what are you talking about? did we watch the same video? Have you read my previous comments? I feel like there a ton of anti-establishment Americans in here that don't even read what I wrote and get all up-in-arms just because of the subject matter.

I never said the cops were right to arrest, or that she should cooperate with an illegal search or detainment. In fact I said the opposite. But, I am saying her ridiculous, uncalled-for behavior upfront exposed her to a much greater chance of being harassed by inexperienced/incompetent cops.

I have no sympathy for people who instigate to seek out conflict just as in my previous example which does apply.

you say "She clearly told them what she was doing", but no, she does the completely unnatural and suspicious silent treatment from the get-go, when pulled over for a routine-appearing traffic stop.

You start your response with "you are wrong". That is a pretty close-minded statement. Especially when you make so many incorrect assumptions and missed so much of what I've already said? I'm not going to assume you are wrong about this encounter because we don't have all the facts about what caused the stop, but I can say you (and a few others here) are getting what I'm saying wrong.

I don't think saying "hello, how are you?" and "no, I don't know why you pulled me over." are going to incriminate you... but it will make you look like a normal person with nothing to hide. Someone that sits there staring forward ignoring the cop like this lady just looks like they've come straight from robbing a bank.

This behavior reminds me of some friends when I was a teenager that would act suspicious in a dept store and then walk quickly for the exit so that security would chase them, and if caught they WOULD be innocent (and get to act like the victim), if not they get an adrenaline rush and a story.

If these cops had arrested this woman right away, THEN sure don't talk to them. But she jumped the gun and created the situation where she was being arrested from what looked like a routine traffic stop.(whether that was justified or not.)

I was stopped by a cop once on a freeway leaving a city and he said a car with the same description of mine had been stolen in the area. I showed my registration and he let me go on my way... If I had refused to say a word and just sat there, I would have looked very guilty and would probably have been arrested.

Any follow-up information?
Scary stuff, if the trucks can't stop in time to avoid a highly visible explosion and fire, they clearly couldn't stop in time if traffic stopped. This video should be a part of truck driver training.

I'm largely with @newtboy on this one.

Charles Kinsey provides an excellent and concrete example of someone who thought that there was zero chance that what he was doing would lead to getting shot. He did absolutely nothing wrong, and from what I/we can tell actually handled everything as well as anyone could reasonably hope for. If I was in that situation, I guarantee I wouldn't have had the presence of mind to lay down on my back with my hands straight up and calmly explain what was going on.

So, as a white person who has never been in a situation like that, all I can do is try to put myself in the shoes of how a black person would see this. Here's a guy who acted perfectly -- a standard that I can't imagine holding myself to -- and he still got shot. And the police response is (so far) boilerplate utter bullshit.

I can't really imagine what it would be like to be black in the US, and have direct experiences with this sort of thing (even less extreme examples like profiling traffic stops) on top of WAY too frequent reports of this stuff happening. But I can try, and all I can say is that it seems terrifying.

Push people far enough, and they start pushing back. I think that's what @newtboy is saying. I absolutely do NOT condone violence against police, or painting them with a broad brush and claiming they are ALL racist ... but at some point, I can absolutely understand that there is going to be blowback for this shit that has gone on way too often for way too long.

In order to slow down / prevent / stop that blowback, police need to be working their asses off to change that image. The "blue line" mentality of protecting their own even when they make (massive) mistakes has got to go. Yeah, it is a hard job. Yeah, it means that police should be held to a higher standard of conduct than average Joe citizens. Yeah, it means that police need to accept that they face a certain amount of danger and risk -- danger that will make it hard to be calm, cool, and collected. But that's the job. Protect and serve the people, not themselves or the police department.

Until all the good cops (and there are lots of them, including some friends of mine) get together and make it clear that the actions of these bad cops are utterly unacceptable, things will continue to get worse.

One recurring thing I've often noticed with US cops is that they are really really bad at deescalating standard situations. I've been multiple times to the US and every time an encounter with a cop basically ended at him either shouting at me (I approached them to ask for the way to my hotel - slightly tipsy), telling me to step out of a vehicle with his hand on a holster (traffic stop) or the cops encircling me with an extreme force multitude and warning me to "watch out". (when I walked on foot to a gas station).

Not once have I made a positive experience with US cops when visiting the states. I have never been arrested or done any illegal activity when visiting, but still I felt as if the cops do not know how to assess a situation and always approach it from a worst case scenario. Perhaps out of a fearful state of mind, I do not know - but in any case - escalating a standard situation to the brink is what they seem to be really good at.

@bobknight33

Wow man. So out of touch with reality. Not that I blame you, really. It seems like most of America wants to live in fantasy-land these day, regardless of whether they describe themselves as conservative, liberal, or Martian.

But you think maybe white people might be more friendly with officers during routine encounters because, say, the cops aren't systematically pulling them over and frisking them for bullshit reasons, beating them almost to death even after they surrender, or straight up executing them even when they're unarmed?

So are you really surprised that minorities treat the police with suspicion and aren't friendly when encountering one even during a routine traffic stop?

Your video, Colorado Traffic Stop Turns Ugly, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

2 more comments have been lost in the ether at this killed duplicate.

It was definitely a punch and kick to the ribs of an inebriated woman who was restrained in handcuffs. She did attempt to kick him, but the return force used was wildly inappropriate. This officer also beat up an older man half his size on a traffic stop, causing multiple lacerations to his scalp. If you watch the related cnn video, you can see he is basically a juiced up thug who gets his jollies on beating people and taking buddy photos with them.

It's just becoming apparent, to me at least, that for every good officer we have it seems like we have 9 bad ones. A horrible ratio, to be sure.

If it were left to the moderates - and you are not one, you are the other extreme - then change would never happen, because no one would be angry enough. How far would the abuse have to go, how rife would it have to be, before you got angry enough to try and change it? During the height of racism in america, you would have wondered why the million man march was necessary given that you never had any problems on your traffic stops.

I have read comments from newt praising the actions of the police when they act in ways which deserve praise.

Yet you - you never seem to rule out that a beating is unacceptable. You always add the caveat "maybe he wasn't putting his hands behind his back," (or similar) but in the same breath claim that you've never been in that situation. Perhaps if you had, you would understand that the human survival instinct is not something that can be turned off when you are being attacked.

Do you honestly, even in your closeted, warped and twisted mind, think that you can kick and punch someone in the face UNTIL they put their hands behind their back? You are excusing them on the basis that they make an impossible demand and the demand is not met.

Your guarantee is worthless, on what authority do you make it!? You have a pathetically ignorant world view in which if it works for you, it works for everyone - damn the evidence, and damn those who it doesn't work for. If your traffic stops went without a hitch, then all these videos of psychopaths in uniform are outliers and don't need to be dealt with. You're an excuse maker and an apologist for violent, dangerous individuals who are given exceptional power which they abuse.

Unless some people get angry about it, nothing will change, because people like you will always find a justification for them, and that's more reason to get angry.

I don't think it's legal to use force (which is what a traffic stop is) to have a nice interaction. Even if you're handing out money, it is not proper. But then I believe in the 4th amendment.

The courts have ruled that police officers can order all passengers out of a vehicle during a traffic stop.

You don't know if there is a wanted person indicated on the vehicle registration because this video only shows one side.

I would advise you to get out of the car if ordered and you can avoid all of this unpleasantness.

@newt boy: Out of curiosity, what jobs (outside of the military) are more dangerous than being a cop? There are certainly hazardous jobs out there, like repairing electric lines, but those are mostly predictable. With sufficient preparation and training, risks can be calculated and minimized. Being a cop, on the other hand, forces you to deal with completely unpredictable situations. A routine traffic stop can be a harmless affair or it can end with you being shot or stabbed to death. Cops bear the burden of risk when dealing with the public. Civilians can generally assume that cops aren't going to try to kill them. Cops can't make that same assumption. Their position of authority and responsibility to enforce the law puts them in an inherently antagonistic position. People don't like being told what to do and they definitely don't like being punished for not doing it. It's no surprise then that cops tend to be wary and defensive when doing their job. Some cops (the minority) simply take this too far and try to neutralize perceived threats before they become actual threats.

The ideal solution is to have all cops wear cameras while on duty. That way, there's objective footage of all their interactions, violent or otherwise. If Darren Wilson had been wearing a camera, the whole Brown debacle could have been avoided or at least minimized.

This seemed pointless. They tried to make the event more impactful by overdramatizing it (showing the cop talking to his wife about their daughter, drawing out the gunfight, having the cop mention his family right before getting killed, etc) but it just made it feel like a cheesy Hollywood drama. The actual dashcam footage is way, way more impactful and really shows how sudden and brutal murder can be.

It's all too easy to hate cops (and authority figures in general) but it's also easy to forget that even a routine traffic stop can be a life-or-death situation. Cops have no idea who is behind the wheel. It could be a soccer mom or it could be a violent psychopath.