Cameras Watching Cops: Still A Good Idea

from the the-bad,-the-worse-and-the-bumblefuck dept

Marlene Pinnock, the 51-year-old grandmother with bipolar disorder who was politely asked to refrain from walking on Interstate 10 with the judicious application of California Highway Patrol officer Daniel Andrew’s fist (no less than nine times), has been awarded a settlement of $1.5 million from the city of Los Angeles. Further details on the settlement aren’t forthcoming, but the issuing of a settlement generally means never having to say you’re sorry — most settlements are awarded without an admission of wrongdoing.

The CHP’s statement notes that the officer involved has elected to resign, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll avoid facing criminal charges.

The CHP forwarded the results of its investigation of the incident to Los Angeles County prosecutors last month, saying he could face serious charges but none have been filed yet.

Left unaddressed entirely is the CHP’s seizure of Pinnock’s medical records, which occurred shortly after it became apparent she would be suing over the beating she received. Here’s the recording of Officer Andrew’s life-saving beating. Ask yourself whether this settlement would have arrived this quickly without this recording. (You already know the answer.)

Speaking of cops and cameras, it’s a damn good thing State Trooper Sean Groubert didn’t have the presence of mind to disable his dashcam before shooting a man in the hip for following his instructions.

Sean “Jumpy” Groubert may have thought the driver was reaching for a weapon, but he did just instruct him to get his license — which happened to be in his wallet — which happened to be in the car — and presumably, the rest of his vehicle documents. Instead of allowing Levar Jones to comply, Groubert’s weapon discharged (to use the Police Passive Tense) at least four times, hitting Jones in the hip and leading to a very surreal conversation in which the victim asks a perfectly logical question: “Why’d you shoot me?”

Fortunately, there was no extensive, drawn-out investigation. Groubert has been fired and charged with aggravated assault. Again: would Groubert still be employed if his camera hadn’t been on or if the recording had vanished?

Finally, courtesy of PINAC, here’s one of the nation’s most incompetent cops hard at work.

It took almost eight painstaking minutes for the dimwitted cop in this video to realize he was being recorded, which was when he turned to the man with the camera and told him it was “technically illegal.”

But it also took the cop 24 hours before realizing he had forgotten to issue a citation to a man he had pulled over the prior evening, which is why he had the man meet him at the gas station the following night in an attempt to get the man to sign it.

“Technically illegal.” Which means not illegal at all, but also means that the cop knows it (or thinks he does) but desperately wants the person recording to be more ignorant than he is and think that Officer Better Late Than Never is cutting him a break. Ridiculous.

The person who actually obliged this poster boy for law enforcement IQ tests points out that he really shouldn’t be cited for something that happened 24 hours ago — an interaction in which he was released by this same cop without a citation. The retort?

He also admits he routinely forgets to issue citations to people he pulls over, requiring him to track them down the following day to do so.

Um. Touché.

Again, the camera is the public’s best friend. Hopefully this circulated footage will make its way back to the officer’s superiors, who will hopefully assign him to an immovable desk that will never not be right where he expects it to be, even 24 hours later.

Filed Under: cameras, police, police brutality