| > These folks were not being arrested, they were being detained Yes, and you still need to follow lawful orders when being detained. You can't say "I'm not getting out of the car until my mother arrives, understand?". You can't pull back when an officer tries to forcefully remove you from the car, or put up your fists as if you are going to punch the officer. You can't do that 10+ times and imagine that you will not get maced/tased/etc. > Any officer can make that claim, its a BS claim that is used to justify aggressive force You know, isn't it weird that the officer had this "BS" claim, and it turns out that the person who was tasered did have marijuana on him, and was charged with possession and intent to sell? Source: http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/04/10/virginia-police-in... > Innocent until proven guilty It was a reasonable search because there was probable cause. > its up to the officers, who are using force, to justify that force. The officers didn't use force until the person started resisting their orders. If he would have just stepped out of the car, and let the cops search him(where they would eventually find the marijuana he was planning on selling), no force would have been necessary. He would have just been arrested and charged with intent to sell. Now he has resisting arrest on his record too. > The smell of marijuana is a tactic used by police to try to upset you Or, you know, the officer did actually smell marijuana. I agree with you that a cop can make up the reason, but that cops can never smell weed, and it doesn't seem to be the case here since there actually was marijuana in the car. > These people had every right to stay in the car No, they didn't. Probable cause was established and the officers were within their rights to ask them to step out of the car so a search could be performed. > They're only trying to provoke you into doing something they can then use to justify their force No. They did not provoke the kid to refuse to get out of the car, and they did not provoke him to pull away multiple times when pulling him out of the car. |