No, apparently his vest was un-velcroed, whether by his moving his arms or by her is unclear. No damage to clothing.
BTW – the relevant statute of battery doubles the possible sentence from 6 months to a year if a police officer is involved. But the definition of the crime is the same. “Unlawful force or violence.”
Would someone be charged for battery for grabbing a WalMart greeter’s nametag in the absence of any other injury? Doubt it. Why should a cop be a special snowflake when the definition of the crime is the same?
As far as cops being held to higher standards — HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA! In what alternate universe? I’ll believe it when the cops who beat that homeless man to death in Orange County assume their rightful seats in the San Quentin gas chamber. Or if Oscar Grant’s shooter were still rotting in prison rather than being released after a year.
And BTW, why do we still need so many traffic cops? Set reasonable speed limits (they should be limits, not lower limits!), say 70-80 mph on freeways, keeping local limits the same. Have randomly located mobile speed cameras set to 10 mph over the limit on freeways and major arterial roads, 5 mph over on residential streets. 10 sec video with known frame-rate to provide evidence in court as to the camera’s accuracy (or not). I for one welcome our robotic job-stealers.
As far as the cops that remain on traffic duty, don’t issue them with radar guns. Concentrating on speed is the easy way out. Rather, train them to keep their eyes on traffic and look for evidence of actual reckless and inattentive driving. Tailgating, weaving, texting, mechanical problems, disregarding pedestrians in crosswalks, etc. I’ve been on a highway where the person driving in front of me was weaving like a drunk. We passed a police car and the cop didn’t do a thing. Same with a truck with a flat tire shedding chunks of rubber one time.
Footage should be on a car camera to provide evidence in court, but discarded after a week for privacy if not used in a traffic stop.
