Seattle police have had a difficult time in the media the past 12 months, and also the latest “cop punches woman” incident doesn’t appear to be helping matters. Back in November 2009, Deputy Paul Schene was videotaped beating then 15-year-old Malika Calhoun. This promoted a civil rights investigation. Now Seattle Police Officer Ian P. Walsh, 39, has become the subject of a “cop punches woman” popular video. What started as a routine jaywalking stop that happened right outside Seattle’s Franklin High School quickly escalated into a situation that required that Walsh restrain 17-year-old Angel Rosenthal. Officer Walsh reacted to significant resistance. Yet as numerous media sources have indicated just lately, the justification of Walsh’s response – a punch to Rosenthal’s face – has come into question.
Article Resource: Seattle cop punches woman after jaywalking stop By Personal Money Store
Seattle Police gets the black eye as cop punches woman
The jaywalking cease that preceded the “cop punches woman” event didn’t involve Angel Rosenthal. Officer Ian Walsh had stopped an unnamed 18-year-old male for jaywalking across Martin Luther King Jr. Way South. Rosenthal and her friend, 19-year-old Marilyn Ellen Levias – also as two other young women which were with them – reportedly committed their own act of jaywalking right in from of Officer Walsh while he was addressing the young male. Walsh then clearly instructed the females to step over to his car, and at that time, according to police officials, the girls became “verbally antagonistic.”
Walsh approached to physically escort Levias to the scene as she started to walk away. When she started screaming, Walsh tried to retrain her with handcuffs. At this point, Angel Rosenthal interceded, “causing the officer to believe she was attempting to physically affect the first subject’s escape,” according to the New York Daily News. Video footage that came from the scene shows that as Officer Walsh attempted to restrain Rosenthal, she screamed and pushed as tempers flared. "Cop punches woman" started an immediate headline. Both Levias and Rosenthal were taken into custody. They probably will need to get some money for lawyers and bail.
Teens ordered not to struggle
Officer Ian Walsh’s instructions not to struggle did not defuse the emotional responses of Levias and Rosenthal, who reportedly both have criminal records. Deputy Chief Nick Metz told Seattle’s King 5 News that when you will find “concerns about the tactics the officer used,” the full context leading up to the “cop punches woman” event must be taken into account in any investigation of Walsh’s adherence to police procedure. Presently, Seattle Police are withholding judgment on Ian Walsh’s actions until a full investigation can be completed by the Office of Professional Accountability, as outlined by the Sky Valley Chronicle. Sadly, as the ACLU Washington State branch website suggests, this supposedly independent investigatory committee “lacks teeth” and has been largely a waste of costly man hours for largely perfunctory investigations, as outlined by the ACLU’s estimation.
Ian Walsh ‘did nothing wrong,’ says union president Rich O’Neill
The guy who’s the Seattle Police union president, Rich O’Neill, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that not only did Officer Ian Walsh not commit wrongdoing, but “he maybe waited just a little too long to engage in force” in his attempts to defuse what video footage proves to be a growing dilemma. A lot more news can be available after the investigation is complete.
Additional data at these websites
New York Daily News
nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/06/16/2010-06-16_seattle_cop_punches_woman_in_face_over_routine_jaywalking_stop.html
Sky Valley Chronicle
skyvalleychronicle.com/FEATURE-NEWS/SEATTLE-POLICE-TO-REVIEW-TRAINING-PROCEDURES-IN-LIGHT-OF-RECENT-PUNCH-VIDEO
ACLU Washington
new.aclu-wa.org/news/seattle-report-independent-office-police-accountability
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