Wait a minute did he just hit and arrest her for what the person in black did behind her?

>> ^ctrlaltbleach:

Wait a minute did he just hit and arrest her for what the person in black did behind her? <img class="smiley" src="http://cdn.videosift.com/cdm/emoticon/oops.gif">


In the first second of footage she squirts some silly string from a can. Then the person in black throws the contents of a cup in the same direction. Either way it's a major over-reaction by the police imo.

The city of brotherly love is so misogynistic.

That's the supervisor too (white shirt). He's the one who's supposed to be keeping everybody else in line.

Also, are we sure this is Philly?

I'm not making excuses for the cop

But what I THINK Happened here is you see the guy to the far left of the camera throw water on all the cops. Then the cop turns around and sees her with her bottle of water and thinks she did it.

Youtube: "It was not a protest (you moron) it was a Puerto Rican Day parade."

If this was an fun outside event - why such a strong reaction?

We obviously don't have a clue as to what's going on here....

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Adding video to channels (Controversy) - requested by MrFisk.

That shouldn't stop us deciding who is the good guy and who is the bad guy!

Sunday's incident took place on North 5th Street, near Lehigh Avenue, during what police described as a street party that takes place after the annual parade.

The department had no immediate comment on the video, which depicts a police officer hitting the woman while she is walking away from a group of officers. The officer apparently thought the woman threw beer at police.

City Councilwoman Maria Quinones Sanchez, a central organizer of the parade, said she spoke with Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey this morning, and that Ramsey was particularly upset because the incident involved a commanding officer.

"He was very concerned," Sanchez said. She noted that this year's parade theme was "The Puerto Rican Woman."

The lieutenant will be assigned to desk duty while the incident is investigated, police said.

Sanchez said she had met with police commanders before the parade in the hope of avoiding conflicts between police and paradegoers.

"It's unfortunate that this happened because we just talked about it before the parade," said Sanchez.

The woman, who is not identified, is shown falling to the ground, her face bloodied. In the seconds before the punch, the woman had been walking around a group of people and police officers. Someone near her in the crowd can be seen throwing some liquid into the air, toward the officers.

It appears in the video that she had sprayed silly string from a can.

The woman was taken into custody and issued a citation for disorderly conduct, police said, then released.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20121001_Video_shows_Philadelphia_cop_punching_woman_at_parade.html

He should be charged with assault and fired. Getting water thrown on you is not an excuse to go punch someone in the face, no matter how mad you are.

The fact that he's a commanding officer makes it even worse.

Being a police officer does not mean you are immune to the law.

I almost never get involved in anti police threads or videos, and I'm the furthest person you can find from the "f*ck the police" kind of attitude. That said, this officer needs more than just a desk job as punishment for what is no doubt a serious assault on a woman whom he easily outweighs by more than 100 pounds. It doesn't matter if she even was guilty of throwing the beer/water at all. Totally uncalled for and a disgusting display by a person being paid to protect the people.

Looks like she has a bottle in her hand and someone squirts something at the cops. She turns to see who it was and the cop sees her turning away and then clocks her.

Bad reaction by the cop, it looks like this lady didn't do anything.

I always hate police videos because they completely lack context. The "punch" looks very awkward to me, The officer would have been in his right to detain the woman if he believed she was throwing water (or even silly string) at the officers. If he felt that she was fleeing (as she was walking away) he is permitted to use acceptable force.

I'm not saying that any of this is the case, but "gotcha" police videos always leave a bad taste in my mouth.

>> ^arekin:

I always hate police videos because they completely lack context. The "punch" looks very awkward to me, The officer would have been in his right to detain the woman if he believed she was throwing water (or even silly string) at the officers. If he felt that she was fleeing (as she was walking away) he is permitted to use acceptable force.
I'm not saying that any of this is the case, but "gotcha" police videos always leave a bad taste in my mouth.


Same, same arekin, I feel your pain-

I'm not saying that @arekin is a rapist. I'm just saying that he was male at the same time as a woman was raped. >> ^arekin:

I always hate police videos because they completely lack context. The "punch" looks very awkward to me, The officer would have been in his right to detain the woman if he believed she was throwing water (or even silly string) at the officers. If he felt that she was fleeing (as she was walking away) he is permitted to use acceptable force.
I'm not saying that any of this is the case, but "gotcha" police videos always leave a bad taste in my mouth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z0POMQQ6oY

I don't understand? Why wasn't he arrested on the spot? I thought assaulting someone was against the law?

With this video as evidence.. I can see that fat lip turned into a phat paycheck in her future..

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The Philadelphia police officer who was captured on video punching a woman in the face will be fired.

Police Commmissioner Charles H. Ramsey said today that he had issued a direct-action dismissal, an immediate step that commissioners can take if they have evidence that an officer has violated departmental policies or the law.

Lt. Jonathan Josey, 39, is a decorated 19-year veteran of the department who has been praised by some colleagues even after the video emerged. He declined to comment. As of Thursday, he is suspended for a month with the intent to dismiss.

Ramsey had previously said he was "deeply troubled" by the now-notorious video.

"From what I saw, it's difficult to justify the actions that took place," Ramsey said Tuesday.

Josey's punch to the woman's head, which knocked her to the ground and bloodied her face, appeared to be a case of excessive force being used to make an arrest, Ramsey said.

The woman, Aida Guzman of Chester, was arrested Sunday for disorderly conduct at a celebration in North Philadelphia following the city's Puerto Rican Day parade. Police said they thought she was throwing liquid at a group of officers, which led Josey to target her.

District Attorney Seth Williams said today that charges against Guzman have been dropped.

Ramsey said police still have not been able to interview Guzman, despite several attempts. He made a public request that she speak to police in order to help move the investigation forward.



Philly officer who sucker-punched woman will be fired

Holy shit they are actually going to fire him! I'm amazed and overjoyed.

A bit uncalled for, I was not indicating that He was not guilty, I am however saying that we lack context in most of these videos because we have no idea what actions were taken immediately before or after this video. We have one angle of view and no idea if what looked like a haymaker from this angle looked like a poorly aimed attempt to grab a fleeing suspect from another. What I love about alot of these videos is they only contain about a 30 second "gotcha clip" of the cop when the next ten minutes could be the same cop apologizing profusely for an accidental hit. If you think that people don't accidentally hit each other I can point you to 100+ videos on this site alone backing me up. Now my main point here is even though I can remain apprehensive until we know the full story I'm also not jumping on the cops side and saying he is automatically free of blame, because honestly I don't know, I wasn't there (and neither where you). These videos leave a bad taste because of intent. I used to support the idea of Posting police misconduct until it became a habit to spread this "Us vs Them" attitude. For the most part, unless you are a criminal, you and the police should be on the same side and most police are more interested in getting through their day and just doing their job than actively trying to hurt anyone. Implying I'm a rapist is nothing more than ad hominem because you couldn't argue against my opinion.

>> ^Kofi:

I'm not saying that @arekin is a rapist. I'm just saying that he was male at the same time as a woman was raped. >> ^arekin:
I always hate police videos because they completely lack context. The "punch" looks very awkward to me, The officer would have been in his right to detain the woman if he believed she was throwing water (or even silly string) at the officers. If he felt that she was fleeing (as she was walking away) he is permitted to use acceptable force.
I'm not saying that any of this is the case, but "gotcha" police videos always leave a bad taste in my mouth.