather than away (as instructed), the officer was fully within rights to use force to subdue Snelling. Ugly, harsh, but true, as painful as it is to watch.

Dana

I'm outraged that you're against someone telling you that you should be outraged and you should be outraged too! ;-)

That *is* the best way to avoid a ticket, but it's alarmingly close to saying that one should expect to be tased if they dare question a police officer on the side of the road.

Exactly, and I am not suggesting that someone fight it out with them, just watch an episode of "Cops" and you will see the result of that.

The increased cameras, both on the cruisers and everywhere else, should at least help continue to bring more attention to travesties of justice against citizens such as was shown in the video.

I am not even anti-police, just very much against unnecessarily abusive police like the officer that was shown.

A high-level Austin police commander gives me his house keys and has me take care of his pets when he travels, and I have gotten along well with several cops that worked moonlight as security where I was employed.

The officer shown in the video is an example of what needs to be removed from the force. I think that the term is "bad apple".

Pat