When it comes to police and the use of force, we've all become Monday morning quarterbacks, second guessing the instant replay. In the latest call involving the Minneapolis police Darryl Jenkins says he became the football, violently kicked and punched after a routine traffic stop.
It was captured on a squad car dash cam last February.
An officer pulls Jenkins over for going 15 miles over the speed limit. In the muffled audio, Jenkins sounds argumentative, refusing to show the officer his license. You can hear the officer say, “stay in the car".
Then, despite the officers commands to stay in his car, Jenkins steps out. The officer struggles to take Jenkins down nearly taking off his pants in the process. An officer needs help call goes out.
Nearly 90 seconds later, back-up arrives and that's when all hell breaks loose. Five officers show up. On the video, some of the officers can be seen repeatedly punching and kicking Jenkins, who's already down on the ground. Jenkins level of resistance is unclear. From the grainy video officers appear to deliver at least 30 punches, and more than a dozen kicks.
Police chief Tim Dolan says, “I personally don't feel strikes and kicks aren't where we want to go."
Even Dolan was disturbed by those kicks even more so when yet another video emerged. This one from a parking ramp surveillance camera last December. A man suspected of breaking into cars is face down on the ground, appears to have given up, when the Minneapolis officer delivers several kicks.
Chief Dolan says, “They’re not fighting you but resisting being handcuffed. How do you deal one on one? We're changing our training given what we saw on that video and what we're seeing."
Minneapolis police aren't the only ones who've been getting their kicks in. Ls Angeles, six months ago, a chase ends when the suspect gives up, but the cop still kicks his head like a football.
In Florida, police repeatedly kick a suspect who's already handcuffed. But it's nothing compared to the violent scrimmage in Philadelphia last year. Fifteen cops stomp and kick four suspects all appear helpless on the ground. Four of the Philadelphia cops were immediately fired.
All these case all take on a predictable pattern: video, followed by outrage, followed by promises to do better. Soon enough, there are lawsuits, and out of court settlements. But what we never see is any kind of consensus about what's an acceptable and appropriate use of force."
We took the Minneapolis police video to Mark Robbins, an expert in police use of force at Minnesota State - Mankato.
He says in the Jenkins case, the line was crossed when the other officers started piling on. He says, "Kicked in the side when he had guy down no reason for it. As much as I would like to find a reason for that I can't."
Robbins says you won't find group kicking in any police training manual. He believes the problem is with how new recruits are trained: as individuals, not in a group. “What happens is everyone arrives and we gang tackle, no one has a defined role and you end up working on cross purposes." Robbins said.
In the Jenkins case, it takes the first officer 30 seconds to bring Jenkins under control. When the five other officers arrive, it actually takes twice the time, a full minute, before Jenkins is subdued.
Reporter Tom Lyden asks Robbins 'Is there's also something about group mentality, each one wants a piece of action? Robbins replies, "There's some of that and also your own inhibitions are lowered if everyone else is doing it. It almost sends you the message it's okay because everyone else is doing it."
Professor Robbins says it's also part of police culture, something sociologists call "noble cause corruption," where the ends seem to justify the means. State investigators have suggested the same phenomenon to explain how the metro gang strike force ran amok. In the effort to take down gangs, anything seemed justified.
What about a racial component? Minneapolis Councilman Ralph Remington said communities of color are often on the other end of these kicks. He says, "these aren't necessarily good people but there are human standard of principal we need to uphold or be held accountable."
But there's another grim reality, made tragically clear a week ago when North St. Paul officer Crittenden was killed during a hand to hand confrontation. His own weapon turned against him. Privately, many officers suggest that's exactly why officers want to keep a leg's length distance from a suspect.
What's clear is that there's a disconnect between the training officers receive, and the reality they face on the streets.
For Tom Lyden's complete Fox 9 News story, go to http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/Investigators_Black_and_Blue_sept_14_2009
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