I told him I cant breathe: Police punch teen girl after mistaking her for black male suspect

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Washington Post

The Washington Post
Amy B Wang
1 hr ago


On the day Tatyana Hargrove rode her bike to try to buy her dad a Father’s Day gift, temperatures in Bakersfield, Calif., had reached triple digits, so she stopped on the way home to take a drink of water in the shade.

The 19-year-old girl turned around at the intersection where she had paused and noticed three police cars. One of the officers, she said, had already drawn his gun.

What followed, according to both Hargrove and police, was a case of mistaken identity and an altercation in which police punched Hargrove in the mouth, unleashed a police K-9 dog on her and arrested her. Though the incident took place June 18, it gained wider attention this week after the Bakersfield chapter of the NAACP shared a video of Hargrove’s account on its Facebook page that garnered millions of views.

On the day police stopped Hargrove, officers had been looking for a suspect — described as a 25- to 30-year-old, bald black man standing 5-foot-10 and weighing about 170 pounds — who had threatened several people with a machete at a nearby grocery store, according to a police report.

Read more: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/%E2%80%98i-told-him-i-can%E2%80%99t-breathe%E2%80%99-police-punch-teen-girl-after-mistaking-her-for-black-male-suspect/ar-BBEj5wP?li=AA4ZnC&OCID=ems.display.welcomeexperience

[Solly Mack]

1. ...

Police looking for a suspect described as ____"a 25- to 30-year-old, bald black man standing 5-foot-10 and weighing about 170 pounds"____

The person they attacked ___"is female. ...stands 5-foot-2 and weighs 115 pounds. 19 years old" ____


and then the police claim their attack was justified.

[GeoWilliam750]

2. Thank goodness she survived.

[ucrdem]

3. Trying to buy a father's day gift . . .

p.s. here's a direct WaPo link with a video of Tatyana and her parents:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/07/12/i-told-him-i-cant-breathe-police-punch-teen-girl-after-mistaking-her-for-black-male-suspect/

[tblue37]

10. The PD has already claimed the cop's use of force was appropriate. This simply

ENRAGES me!

*****************
Snip

A Bakersfield police spokesman told The Washington Post he would not comment further on the case but confirmed that the department had determined that the officers had exercised appropriate use of force on Hargrove.

Snip
*****************

[shadowmayor]

4. Tired of winning?

Nixon took the war on poverty and morphed it into a war on black people, er I mean war on crime. Our American society is rotten to the core, rotten from top to bottom and under the control of far too many maniacs with guns and badges.

Compare her story to the white guy with a deer rifle on a bridge pointing his weapon at federal employees at the Bundy ranch in Nevada. I believe he walked off the bridge unmolested.

[TreasonousBastard]

5. Identity problems happen all the time with cops, but that's why they have to...

be able to deal with the basics of identifying a suspect without beating him or her up. Even if she did have some attitude, no reason to sic the dog on her, or punch her. These guys may or may not be racists, but they are bad cops.

Demonstrations won't stop this shit-- but lawsuits will.

[diverdownjt]

7. What attitude did she display?

It's not attitude to ask if they have a warrant! It's called illegal search and seizure.

[TreasonousBastard]

13. I didn't say she did, but the article implied she might have gone off on them...

I merely said that even if she did the cops screwed up handling it.

Why is that a problem?

[diverdownjt]

16. Again...screwed up handling this...

The suspect was a "bald" man. Did he quickly grow a head of hair in 10 min?
She was faced with a cop with a gun already drawn on her...a cop coming in behind
her with a dog...I would be angling to get all of them in front of me too. And then she bumps into one of them in a state of panic...and the attack is on.

Now they say it's all her fault as justification for indefensible actions.

[brush]

8. Police have to start hiring and training smarter cops. College degrees should be a...

requirement, or at least an associate's degree.

Those bozos didn't even think to compare the small, slightly built female to the description of the much larger, older male suspect they were given.

Too many dumb people out there with badges and guns and licensed to kill.

GET SMARTER COPS AND PAY THEM ACCORDINGLY.

If you pay cops more, you'll attract smarter candidates.

[rickford66]

17. They don't want educated cops.

My buddy hangs around with current and retired cops in a sports league. From his conversations with them he said if they hire educated cops, they will move on for a better job as soon as they can. Now this is two local police departments so I'm not implying all are the same. I would support better pay to keep an educated workforce.

[brush]

19. I know that theory. That has to change too or we keep having the killings and payouts...

of millions to victim families.

If the whole image of cops and the force is professionalized, better educated, better trained, respected and paid accordingly, IMO you could get people in who'd want to make it a career.

[GeoWilliam750]

30. As a friend once said

"How are firefighters and policemen similar?"

They both wanted to be firefighters.

[qanda]

11. OMG

What attitude? 😡 I swear that I can't even come to DU without dealing with the foolishness of victim blaming.

[TreasonousBastard]

14. Victim blaming? The article implied she went off on the cops...

I simply said that even if she did the cops were at fault.

[qanda]

15. There was no implication that she "went off" on the cops

[brush]

20. I didn't get at all that she went off on the cops.

[bigtree]

24. the stark difference in the description of the suspect and the girl

...make the officer's excuse an damnable lie.

[Cal Carpenter]

29. NOT an 'identity problem'

NOT a 'suspect'. NOT 'bad cops' - just regular ones.

She is a VICTIM who is a different gender, 8 inches shorter and 50+ pounds lighter than the description of the suspect. They are cops doing what cops do within an unjust system.

The legal system perpetuates** this institutional racism so lawsuits alone haven't stopped it and won't stop it any time soon.

**If you really want to understand how this happens, start with books like Alexander's The New Jim Crow, Lowery's They Can't Kill Us All, and go from there. If you'd rather just continue to fall into the trap of apologia for a racist system then go for it, but I will not fall into that reactionary trap with you.

[diverdownjt]

6. Tatyana is completly credible in my book....

She needs to sue the crap out of these officers...Where's the cell phone coverage or
s/v camera video? A bald man or teenage girl...you can't tell the difference? You
shouldn't even be allowed out the door.

[iluvtennis]

9. Just shameful...I hope this family gets a good attorney and sues the heck out of the police.

[MarcA]

12. Make Police get their Own Liability Insurance

No more passing it off on the taxpayers. Let their own personal
pocketbook take a hit and that will cause more police to think
about who receives a badge.

[IronLionZion]

18. Southern California has had a shitty history of police brutalizing people

simply for being black or brown. It's one of the few regions of the sun belt that have seen a reduction in black people in recent years moving away.

A small teenage girl with hair can look like a taller larger older man who is bald only if one is looking to beat the shit out of a black person. In which case anyone will do.

It's disappointing to see liberal DUers blame the victim.

[whistler162]

21. Back in the day my cousin had to have

near perfect uncorrected eyesight before he could get a job with the police department he was with. Took 3 Lasik treatments to fix his eyesight. Guess Bakersfield has a different standard.

[captain queeg]

22. Years ago I was staying with my sister and me and my brother in law were questioned by cops

There'd been a rape or something nearby. Some detective questioned both of us. At the end I asked why, he said we both fit the description. I'm 6'2'', over 200lbs, black hair. My brother in law is about 5'8" with red hair. Guess the only description they had was that it was a man.

[bigtree]

23. it's excessive force

...even if you believe this 115 lb. woman posed a threat to the cops (and their fucking programmed attack dog).

Anyone who believes this would have happened to a white woman should question why they consider themselves a part of our internet community.

[geek tragedy]

25. Bakersfield PD a bunch of violent, racist pigs, top to bottom.

A Bakersfield police spokesman told The Washington Post he would not comment further on the case but confirmed that the department had determined that the officers had exercised appropriate use of force on Hargrove.

************************

And they wonder why people hate cops.

[WinstonSmith00]

26. End the police state!

Disarm our police and train them to use words instead of violence!

[Aristus]

27. Oh man! Don't EVER tell a cop you can't breathe!

He'll just take that as an invitation to continue strangling you to death...

[broadcaster90210]

28. #NWA

nt