2008 Woodie Awards
"Have the police gone too far with their use of force?"
Allison Friday
Issue date: 9/13/06 Section: Opinion
Today people view police officers in one of two ways, with respect or with fear. Police officers are entrusted with supreme power and at times they tend to misuse it.
Excessive force occurs when a police officer uses an amount of force with regard to a civilian that is more then necessary. Officers have to use force in situations that arise daily, however sometimes they misuse their power and injure someone without a justified reason.
Huntington Beach resident Ashley MacDonald was a 19 year old outcast who dressed in all black, listened to heavy metal and constantly fought with her mother. On August 25 a typical fight with her mother turned violent and Ashley injured her mother by cutting her wrist with a knife. She ran away from her home to a nearby park. A person passing by called authorities after seeing the teen with a bloody knife. Two police officers responded to the call and confronted MacDonald
pleading with her to lay down the knife.
Neighbor Patrick Carignan heard someone shout "Drop the knife, drop the knife," and ran outside just to see MacDonald get shot twice in the chest by the two officers.
Police officers are trained to keep a safe distance when dealing with dangerous suspects.
Yes, Ashley MacDonald had a knife, but she was also five foot, four inches and weighed 120 pounds. They were two grown men trained to deal with suspects much larger and more dangerous than her. They should have been able to disarm a 120 pound teen holding a knife without killing her.
Another example of police officers taking force one step too far is what happened to San Diego Chargers linebacker Steve Foley. He was driving home after a night out with his girlfriend Lisa Maree Gaut, when off duty police officer Aaron Mansker, who suspected Foley of driving under the influence of alcohol, tried to get them to pull over at a stoplight. The officer was dressed in street clothes and was driving a normal car, so Foley ignored Mansker's gestures because he thought he could have been a crazed fan or a carjacker. Mansker followed them until they got home. Foley got out of his car to confront what he thought was a random person. The officer was armed and fired a warning shot. Gaut then got into the drivers seat of their car and drove it toward Mansker in attempt to scare him away. Mansker fired two shots at the car and fired three shots at Foley when he reached into his pants with his right hand.
Foley was put on the Chargers non-football injured list because of his gunshot wounds he sustained defending himself and will miss this season and forfeit his pay of about $1.65 million. Gaut was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and assaulting a police officer.
Two people have to suffer and pay a huge price all because they were defending themselves from someone that they thought was armed and dangerous.
This cop was off duty and driving a normal car. Anyone would ignore someone trying to get them to pull over at a stoplight. Mansker should have called in his suspicion of drunk driving and let someone else deal with it.
A life lost at the age of 19, wounds worth $1.65 million, a DUI and assault charges. All because of very serious and careless errors police officers have made. What ever happened to the vow to protect and serve?
Excessive force occurs when a police officer uses an amount of force with regard to a civilian that is more then necessary. Officers have to use force in situations that arise daily, however sometimes they misuse their power and injure someone without a justified reason.
Huntington Beach resident Ashley MacDonald was a 19 year old outcast who dressed in all black, listened to heavy metal and constantly fought with her mother. On August 25 a typical fight with her mother turned violent and Ashley injured her mother by cutting her wrist with a knife. She ran away from her home to a nearby park. A person passing by called authorities after seeing the teen with a bloody knife. Two police officers responded to the call and confronted MacDonald
pleading with her to lay down the knife.
Neighbor Patrick Carignan heard someone shout "Drop the knife, drop the knife," and ran outside just to see MacDonald get shot twice in the chest by the two officers.
Police officers are trained to keep a safe distance when dealing with dangerous suspects.
Yes, Ashley MacDonald had a knife, but she was also five foot, four inches and weighed 120 pounds. They were two grown men trained to deal with suspects much larger and more dangerous than her. They should have been able to disarm a 120 pound teen holding a knife without killing her.
Another example of police officers taking force one step too far is what happened to San Diego Chargers linebacker Steve Foley. He was driving home after a night out with his girlfriend Lisa Maree Gaut, when off duty police officer Aaron Mansker, who suspected Foley of driving under the influence of alcohol, tried to get them to pull over at a stoplight. The officer was dressed in street clothes and was driving a normal car, so Foley ignored Mansker's gestures because he thought he could have been a crazed fan or a carjacker. Mansker followed them until they got home. Foley got out of his car to confront what he thought was a random person. The officer was armed and fired a warning shot. Gaut then got into the drivers seat of their car and drove it toward Mansker in attempt to scare him away. Mansker fired two shots at the car and fired three shots at Foley when he reached into his pants with his right hand.
Foley was put on the Chargers non-football injured list because of his gunshot wounds he sustained defending himself and will miss this season and forfeit his pay of about $1.65 million. Gaut was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and assaulting a police officer.
Two people have to suffer and pay a huge price all because they were defending themselves from someone that they thought was armed and dangerous.
This cop was off duty and driving a normal car. Anyone would ignore someone trying to get them to pull over at a stoplight. Mansker should have called in his suspicion of drunk driving and let someone else deal with it.
A life lost at the age of 19, wounds worth $1.65 million, a DUI and assault charges. All because of very serious and careless errors police officers have made. What ever happened to the vow to protect and serve?
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
billyshelby
David Maher
posted 9/15/06 @ 9:15 PM PST
This columnist is a combination of uninformed, naive, incompetent, and a fraud.
As for the first example of the girl with the knife, even a minimal amount of research would have turned up the fact that police are trained to use deadly force, and rightly so, when assailants with knives get within a certain radius. (Continued…)
steve J
posted 10/13/06 @ 12:14 PM PST
I cannot believe you are criticizing police for shooting someone carrying a bloody knife! Police are taught to escalate to the next level of force needed to subdue the suspect. (Continued…)
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