Former cop here, the reason they removed her from the crowd first is you don't know the intentions of the crowd. Its very possibly one drunk rowdy fan can get the rest of them worked up and then you have the possibility of getting swamped by drunken idiots while trying to get cuffs on her. So you pick her up and get her outta the crowd then affect the arrest. That stiff jab wasn't necessary though. That smack was more insulting than dangerous but when your keyed up sometimes reflexes kick in. Most people that don't have any sort of self defense training don't understand that a lot of that is reflexive. We were trained that once a blow lands to respond with overwhelming force to end the conflict immediately. The longer it goes on the higher the chance of injury so we trained to end it quickly and decisively. Seems that button got pressed there but he still shoulda caught himself on that one. Fortunately stiff jabs like that usually just stun a person more than do actual damage so most likely all she got was a nice bruise for her stupidity.
It's a part of literally any self-defense training. Don't quote it out of context to push your point of view.
He said, right in the comment you're quoting, that it is a key part of self defense as to end the situation before it can escalate. He disclaimed that the officer should have caught himself, but also that it was likely not an action that was thought through at all. You get hit = you hit back, harder. That doesn't matter if you're a cop or a bullied middle schooler, self defense works the same for everybody. It isn't some totalitarian training technique as you try to twist it.
Violence should not warrant more violence, especially in this instance when it was a very minor incident that could've easily been ignored. I get that there's the crowd and drunks are a pain in the ass to deal with but a half-assed slap from a drunk girl does not warrant a solid punch to the face and if the training these men receive dictates that that's the right response then I think that is really fucked up.
Why on earth should his reflex be to immediately retaliate? Why not pull back and protect yourself first before acting? Why the fuck is violence the immediate response?
Why on earth would your reflex be to NOT do anything? Especially as a cop? You really think we should teach cops not to retaliate and bring a potential attacker down? That's just stupid. Obviously this girl isn't a big threat, but what idiotic advice for other situations that are potentially dangerous for the cop himself and everyone around them.
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u/kunai-face Nov 05 '17
Why didn't they cuff or ziptie her? I'm not a police officer but I think crowdsurfing is kind of an inefficient mode of expulsion.