Tampa police officer body slams mother of 4

[damnedifIknow]

It started over a tinted license plate cover. Now Tampa police officer Kevin Fitzpatrick is under investigation and the 34 year old woman he body slammed wants justice. Not only does the Tampa Police Department have to explain what happened on this dash-cam video, both police and prosecutors need to fess up about why they claimed this video didn’t exist.
It was November 5th,7:30 in the morning. Tampa police officer Kevin Fitzpatrick claims when he approached Liz Vargas about an obscured license plate, she immediately became argumentative.

Dash-cam video captured in his cruiser shows within 34 seconds of approaching Vargas, Fitzpatrick is struggling to put handcuffs on her. Vargas is screaming for help, crying out she is being abused. Then, Fitzpatrick body slams her.
“You know I wasn’t offensive, I wasn’t hurting him, I wasn’t you know, hit him. I’m not a person like that,” Liz Vargas said. According to officer Fitzpatrick’s report, Vargas repeatedly ignored his requests for her license and registration.
“It was in my glove compartment, I was telling him, but he was actually screaming at me he didn’t give me a chance,” she said. Fitzpatrick took Vargas into custody for obtructing a police officer and resisting arrest without violence"

“They lied about it,” Vargas said. The state attorney’s office told 8 On Your Side that it became aware in April, that the video existed."

http://wfla.com/2015/08/21/tampa-police-officer-body-slams-mother-of-4/

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. “If Liz agreed to drop the internal affairs report, they’ll agree to drop the charges,”

[damnedifIknow]

10. Yeah and why was she arrested?

I don't understand the whole handcuff and bouncing her head off the pavement deal. For what a tinted plate?

[Warpy]

2. Please test that cop for steroid abuse

That type of rage is not normal.

[msongs]

3. perfectly acceptable behavior in the benevolent brotherhood nt

[Quackers]

4. I don't agree with the body slam, but

If I was the officer, I would be nervous because she immediately gets out of her car. That's usually not a good sign. If you notice in the video, the officer approaches and places his hand on the trunk. That was SOP in Ohio. It serves two purposes. First, it ensures that the truck is latched in case someone with a gun is hiding in the trunk and it leaves the officers fingerprints on the trunk in case the car drives off. They can use the prints as evidence that this is indeed the right car. I agree with everything right up until the body slam. That shouldn't have happened. She was passively resisting. In this case, the officer used excessive force to control the person.

[edgineered]

5. Yup, someone with a weapon hiding in the trunk at 7:30 am is common.

That's equivalent to one thinking that a clock with the wrong time is right twice a day.

[Quackers]

6. Not at all

It's just simply one of several techniques that is taught in the academy. As I also said, it leaves the officers prints on the vehicle. If something as pushing down on the trunk of a vehicle can help prevent just one death, why not do it? There are dozens of little things that an officer is taught to help reduce the danger during a traffic stop. For example, standing near the pillar in the middle of the vehicle helps protect in case a quick shot is fired, another is orienting yourself behind the engine block and the steel rims on your car to keep any bullets passing through the the sheet metal from getting to you. As I said before, I didn't see anything wrong until he decided to body slam her. He escalated his use of force when it was not required to control the situation.

Oh, and btw, a broken clock is right twice a day.

[edgineered]

7. a broken clock is, but one that's wrong isn't. details, details. nt

[Quackers]

8. Ok, I think you missed the whole point of my post......

[edgineered]

9. I disagree. The point seems to be having an excuse for everything. nt

[Quackers]

11. Where in the hell did I make an excuse for the officer?

[avebury]

12. The woman was at a school and so it

is possible that she got out of her car for a real reason, not because of the cop. For all we know she could have been dropping something off at the school for one of her kids. You have to look at a situation in its context and not just assume that everybody is out to get you.

"First, it ensures that the truck is latched in case someone with a gun is hiding in the trunk and it leaves the officers fingerprints on the trunk in case the car drives off. They can use the prints as evidence that this is indeed the right car."

Nice to know the first thing you should do to after driving off is to stop somewhere and wipe off any fingerprints off the trunk.

[Quackers]

13. Lol

It's true. I remember when I was in the academy and they taught that. Of course not all officers do it, but that's what he was doing. I also remember during traffic stop training, I had one guy who ran about 75 feet, turned around and fired a rubber bullet at me. At shot 3 at him striking him twice in the chest. After it was all over, I felt pain in my lower leg. I pulled up my pant leg and found a big bruise and in the center the skin was slightly broken and bleeding. He had shot me in the leg and I didn't even notice till I was calming down.

Another guy in my class was doing his traffic stop and started walking upon the car. There was a male driver and female front passenger. They were in a hard core make out session completely ignoring the officer in training. As he got closer he was laughing to himself about the couple. He approached the window and begin to ask for the drivers info when the female passenger fired a cotton round from a 357 magnum directly into his face. She had it draped across the male drivers shoulder during the make out session. The officer in training dropped out about a week later.

The reason I mentioned my experience is to try and help explain why so many officers seem to be on edge. They train them to be aggressive and then give them a gun.

With that being said, this officer used excessive force when he threw her to the ground. He didn't follow the proper escalation of force protocol. I think this serves as an example that the police academy requirements need to be tightened. Not everyone is cut out to be a cop. If you can't keep your cool when a suspect spits in your face and calls you names, you shouldn't be a cop.

To qualify my post, I would mention that I am in my 30's, disabled, but served as both a civilian and military police officer. After being in Iraq, I would not consider myself fit to serve as a civilian officer anymore. Once a person crosses that line from officer to soldier, it's harder to control those split second decisions and how you react to a potentially dangerous situation. They trained us to kill and win at all cost. That's not something that can be turned off without a lot of training and psychological guidance.