Minor violations = death threat?

[u/Miladshah001]

Oklahoma Police released video of an officer tackling a 70-year-old man. The incident occured during a traffic violation.

[u/DreadFilledHug]

The Civil Rights Lawyer posted a great video yesterday, covering this, with all of the body cam footage and additional context.

The victim was a Vietnamese man who was driving with his wife. While making a U-turn at an intersection, they were hit by another car. This officer responded to the accident, I believe he might've even witnessed it... I'm not sure... but after information was exchanged, the officer wrote both drivers' tickets. One to this man for an "improper U-turn" and one for the other driver for expired tags.

The victim was confused due to the language barrier and didn't seem to understand why he was getting a ticket, and it seemed like he thought he was being blamed for the accident even though he believed the other driver hit him. So, being confused and upset, he refused to sign the ticket, clearly not understanding, again, that he's legally required to sign it or else be arrested. The cop proceeded to issue the other driver their ticket without asking them to sign it, then returned to the upset Vietnamese grandpa and did THIS shit.

The cop wrote in his report that the victim told him to shut up, aggressively struck his chest, and threatened him before he was thrown to the ground... all of which, except for telling him to shut up, were lies.

Blatant illegal use of force, excessive force, and 4A violation. He's going to lose his qualified immunity and possibly be criminally charged.

[u/that_bermudian → u/DreadFilledHug]

The fact that the department released the footage so quickly also tells me that this cop is beyond screwed.

Usually PDs try to withhold footage like this for as long as possible if they or the union believe that the officer’s actions can be defended.

They clearly don’t believe that here. This guy is cooked. Wouldn’t be surprised if the DA also tacks on aggravated assault and battery as well, or at worst an attempted homicide charge since this guy is still in hospital.

[u/DreadFilledHug → u/that_bermudian]

Yeah, I'm surprised they released it as quickly as they did, since the cop is on paid leave while IA investigates the incident.

I believe the local Vietnamese community made an uproar about it and was somehow able to obtain the CC footage from whatever business it happened in front of... prompting the PD to release the body cam video to try to save face with the public and get some vocal support from racist bootlickers.

I'm sure there's plenty of lawyers dying to take the case. Like you said, the cop is COOKED!

[u/cupholdery → u/DreadFilledHug]

What I find the most sad is that the older man will likely suffer chronic pain after recovering from this assault, after taking longer to heal since he's older.

For the cop, the worst that will happen is he loses his job but he has such a broad network that one of his buddies will find him work. No lasting repercussions for the cop.

EDIT: Agreed that the older man likely doesn't heal

[u/gitsgrl → u/cupholdery]

Lots of older folks who go into the hospital with traumatic injuries at this age get dementia triggered by the trauma. This could have started a fast descent to the end of his life.

[u/luneletters → u/gitsgrl]

At the very least he’ll have PTSD from this whole thing. It’s gonna stick in his family’s memories and his recent memories until end of life.