06-06-2015, 11:11 PM
(06-06-2015, 07:07 PM)blueberryhill Wrote: Do you think that if this had been a male officer, the verdict would be different? Just curious.......it just seems that most male officers are vindicated when actually guilty IMO....I do hope this trend ends and investigation is done by an outside agency....
I personally don't think the charges and conviction had anything to do with O'Callaghan being female, blueberry.
I think the dash cam audio/video used by LAPD did its job. That evidence, in this era of increased public exposure and decreased public tolerance in regards to unwarranted police brutality, sunk O'Callaghan's ship IMO.
The LAPD used to have one of the worst reputations in the country in terms of corruption and brutality. The department undertook drastic reforms and, by all measures, scores much better in community relations and crime statistics across the board today than it did 20 years ago. I don't think Chief Beck wants to see brutal cops moving things backward.
Anyway, there's no justifiable reason for an officer to threaten and beat a restrained suspect. I don't doubt that Thomas resisted arrest initially, but she was subdued when all that shit went down in the car.
A reporter from the LA Times was at the officer's trial and described the video as disturbing, particularly seeing O'Callaghan outside of the vehicle after the assault, smoking a cigarette and then casually telling another officer, "I don't think she's breathing." I think that had to impact the jury too.