Then again, he was a burly young man who physically assaulted the officer first, not a frail old lady standing around looking confused.
The old lady wasn't maced and nightsticked either, nor was it by four male cops.
Then again, he was a burly young man who physically assaulted the officer first, not a frail old lady standing around looking confused.
She was just wandering around looking confused, and holding a knife
Yep, that sounds *completely* safe to me.
I'll make this simple. I agree that the level of force used was unnecessary in the case of the old lady, but I just don't see logic of the comparison you made, the situations are too different.
But: there's a continuum between "completely safe" and "imminent threat." Imminent threats need to be contained, with force if necessary. Do you think the old biddy constituted an imminent threat? (As you know, I don't.)
That's just it though, we don't *know* if the woman was a threat, and neither did the officer. It doesn't really matter what you or I *think*. I can question the amount of force that was used, but I don't question her actions. They're trained to act if there's even a potential threat to the safety of others. I highly doubt that the officer intended to injure her like that.