Cop attacks homeless, disabled woman; chokes her service dog. :((((

[CoffeeCat]

I am trying to wrap my brain around this incident that happened just a few miles from my home.

An Altoona, Iowa woman--who is homeless and disabled--was at an intersection asking passengers in cars for money. I have seen her at this intersection several times, on my way to work. According to reports, she has been asking passersby for money, without incident, for several months.

The woman, Diane Smith, says that a police officer ordered her over to his car. She produced a concealed-carry permit as identification, at which point Deputy Adam Rogers became enraged and accused the woman of threatening the police officer. Because she was not arrested, she began to walk away. He followed her, wrestled her to the ground and caused major bruising to her upper torso and fractured one of her ribs. He also picked up her service dog by the neck and hung him in the air--as the dog struggled and choked. The dog struggled and cried, but never bit him.

I heard this woman discuss this incident on a local radio program. She is articulate, intelligent and she seemed most upset by what she saw this officer do to her poor service dog.

She is disabled and it sounds like she has had a difficult time finding work and has resorted to asking for money at this street corner.

I am so upset about this. I grieve for this woman and her plight. I can't imagine what she has endured in her lifetime. I am sure she is traumatized by what this police officer did to her and what she saw happen to her loyal service dog.

Lastly, the shock of this story is only deepened--by the sheriff's office absolute refusal to release the dash-cam video which shows exactly what happened. What do you want to bet that this video completely corroborates this woman's account--and that the video shows this sick police officer choking and hanging a service dog in the air--while the woman cries? They're suppressing video that they know will go viral and cause untold public outrage.

I feel that this story must go viral, and that an avalanche of public pressure must fall down on this cop (and the sheriff's office that is protecting this cop). They MUST release that video! I am so sick and tired of these cop-horror stories that never end. This must END!

Here's the link to the story with video: http://whotv.com/2014/08/25/homeless-woman-says-deputy-used-excessive-force/

[shenmue]

1. Mercy

Sometimes I want to crawl under the bed and stay there for the rest of my life.

[MFM008]

21. noooo

the dust bunnies will get you.

[MoonRiver]

36. I so understand where you're coming from.

[trueblue2007]

42. i think there is new information. THE COP DIDN'T CHOKE HER DOG ETC. dash cap video

http://www.ktvu.com/videos/news/police-release-video-of-homeless-womans-rough/vCp2pX/


and watch the video. have good day everyone.

[delete_bush]

51. It's more than apparent that neither reading

comprehension nor logic and reason are of value to many who post here.

Sadly and unfortunately so, much like the Cons emotion rules over said faculties.

[Duppers]

67. I watched. Thanks for posting the video.

It seems she misrepresented the facts.

[cvoogt]

86. Nope.

Instead, he swung the dog around on its leash, choking the dog on its leash, which is much better.
Also, the lady had been warned not to panhandle, was not being arrested just yet, then runs off. Problem solved, I'd say, but nooo. the copy chases her and tackles her. How was she a threat when she was running away AND also complying with the request not to panhandle. Totally unnecessary assault.

[meathead]

88. The camera shows the woman holding the leash

as the dog is swung around. I thought the officer showed a degree or restraint. What's up with the guy sitting in the car while she panhandles?

[cvoogt]

89. hmm

I thought I saw differently but it's unclear

[questionseverything]

91. even on full screen, i could not tell what is happening

but it is clear the video was edited because all the sudden an additional squad car is in the frame (that we do not see arriving)

[indie9197]

101. There is a break in the video like you say.

You would need the whole video to tell what happened? Why would they cut it?

[Maraya1969]

87. Sticking this here. The dashcam released and does not corroborate her story

http://whotv.com/2014/08/26/sheriffs-department-releases-video-of-homeless-womans-arrest/


Which is a good thing!

[dionysus]

2. luckily they are both still alive. sucks when you need to say that, huh?

[CoffeeCat]

6. Seriously...

This is a very vulnerable woman. I'm sure this cop thought that he could do whatever he wanted, without consequence.

Like you, I was thinking that the dog was lucky that he didn't shoot the dog and allege that the dog tried to bite him.

That dash-cam footage must be damning on steroids.

Her version of events is most likely true--and the reason why the footage is being suppressed. They're violating FOIA laws by not releasing the dash-cam video. It must be just horrible.

The public will completely go ballistic if they view a cop choking and hanging a service dog in the air by its throat. As they should.

That video needs to come out.

Actions have consequences.

[dionysus]

8. and sometimes they just turn the dash camera off. at least here they havethat ability.

[DocMac]

19. Yeah, and that should be an admission of guilt. nt

[dionysus]

100. yes and no. in cases of brutality sure. i just got a ticket (legit ticket) and on the ticket papers

it said the dashcam was off. too lazy to turn it on? it was a one horse town though, not a hotbed of police violence...

[EvolveOrConvolve]

28. If the woman has been charged with a crime, her defense attorney can

request the video through the normal discovery channels. Or, if she wasn't charged with a crime, and decides to sue for a civil rights violation, her attorney in that case should be able to get access to the video.

Right now they're probably weighing the potential cost of criminal charges were they to "lose" the video versus the cost of releasing the video. As someone who once worked for a Prosecutor's office, I can tell that there are a number of ways to withhold the video for an extended period of time. The longer it goes, though, the greater the chance that it may be "sanitized".

[951-Riverside]

3. Dear badge bunnies, badge backers cop-cultists and "cops" who will be nitpicking & defending this

You are sick, sadistic and depraved animals who look for any excuse to hurt someone and get off on seeing people hurt while hiding behind a badge and a great institution that was built on helping people. You ought to be treated like pedophiles and locked away from society. You have no business on the streets, you have no business having any authority over people and you have no business handling a deadly weapon.

The name of the game is Lie, Deny, and Deflect and it is a delusional sick cult-like culture that lies for each other and lies to themselves. This is pure unadulterated mental illness, it is a sickness permeating law enforcement that needs to be eradicated quickly before it gets way out of hand.

[L0oniX]

10. "badge bunnies" LMFAO

[nomorenomore08]

24. +2

I salute you, sir!

[frylock]

34. it's already way out of hand

[mythology]

46. Wow is this post awkward now that the dashcam footage is released

Hopefully you didn't sprain an ankle leaping to an incorrect conclusion before having any evidence.

[951-Riverside]

49. Very awkward indeed

LA County Sheriff's Deputies Admit to Fatally Shooting Innocent Man - April

Homeowner Mistakenly Shot, Killed by Deputy in Pico Rivera Standoff: Sheriff’s Dept - August

Pure unadulterated mental illness.

Hope you psychos hiding behind the badge are real proud.

[jwirr]

4. All too many of these stories are showing us how the police treat those who are totally unable to

defend themselves. Those who need help and protection most. The young, the disabled, the homeless and the elderly. These police who do this are the most cowardly bunch of people we have in this nation. And those who defend them are also guilty.

Hopefully she will be fine. As to the dog - it is valuable and comes from an organization that provides service dogs. They should be notified as to what happened. I think they will be contacting that policeman.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. I hope that woman can get legal help, maybe from Legal Aid

or a lawyer who does pro bono work, and compel them to turn over the video and then maybe sue the pants off them.

[Louisiana1976]

33. Yeah--she should sue that cop for all he's got. Also, I think people who abuse animals should have

done to them what they did to the animal they abused. Someone ought to choke that cop.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

35. When cops get sued the city that employs them pays the damages

if the plaintiff wins, so the judgment comes out of the taxpayers' pockets. Seems to me if the citizens of a city have to keep paying for their police department's bad behavior, there could eventually be enough pressure to clean up these police departments. But people have to know what's going on.

[Booster]

38. Damages should come out of the Policemen's Retirement Fund. Until this happens cops have no

incentive to act like human beings. If most of are sued for anything the damages usually comes out of our bank accounts. Should be the same with these animals.

[Bohunk68]

76. YUP

[Hari Seldon]

7. Cops should face triple penalties

on those rare occasions when they are actually brought to justice...

[markpkessinger]

15. At this point . . .

. . . I'd settle for even a single (meaningful) penalty!

[ncjustice80]

55. Screw that I say death penalty for crooked cops.

They are subhuman monsters, all of them.

[Ned Flanders]

23. Agreed!

Since LEOs do have so much more power over the average citizen, and the effects when they abuse that power can be so devastating, yes, they should be held more accountable for their actions. Same should hold true for judges, DA's, etc.

But we all know the reverse is true, they are excused because they are under so much stress, or they are heroes, or whatever.

[SamKnause]

9. Anonymous to the rescue ????

I am not on Facebook or Twitter.

I hope this goes viral on both sites.

I then hope Anonymous takes over from there.

[madamvlb]

11. This woman has some serious mental issues

Link to video:


http://whotv.com/2014/08/26/sheriffs-department-releases-video-of-homeless-womans-arrest/

[daleanime]

18. Yes, so........?

[nomorenomore08]

25. Then I guess what he did to her wasn't so bad...?

I really hope that wasn't what you were trying to say. But I don't know anymore.

[hatrack]

26. So let's just FUCK HER UP, right?

After all, she's got serious mental issues!

What is your major malfunction?

[MrModerate]

32. Perhaps the poster could have phrased his/her post a bit more clearly, but . . .

What the story purports to show is that the cop didn't attempt to strangle the dog and -- in the opinion of a mental health advocacy group -- didn't behave inappropriately.

There are so many stories about killer cops out there, many of which are true. Those of us who are concerned about this issue should also be concerned about the stories that aren't true, if for no other reason than that such stories give cop defenders excuses for bad cop behavior.

[Booster]

39. Then I assume you are all for ALL cops wearing cameras and, after an altercation, that

video should be released immediately in it's entirety so there won't be any question about who is telling the truth. Sounds good to me.

[MrModerate]

41. Dashcams and lapel/eyeglass cams, for sure.

Although when the footage gets released is more complex, especially when a crime appears to have been committed (by anyone involved).

[Booster]

44. I agree that releasing it is complex, but not releasing it gives the authorities time to doctor it.

[Inkfreak]

74. Explain why a longtime member should explain his/her moniker to you here on DU.

Who gives a shit what you think moderate means.

[MrModerate]

82. Sorry for your Gotta Invent New Definitions Syndrome

aka "Out Of Your Ass Disorder."

Last I heard it was incurable but not fatal.

[Enthusiast]

78. In a properly functioning society we wouldn't be burdened by such as these.

You know, just like in the Third Reich.

[Javaman]

84. Well a good thing the cop choked the dog then, right?

[Chakab]

12. These police brutality headlines are starting to read like they're from the Onion.

[madville]

45. This one should be on the onion

Since it's not a true story, recently released dashcam video showed something different.

[kimmylavin]

14. So they released the video...

And I've got to say that it doesn't sound like this woman was telling the truth.
(It also sounds like she may be mentally unstable.)

It turned ugly, yes.
Not sure why they needed to bother her about panhandling, but it sounds like the cop was trying to be nice, at first.

And she didn't produce a concealed carry permit as ID.
The way she brought it up sounded kind of out of nowhere.
(But it also sounds like a good percentage of everything else she was saying was made up...)

A total mess, but I'm not sure what else the officer could have done.
And the dog never seemed to be in any danger - certainly it wasn't picked up and choked.

I'm glad it was recorded, though.
And I definitely think all police/civilian interactions should be recorded.

http://whotv.com/2014/08/26/13raw-video-sheriff-deputys-dashcam-from-arrest-of-homeless-woman/

[markpkessinger]

17. What so-called "good" cops . . .

. . . to the extent they actually exist, need to remember is that video recording can serve to protect them from malicious and unfounded complaints, besides helping to protect citizens.

[951-Riverside]

20. Which video did you watch that led you to the conclusion that she was stretching the truth?

From the videos I saw they all parked at an angle or at a distance where nothing could be captured on video.

[840high]

22. I was just going to post this - ty

[WillyT]

16. HUGE K & R !!!

[lunasun]

27. Really what good are these video cameras if they can withhold them after the fact??

The trend will be to outfit the cops with cameras and then the trend will be to not release the film with out lawsuit

[LarryNM]

48. +1,000 n/t

[Rex]

29. I don't understand why cops are so cruel and violent.

I understand they see violence all the time, but do they really think everyone needs to be beaten into a bloody pulp? Why did he hurt the dog?

This is how sad life is now...I am just thankful he didn't kill her and her dog! Isn't it sad that I even have to say that?

I KNOW there has to be cops out there that think before they decide to get violent, but it seems SOME just go to that out of reflex.

[savannah43]

30. That is the prime question, isn't it? Seems epidemic.

[Booster]

40. I have been reading that there is an epidemic of cops using steroids. Since most corporations

drug test their employees & now there is drug testing on welfare recipients, I think it might be a good idea to start testing cops too.

[Blue Owl]

31. K&R for police brutality exposure

[Rozlee]

37. Seriously, why should it be a crime to panhandle?

My sister even got her butt reamed once for giving a guy five bucks to wash her windshield at a service station. He was trying to make money cleaning up people's windshields with some window cleaner and towels he'd bought inside the store, never mind that you could do the same thing at the gas pump. Some plainclothes policeman got after her and asked her if she knew who he was, why was she encouraging vagrancy in her neighborhood, how did she know he wasn't using the money for drugs, etc. My sister was shocked that she wasn't the one that got arrested. She says the cop harassed that man, who only said he was trying to make some money for his family to have dinner that night because they didn't get paid for another week. It shouldn't be against the law for people to panhandle and it shouldn't be against the law for people to give them their money. If corporations can ask for money, why can't people? People are people just like corporations are.

[MrModerate]

43. Different societies deal with begging differently . . .

Which is what panhandling is, as is offering services like window-washing that people often don't need or want.

If you feel strongly about it, become an activist in your community to get the vagrancy (and associated) laws changed.

However, I think you'll find your neighbors consider begging to be at a minimum a nuisance, and not something they want to encourage. Your mileage may vary.

[TorchTheWitch]

50. that isn't panhandling

The man was paid for a service that was requested. Panhandling is stopping people to ask them for money with nothing in return and not for any particular cause (like the local high school's cheerleaders asking for donations for new uniforms, etc.). Or it's also starting to perform a service not requested and expecting money in return like those people that leap on your car at red lights and just start washing your windshield. Panhandlers are aggressive and harassing and can even be threatening.

Panhandling is illegal because it's harassment. It probably became illegal in most places when panhandlers made it their job and continually harassed people for money and not taking "no thanks" for an answer. They'd follow you, physically block you, get right up in your face, and practically shove their hands in your pockets. Then it was on to the next person, and the next and next, etc. Really aggressive ones could make hundreds of dollars in a day. Trains stations were hell on earth... there would be dozens of them, and you'd get harassed and blocked and followed by one after the other until it took a half an hour just to get to the stairs.

In I think most jurisdictions you can sit with a sign requesting money, and people can give or not, but you can't ASK anyone for it. Of course, emergencies sometimes happen and people will beg someone for a little money to put just enough gas in their car to get to the nearest gas station that accepts cash or whatever. That's not considered panhandling UNLESS the person is using the hard luck story continually with different people so as to try to get around the law.

There was a woman with a practically brand new SUV that used to hang out in the parking lot of the supermarket I used to go to every night for hours using the "help me, I ran out of gas, please give me $10" story. One night she hit me up once when I went into the store and again when I came out not remembering that just a few minutes earlier she had already hit me up. She never remembered me all the times she hit me up night after night either. I used to stop at that grocery store almost every night after work since it was open 24 hours, it was right on my way home, and there always seemed to be something I needed that I had run out of. I guess enough people finally complained about her that she went elsewhere. She's probably doing the same thing right now in some other store parking lot with the same hard luck story. Have to hand it to her though every time she delivered the story it sounded legit. I used to wonder how much she made every night. She always hit up for $10. Odd though if you said you only had $5 she'd still try to get you to give $10.

[delete_bush]

52. What I find interesting, and telling as well,

is that after the video comes out that for the most part makes your post nothing more than a pack of lies, you've vanished from the scene.

No responsibility at all for what you post. Pretty sad.

[Live and Learn]

53. The OP posted the info she had at the time.

Nobody should be arrested for panhandling and I fail to see how telling the officer you have a permit to carry is a threat.

So the only thing proven wrong was the part about the officer choking the dog although maybe the lady saw it that way in her mind or maybe something happened later off camera.

I appreciate the posting of the second video but see little reason for the snark you are posting.

[delete_bush]

56. If I posted this I would have, just as

any honorable news institution would have done had they put out one or more untruths, issued a retraction along with an explanation. She skipped the scene, leaving others like you to apologize for her rush to judgment.

Need I remind you of the 'headline'? "Cop attacks homeless, disabled woman; chokes her service dog.

"He followed her, wrestled her to the ground and caused major bruising to her upper torso and fractured one of her ribs."

"He also picked up her service dog by the neck and hung him in the air--as the dog struggled and choked. The dog struggled and cried, but never bit him."

None of this appears to be true. I thought we were better than this, but please continue to make excuses. This has nothing to do with panhandling, a completely different topic.

[Live and Learn]

63. I think most of us understood your point the first time you posted it.

Why you feel the need to continually post it and belittle the OP is beyond my comprehension. Seems a bit like bullying to me.

[delete_bush]

58. "I fail to see how telling the officer you have a permit to carry is a threat"

Of course not.

Just as if I confronted you in a parking lot and told you "I have a permit to carry" you would just ignore my remark out of hand. No indication at all to you that I might have a gun.

[Live and Learn]

62. I wouldn't take that as a threat just a sign that you might need a doctor's help.

Now actually openly carrying guns, I do find rather threatening.

[ncjustice80]

54. Wow what kind of animal does that to a defenseless service dog?

Someone should choke that officer and see how he likes it. Another disgusting pig. Anonymous needs to release hia home address!

[delete_bush]

57. Please tell me what the officer did to the

"service dog", and why your presumed knowledge of such allows you permission to publish his home address.

What kind of harm do you wish upon this person? You sound like a right-wing vigilante.

[Live and Learn]

64. And once again, you are taking what the poster said out of context.

Obviously this poster hasn't seen the second video and is responding to the original post. And not only doesn't the poster publish the address, the poster never claims he or she would.

[rpannier]

59. They have released the video

According to one Iowa news station

[nilesobek]

60. This thread is all over the place.

Collectively we went from sympathy for a homeless woman to treating police officers like pedophiles. What's next? Quick show trials followed by swift executions of police officers accused without showing the video? Don't dare try and call me a police apologist either. I was homeless for 9 years and have plenty of bad cop stories.

[LeftOfWest]

65. The Police in 2014 are thugs with guns and badges. Period.

Militarized to slaughter black and brown human beings by military deserter and murdering terrorist racist W. Bush.

Fuck the 2014 'police' in 'Murika.

[nilesobek]

66. Sure. But can we at least get the facts in first

before judging these individual cases?

Do you offer a solution to outta control police? Should the forces be dissolved and people living in total anarchy?

[Live and Learn]

68. Are you implying that the only solution

you can think of to stop police from killing citizens that are not a threat is to dissolve the entity? Surely you can come up with more options than that.

And since the other choice you gave us is anarchy, you really need to define what you mean by it since it has several meanings.

[nilesobek]

70. No. My option would be to disarm the police,

pretty much just left with billy clubs and handcuffs. In the countries that the police are not heavily armed there is much less violence and brutality. In order to level the playing field, the populace would have to be disarmed too, like in Britain, where all these murders and police brutality is a relative rarity.

We are living in a third world environment in the first world. Only banana republics do business with the citizenry this way. This is the tip of the spear of the 1%, the ever increasing militarization of the para-military police forces.

As far as anarchy goes, you probably have a better handle on what it means than I do. I always thought it meant no official government and clans ruling over limited areas.

[Live and Learn]

71. I really like your answers. Anarchy has several meanings but as to the one you

gave, clan rule has historically not led to good endings, except for the one clan that eventually takes over.

In order to disarm the police here, we would need to disarm the general public and that, given our history is still (sadly to say) a pretty impossible task.

[nilesobek]

72. Most people around me in this area

are paranoid. I have the night off but I'm a graveyard cashier and everyone is armed! Just a couple nights ago a family came in, the father and the mother were openly carrying. So the populace has plenty of guns and cellphones, and very little tolerance for his fellow man.

I'm 51 years old and have managed to raise 8 children without ever owning a gun. There are a lot of irrational fears out there driving the gun phenomenon. To me, the main one being, "I don't want to be the last guy at the gunfight without a gun!" I've almost succumbed to that one.

[Live and Learn]

75. I have considered it myself.

I mean, if we are going back to the Wild west, would I want to be the only one unarmed?

Then again, I know this has already been tried and failed. Why must we all go through it again?

[ncjustice80]

90. Can we add no body armor to that?

I think the body armor emboldens them to use force. If they were actually worried about being stabbed or shot they would think twice about whether making the arrest was worth it!

[ncjustice80]

79. If they werent as disgusting as pedophiles we woyldnt

Treat them like pedophiles.

[madmax]

69. Lord help me

This could be me in a few years. I'm so scared. Alone, 65, husband of 32 years wasn't happy so left me in NC alone without friends, family, - I'm hearing impaired, have several fractures in my pelvis and sacrum. Have been sick for 8 years due to a MAJOR screw up on the part of DUKE MED. CENTER. No fault medical malpractice, no fault divorce, no fault everything but, someone HAS to pay the price. I'm scared to death. This is not what I ever expected. Why? I didn't do anything to him to cause him to do this to me. If he wanted his girlfriend. Go but, he could have given me a heads up. He had the passwords to everything, took the money from the bank, had gone paperless so I never saw a statement in the last 4 years. He's in NJ, his hometown, with his friends, his woman, he 2 brothers, a job and his band and band mates. God help me, I'm here barely able to walk, my two dogs who are the only reason I wake up each morning. I don't have any idea what I'm looking towards in the future. I will - I hope have a roof over my head for better or worse. Not what I worked so hard for all my life but, I should be grateful it will be better than many others. Be grateful, it may be hard but, be grateful. This poor woman has it worse.

[nilesobek]

73. He should have to support you with that job.

Your post is heartbreaking. Don't give up, those dogs are depending on you. I just had a my baby Kuma die after 14 years, i had originally rescued her from a puppy mill and have been despondent for a while.

You are alone in NC but not in the world, if you ever want to talk just email me in DU.

[Enthusiast]

77. Kicked and recommended!

Thanks, CoffeeCat.

[Vinca]

80. She's not going to be homeless for long.

The city will be cutting her a great big check very soon.

[Hotler]

81. Another day and another reason to dislike cops. n/t

[fredamae]

83. The Smaller (weaker) the Victim?

The Sicker the Mind.

[bigtonka]

85. video was released

see the video at trueblue2007's response (about the 5th response down)

[geardaddy]

92. Fucker.

[lark]

93. Police these days are sometimes worse than the criminals.

Seems we had it right in the 60's when we called them PIGS! So fucking disgusted I can't see straight.

[Dont call me Shirley]

94. POLICE PEOPLE: Leave your violent insanity!

[glinda]

95. Is the dog ok? I can't bare to watch video.....

[Helen Borg]

96. Dog is fine. Cop did not touch her at all.

[glinda]

97. whew...thanks!

[Quantess]

98. Terrible!

K & R

[Helen Borg]

99. Please, watch the video of the actual event...

And make up your mind on how things actually unfolded.