He was going 60 in a 40 which is par for the course in South Florida. They don't even really give out tickets unless you're 15 over, which he was, but they typically turn their head unless you're in a school zone or doing some ridiculous speed. Hell, I got pulled over by FHP for doing 105 and they just gave me a verbal warning.
Yea, but the point stands. I'm sure if he had notified someone, they could have safely escorted him there without having to put people in danger. And I am pretty sure if he had calmly explained his situation, the officer would have let him go about his business with a warning to slow down a bit. There are privileges that some get, but if you abuse them, they will come down on you sooner or later.
They both handled it poorly, but one is the government and should be held to a higher standard, not a lower one. 16 year olds working the McDonalds drive through put up with worse that I saw on the video. Citizens are allowed to be rude to the government without threat of punishment. My main point here is this incident should be evaluated by the circumstances at play being an officer on detail outside his own jurisdiction doing traffic control and a player for the team that that officer is there for in partnership. It should not be evaluated as a run of the mill traffic stop on patrol.
Nope, unless the officer was doing extra work on the side as some are allowed to do, he was on duty, with his first priority being public safety. He may have been assigned as you say, but that does not mean his first priority is the NFL. Every action has an equal reaction, we can argue the point as to the aftermath, but the initial contact and up to when he went to the pavement was all TH.
Its a farce to claim that what transpired was due to the officer feeling threatened as opposed to feeling offended. As the officer said, we aren't going to play this game. Watch the video again, when the officer opens the door and starts yanking on Hill, not a single officer even has their hand on their service weapon. No one there displays any behavior suggesting they felt threatened or concerned for their safety. And this is the difficulty I have with situations like this one. Of course Hill shouldn't have been rude, but no officer has any right or legal authority to lay hands on anyone because they don't like how they're being talked to. They have no right to teach anyone a lesson, and if they lack thick skin, they should probably find some other job before they get themselves or someone else hurt. This ain't two good old boys at a bar scrapping because one insulted the other. If you want to throw hands at someone who says something you don't like, you might need a different job. Cops don't get to punish, that's the job of the courts.
Bonus attention
never heard that one. I will definitely borrow that phrase.
First of all, it was probably not for what was said, but for the fact that he refused to follow commands. Once they ask you to step out, it is a legal command, he refused, a few times, so that is when they went hands on. When someone is acting in that manner, it is best they get placed outside their vehicle to prevent them taking off, or possibly accessing a weapon. They do not need to feel threatened to prevent something like that from escalating.
I don't have time to do a play by play on this but I do want to be clear that I'm not saying everything was handled wrong. There's one officer in particular that I have issues with. The guy who gung-ho'd his way into the car then forced him into seated position. The others seemed to handle things decently well. I think there's too much going on in the video to speak in generalities and I fear I may have painted with too broad of a brush previously.
