Ultimately, more video footage may exonerate the Chula Vista cop who tackled a female high school student to the ground of any wrong doing or overreaction.
Police worn body camera footage may show that the 16-year was a lethal or physical threat to police when she threw an empty water bottle at an officer (according to police brass investigating the Aug. 15 incident) or at the ground (according to the teenager).
Video and witness statements from police on the scene may demonstrate there was more to the story than what was captured on video and shared on social media, images of a man in a dark police uniform holding a thick cudgel in front of him and charging and knocking her over as if she were a tackling dummy.
We may discover she had an arsenal of bottles, rocks and other projectiles stashed in her backpack and ready to be hurled at any cop who came within 10 feet of her and her friends.
We may discover she is a violent youngster with a history of challenging and smacking around any authority figure that looks in her direction.
Or, we may discover she is a petulant kid who did something stupid by throwing an empty water bottle directly at a cop, or a petulant kid who had a momentary tantrum and threw an empty water down at the ground and had the unfortunate luck of having it hit a police officer.
The answers we hope are forthcoming either at the conclusion of the police department’s internal investigation or at a juvenile trial, given that cops arrested and charged the girl and three other teens with crimes.
But long after the answers a question will linger in my mind. Actually it’s a question that has been nagging me for a time: how much of a beat down by police is acceptable?
We know police have standards, procedures and policies in their use of force. Each situation is different, each encounter with a member of the public presents its own unique circumstances.
Nonetheless when I first saw the video the Chula Vista cop tackling the girl one of my first thoughts was of Roman Granados.
Granados was a Chula Vista cop who not long ago was dismissed from the department after he was found guilty of roughing up his girlfriend’s teenage son. Would his fate been different if he had done the same but while on duty?
I wondered if circumstances had been a little different last week where this investigation would be headed.
If the baton-waving cop had been off duty and standing in his yard holding a rake and come across a loud-mouth girl who threw an empty water bottle at or near him, then he charged and knocked her to the ground would his actions be deemed acceptable? Appropriate?
When and under what circumstances is roughing up a kid acceptable? It’s a question we’ll have to answer collectively or on our own.
