I don't know that I've ever mentioned my profession publicly on the forum, but I feel compelled to say at this point that I am a Police Officer. I've mentioned to stear clear of most of the other discussions that I've seen in the "everything else" portion of the forum because I don't particularly like discussing work when I'm thinking photography.
When I read Benjikan's post, I was expecting to see a video without sound, because the media typically does not release the sound on these videos. Why? Because Officers are trained to verbalize during a use of force, not only to tell the person they are engaged with what they must do to comply, but also to create witnesses who can hear the Officer telling the party to "stop resisting." The audio was what I expected, but the video was not.
I don't care what part of the video doesn't tell the "whole story." What I observed on that tape was nothing short of disgusting. When the Officer made his first step toward entry into the cell, the subject immediately started backing away. At that point, the confrontation was over. This guy lost all control and should suffer every penalty available under applicable law. There was no active resistance on the part of the subject at any point during the displayed time frame.
Bottom line is that I don't care what the "rest of the story is." An Officer must base his actions on the present - the level of resistance encountered and the amount of force reasonable and necessary to overcome that resistance at that particular point in time. And just to clarify, "force" can involve anything from the mere presence of the officer to deadly force. This was clearly excessive, and should I or anyone that I work with observe such a violation of law and policy, I would fully expect that this individual would not be sheltered or allowed to fuction in his official capacity.
Let's be clear here - We're not talking about LAPD CRASH. Don't let media headlines color your view of the thousands of responsible and professional law enforcement officers in this country. This uninformed conspiracy talk does nothing more than degenerate perceptions of law enforcement by those who have no better frame of reference than "Law & Order" to base their opinions on.