Video from Monday's protest -- this is an officer behaving correctly!

[moriah]

http://colorado.indymedia.org/node/1057

At about 2:20 on the first video, notice an officer starting to hit a retreating protester with his baton.

One of his buddies yanked him back by the arm.

I wish I had the one who restrained his fellow officer's badge number, he deserves a commendation.

[TooBigaTent]

1. See, there are some good cops. The trouble is, they are the minority on any force.

I agree that the "restrainer" deserves a commendation.

Instead, his buddies will probably let him know that, if he wants to get backup on any future calls, he better stop that molly-coddling of those terrorists.

[moriah]

8. I actually don't agree, I think the bad cops are in the minority.

The fact that the bad cops get more press is what makes it seem like there are so few good cops.

No one notices or comments when an officer does the right thing, but it gets attention when they do the wrong thing, and gives all cops a bad name.

That's why I posted this -- not to bash the cop that got out of control, but to praise his buddy who wasn't going to just stand by and watch a fellow officer beat up on a protester.

I've emailed the Denver PD with a link to the video and a request to find out who the officer was that restrained his buddy and tell him he did a good thing.

[goodgd_yall]

2. Good cop, good man n/t

[WeDidIt]

3. The cop that got pulled back was about to violate several rules of conduct

First of all, he was a safety threat to himself and other officers as he had moved forward on the attack, breaking ranks to do so. He let the taunting get to him, which demonstrates he is unfit for riot control duty.

For his actions he deserves a severe reprimand and unpaid forced time off. At least one month would be appropriate.

Had he actually made contact with a protester, he should be summarily dismissed and potentially face charges of aggravated battery.

His buddy saved his ass and defused what was about to become a major incident that could have resulted in a full fledged police riot.

[moriah]

6. I'm not going to suggest what punishment would be best....

.. because I'm not a police officer and I don't know what is traditional punishment.

But I am damn proud of the officer that restrained his buddy.

I did finally figure out what was missing from all of these protests that I was so used to seeing... riot shields! Have we yet seen footage of any officer with a riot shield? It seems like they are mostly armed with batons.

In NY the wall of officers would have had riot shields and if necessary simply walked forward with the shield held up -- either you move or you are pushed.

[WeDidIt]

7. I'll say one thing about the smart cop that defused it

He was probably doing it more for his other buddies who were maintaining discipline more than for the idiot cop whose ass was saved. That dumbass could have gotten everybody hurt badly.

[WeDidIt]

4. Duplicate

[WeDidIt]

5. Kicked for a realexample of a cop getting out of control