There Is No Excuse

A video was released showing a California Highway Patrol officer beating a woman down on the ground, because she had apparently refused to obey his orders. Regardless of whether or not the woman listened to the officer does not in any way excuse the course of action he took to handle the situation. He beat the woman relentlessly, hitting her as hard as he could with his fists. Yes, I understand that sometimes authorities must get physical when dealing with certain situations but there is a line which this particular officer crossed.

The incident took place Tuesday along the Santa Monica freeway and the video that has now gone viral was recorded by passing motorist David Diaz. According to Diaz the officer continued to beat the woman even after she stopped resisting arrest.  At the moment the woman stopped her resistance the officer should have had the sense to stop what he was doing to her, but he continued on with his brutality and for that there should be no excuse to keep him as a patrol officer.

The woman who was beaten was a 51-year-old woman named Marlene Pinnock. Pinnock suffered severe injuries from the beating. Her lawyer, Caree Harper, reported that there were multiple lumps bruises on her head and shoulders, some of the lumps were described as being the size of plums.

In the police report released Friday the woman is said to have been a threat not only to herself but also to drivers, because she was walking in and out of traffic lanes. When the patrol officer commanded her to stop she was said to have ignored him and then at some point she becomes physical.

Even though the woman became violent many feel that her reaction to the patrol officer should not justify how the patrol officer dealt with it, and I agree. Although what the woman was doing was wrong there has been word that she may have mental issues and anyone who suffers from mental instability cannot be at fault for something they cannot control.  And even if she does not have a mental health condition the excessive beating was absolutely uncalled for. All he had to do was find a way to pin her down so that she could get tired and stop resisting arrest, there was no need to punch her countless amount of times.

Authority figures might wonder how we cannot trust them, well, here is an example. If the people that are supposed to protect us are causing us harm then we have no reason to rely on them. It is situations like this that have people hesitate and question the intentions of officers. Yes, there are good officers but there are also bad ones.

At this moment in time the officer who beat this woman is on paid administrative leave. If the California Highway Patrol truly cares about the safety of the people then they should fire this man. If an officer shows that he cannot be trusted then he should not have the privilege of having a badge because he will abuse its power.