Academic

Street Justice: Police As Irrational Actors

By Dan Filler

What you see in this troubling video may be perfectly understandable on a human level: irate cops finally catch up with an out of control driver (who may have targeted another officer) and beat the hell out of him.  The only problem is that the driver they beat was (according to news accounts) unconscious at the time, his car having flipped over on the side of the road.  It's pretty evident that he was not a risk to anyone at the time he received his licks.  I don't know if any amount of training, or any tort judgment, is likely to prevent this sort of police response.  The cops were just mad - rightly or wrongly - and felt entitled to exact some street justice.  And though I never expect to be in the position of this victim, I always feel a  sense of personal unease when I see this sort of thing.  It's a reminder that, at times, police officers will behave in scary, irrational ways.  And not surprisingly, irrationality is not always applied...rationally.

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on May 22, 2009 (boomark / email).