Hannah Ringeisen
12 November 2015
Period 4
The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, 11/12/15, 5-7 pm, Host: Wolf Blitzer
On the program The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, a developing story talks about the event in Virginia where a 46 year old man, Linwood Lambert, is tased multiple times by police officers. This report starts off with mentioning that the man was picked up early one morning after multiple 911 calls about noise complaints. After the police officers picked him up the officers realized that he seemed to be acting strange so they decided to take him to a local hospital for a mental health evaluation. The officers stated that he made comments about “murdering two people and putting their bodies in the ceiling”. Once at
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The man is then tased more times following this and the officers used force, all in order to get him to cooperate. Then, instead of taking the man to the hospital the officers take him to the police station after he has taken drugs, been tazed multiple times, and is bleeding because of breaking the door. Once they reach the police station, Lambert seemed unconscious in the back seat and pronounced dead when taken to the hospital, which medical examiners believe was after going into cardiac arrest. The report ruled the cause as “acute cocaine intoxication”, however the family blames the police for his death and file a 25 million dollar wrongful death lawsuit. They backed up their lawsuit by saying “the officers deprived him of the medical attention he needed and tasering him multiple times violated him of his constitutional rights to be free of cruel and unusual punishment”. In rebutle to this, the police have denied these accusations and stated that Lambert’s behavior required force to be used.To finish off the report, the reporter mentions how the South Boston Police department released a statement stating that they are strongly defending the case, and mentioned how the medical examiners …show more content…
I support this idea because the police officers were right near a hospital after they knew he was on cocaine, he was tased multiple times and he was bleeding yet they chose to risk all these injuries and take him to the police station. As police officers I believe they should have put the man’s health before his actions, and should have taken him into the hospital to get the medical care before being taken to the police station. However, there is another side to this report. This side is that it was the man’s fault for this event. In some ways this may true, for instance he chose to commit an illegal act and do cocaine, he also chose to break open a car door and run towards the hospital door. These following actions in some ways support how the officers handled the situation. The man, Linwood Lambert, would not cooperate therefore they believed that the only option they had was to use force. Now although this may not support why they chose to take him to the police station and not the hospital, it does support why the officers took such violent action. Overall, I believe that the man was not in the right frame of mind, due to the cocaine, and therefore could not control his actions which eventually got him killed. However, I continue to believe that the violence imposed on the man was
The Bryan v McPherson case is in reference to the use of a Taser gun. Carl Bryan was stopped by Coronado Police Department Officer McPherson for not wearing his seatbelt. Bryan was irate with himself for not putting it back on after being stopped and cited by the California Highway Patrol for speeding just a short time prior to encountering Officer McPherson. Officer McPherson stated that Mr. Bryan was acting irrational, not listening to verbal commands, and exited his vehicle after being told to stay in his vehicle. “Then, without any warning, Officer McPherson shot Bryan with his ModelX26 Taser gun” (Wu, 2010, p. 365). As a result of being shot with a Taser, he fell to the asphalt face first causing severe damage to his teeth and bruising
Facts: On October 3, 1974, Memphis Police Officers Hymon and Wright were dispatched to answer a “prowler inside call.” When the police arrived at the scene, a neighbor gestured to the house where she had heard glass breaking and that someone was breaking into the house. While one of the officer radioed that they were on the scene, the other officer went to the rear of the house hearing a door slam and saw someone run across the backyard. The suspect, Edward Garner stopped at a 6-feet-high fence at the edge of the yard and proceeded to climb the fence as the police officer called out “police, halt.” The police officer figured that if Garner made it over the fence he would get away and also “figured” that Garner was unarmed. Officer Hymon then shot him, hitting him in the back of the head. In using deadly force to prevent the escape of Garner, Hymon used the argument that actions were made under the authority of the Tennessee statute and pursuant to Police Department policy. Although the department’s policy was slightly more restrictive than the statute it still allowed the use of deadly force in cases of burglary. Garner’s fathers’ argument was made that his son was shot unconstitutionally because he was captured and shot possessing ten dollars that he had stolen and being unarmed showing no threat of danger to the officer. The incident was then reviewed by the Memphis Police Firearm’s Revie...
Police Brutality Police work is dangerous. Sometimes police put in situations that excessive force is needed. But, because some officers use these extreme measures in situations when it is not, police brutality should be addressed. The use of excessive force may or may not be large problem, but it should be looked into by both the police and the public. For those people who feel racism is not a factor in causing the use of excessive force, here is a startling fact. In Tampa Bay, Florida, five men died while in the custody of the
...uspicion, then will you be able to be one your way. In my opinion, the officers were justified in their actions. Even though Mr. Wardlow was in a high drug trafficking area, that alone was is not enough to presume that Mr. Wardlow was guilty of something. It was only when Mr. Wardlow proceeded to flee from police officers did they find him guilty of something.
In conclusion, police corruption was and still is a major problem in the united states. Police are placed into society to serve and protect, but the New Orleans Police Department was infested with corruption from murder to drugs. Len Davis was the first police officer in history to ever receive to death penalty because of his unspeakable crimes that he had committed. Unfortunately, Kim Groves life was taken because she filed a complaint on Len Davis. The individuals that had really suffered were her children and family. Len Davis had no morals or value for life nor did he have any remorse for this unspeakable crime that he had committed. There should be mandatory laws put in place to recruit police officers, more psychological testing and major background checks so this won’t ever happen to no one
...les and what they were actually going through was true. I could never imagine a mentality of a police chief being this way. It is an absolute horrific way of policing, and goes against anything to what the current era of community policing stands for. Also, what I don’t understand is how not one police officer took a stand against the police chief, and how this type of policing was never reported and deemed as acceptable behavior. The reason I also chose to include the L.A. riots is because it displays a side of the story many people simply do not discuss. The impression that I received is the rioting is deemed as justifiable. Both incidents are classic examples of how a lack of proper ethics and leadership can lead to such tragic incidents. What is even sadder is in between all this innocent people were affected, such as Rodney King, the businesses, and 53 deaths.
This essay will focus on two main points that will support the argument that more Tasers should not be given to more officers. First off, there has not been enough research completed to deem Tasers as a safe alternative weapon that officers can use to gain compliance of violent individuals that they may deal with on a day-to-day basis. Before more Tasers are given to officers, there needs to be more research done outlining the possible risks that CEWs pose to the human body, and any short or long term affects that may arise due to the use of CEWs on individuals. Secondly, the issuing of Tasers to more officers is not a good idea because just like anything else, Tasers can lead to an overreliance on the part of police officers to resort to the use of Tasers on individuals who do not comply with them. This along with the absence of clear and strict guidelines that stipulate when officers are to use their Tasers on non-compliant individuals will lead to abuse. Many police officers may decide to bypass the use of verbal commands, empty-handed strikes, and other tools at their disposal such as the ASP baton, when dealing with a violent individual...
The issue here I believe is with the justice system itself and not the direct actions of the prosecution or the police involved. The blame isn’t really so easy to point out honestly. If anyone is to blame at all it would be the people who tampered with the crime scene and the potential failure/inability of the police in preserving the scene if it was possible.
On the morning of July 4, 1954, Marilyn Sheppard was violently beaten in her home in Bay Village, Ohio, on the shore of Lake Erie. She was four months pregnant and had been felled by 35 vicious blows (Quade). Right away Sam Sheppard was accused of being the victim to do this. Sheppard had told investigators that he had been asleep downstairs and was awakened by his wife’s screams. Sheppard said when he went upstairs and entered the room he was knocked unconscious by the intruder. He denied any involvement and described his battle with the killer he described as “bushy-haired” (Linder). After a police investigation, Dr. Sam Sheppard was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. With the hectic media covering it, they were quick in decision that it was him that committed the murder. This was an unfair trial, ruined a man’s life, and gave him no time for a career.
Connor, the Supreme Court held that the test used for whether force was excessive should be “objective reasonableness” and not based on how much pain an officer inflicted upon a suspect. They remanded the case to a lower court based on their described standard. Under this standard (or test), officers have the right to used “reasonable” force in any interaction with the public. They are not obligated to use the least possible force as long as the force is objectively reasonable. The test indicates that the use of force should be from the perspective of the officer on the scene at the time and not in
For many years in the past, police action particularly police abuse, has come to be unclear. Citizens are worried about protecting them from criminals. In fact they need to me aware of the corrupt police officers that are in the streets today as well as the criminals. There are many examples that make police brutality the worst as it is today. This one is one of them. Police Officer Daniel is in the choke hold death of Eric Garner, come in the wake if November 15th by the channel 24 news in Ferguson Missouri, police officer would walk free after killing 10 year old Michael Brown. (www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-32740523) In the present police brutality does exist in the mist of us in the time and age we live in everyday. We just haven’t seen it yet. There are people that think if a police
“The police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence,” Robert Peel. The use of force for police officers is something I find to be justified and right, because it can possible help save the officers life and any witnesses lives.
Over the years, this country has witnessed many cases of police brutality. It has become a controversial topic among communities that have seen police brutality take place in front of their homes. Officers are faced with many threatening situations everyday forcing them to make split second decisions and to expect the worst and hope for the best. Police officers are given the power to take any citizens rights away and even their lives. With that kind of power comes responsibility, that’s one major concern with the amount of discretion officers have is when to use force or when to use lethal force. The use of excessive force may or not be a large predicament but should be viewed by both the police and the community.
...lice or lawyers used their integrity. The police skirted around the law and use evidence that the witnesses said was not correct. They had a description of the suspect that did not match Bloodsworth but, they went after him as well. They also used eyewitness testimony that could have been contaminated.
Mr. Rodriguez called 911 to report loud music from his neighbor’s house. He then walked to his neighbor’s house with his firearm and a video camera. After the confrontation with his neighbor, he called law enforcement once more to tell them he felt threatened and that he was standing his ground. While Paul Rodriguez waited for law enforcement to arrive at the scene, he used deadly force against Kelly Danaher. In this case, Mr. Rodriguez initiated the confrontation and there was no proven evidence that he was in danger (Flatow,