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Did you guys even read the story?!

It started small and everyone got into it, and lots of people were involved and having a good time. And then this dick pulled his piece out and everyones faces dropped after a "light and playful" bit of fun.

Im stunned people here are defending the cop. (well not stunned, i come to expect it from many people)

When i was in Kabul and the rear gunner from a US convoy fired a burst into the crowd from his 50 cal, killing several people as a result and starting two days of riots after one of the civilians threw a rock at their vehicle, no doubt you would defend him as well. It was Oklahama national guard if anyone is interested (they also tried to go on a joint patrol with us and one of them had his IPOD in one ear)

All three things are summed up in one word.

Unprofessional.

Being an elitist Royal Marine, i found many many members of the armed forces to be unprofessional, and this is the exact same thing. Sure a cop CAN whip his gun out whenever he likes. But its not acting with the calm and cool manner that is expected of you. A complete and utter overreaction.

I just left the RM, i might apply for the police force, and if someone throws a snowball at me i wont act like a fething penis with little dick syndrome and start threatening people.

The man is a tool. And doubtless his mates at the station will be ripping the piss out of him for this as we speak.

Agreed 110% with mattyrm

That cop was acting like an asshat and likely got chewed out by his superiors since the article has quotes from the higher-ups basically disapproving what he did. When a bureaucrat that you work for openly criticizes your actions like that to the media you just know they're getting some flak at the workforce.

Yeah, it's worth pointing out that the guy's colleague was talking to the crowd in a friendly and decent manner saying 'OK guys, just go back and get on with the snowball fight, no problems' and generally trying to diffuse the situation. He also directed people as to where they could lodge official complaints, and conducted himself in a dignified manner. The people seemed to calm down a bit after that.

Yeah his mate was squared away, as i said, its fething obvious the guy is a total tool, his mate who turned up half way through will have been saying to him as soon as the crowd left

"mate, your in the fething gak here, what the hell did you whip your piece out for?!"

Obviously, he was in fear for his life.

From a damn snowball!

He was right the snowballs were hidden bombs.

I still don't see anyone defending the cop. I sure as hell am not.

I'm just saying that the cop did have a right, after it was made clear he was a cop, to want to arrest that guy for throwing a snowball at him. It is assault. No ifs, ands or buts.

Try it. Throw a snowball at a cop and see where it gets you. It'll get you a fine, some jail time or both.

Here's the problem and I really don'tknow how t feel on this one. The cop should not have pulled his weapon, but we do not know his side of the story as of yet. He was a first responder to a situation that honestly should not have been happening. Yes I know it is a snowball fight, but it was in the middle of a major city, and with the amount of people it was for the most part riot like situations. Now if people had put ice, and what not in the snow balls that could seriously mess a dude up. Also the people should not have started to throw them at his car or him. I know he was a plain clothes officer, but that is still assualt believe it or not peeps. I asked the cops down the hall from me. Now all this said yes pulling out his weapon was excessive, and thank god he didn't fire it, but at this time we do not know the full story so jumping to conclusions and condeming the man is wrong. These people should also not be having a snowball fight in the center of a city, if it were the burbs on a residential street then it would be a wholeeeeee different tune, but it wasn't. Let's remember what these city cops deal with people. Often they roll into a situation like that and it's a set up to ambush them. As stated I think he did act excessive, but I am reserving judgement until all the facts are out. At the most though I feel suspension for a month or two without pay. Now if it was me I wouldn't have pulled a weapon that much I will say.

mashable.co wrote:The undercover cop was attempting to drive his Hummer down a snow-covered street when revellers pummelled the vehicle with snowballs; he then got out of the car and pulled his gun out, presumably as a way to scare off the crowd.

Damn right I pulled my gun out, and your all lucky I didn't shoot you in the face!!! Goddamn hippies...

Fateweaver wrote:I still don't see anyone defending the cop. I sure as hell am not.

I'm just saying that the cop did have a right, after it was made clear he was a cop, to want to arrest that guy for throwing a snowball at him. It is assault. No ifs, ands or buts.

Try it. Throw a snowball at a cop and see where it gets you. It'll get you a fine, some jail time or both.

I realize what you're trying to say and I agree with the notion of not trying to purposely piss off someone else however this news story kind of defeats your point of "it'll get you a fine or jail time" since if I read correctly none of that happened. In fact it was the better cops that told TFG with the gun to stop being an asshat and he's been punished behind the scenes already.

I'm still not sure how the cop acted like an F'ing pig. I grew up around farm animals and pigs roll in mud and grunt and eat a lot. I saw this cop doing neither in the video.

Maybe he ate a dozen donuts and grunted while doing so but I clearly only saw snow, no mud, and didn't see the cop rolling in anything.

I just find it odd that in the article it mentioned some of the people were throwing snowballs at cars, mainly hummers and that is why the cops hummer was hit. I'm surprised somebody didn't get out of their vehicle and start laying into the people throwing the snowball. Someone throws a snowball at my car it's on.

Empchild wrote:Often they roll into a situation like that and it's a set up to ambush them.

OH SNAP! IT'S AN AMBUSH!!!

fateweaver wrote:Someone throws a snowball at my car it's on.

Hence, the main reason why all of us appreciate the fact that you are not a police officer. I do look forward to hearing about you in the news though...
*headline* "Man guns down pack of college students after his right mirror got knocked out of calibration".

Apparently in Washington you can do anything that isn't murder.

Pretty laid back cops to let a snowball fight involving dozens of people (or more) happen in downtown D.C. I live in a state where we see snow 8 months out of the year and not once do I recall cops letting people throw snowballs at cars.

I guess that's the most baffling part is that the cop (the good guy to most) basically said at the end they could keep on throwing snowballs. That too me is not exactly a good cop thing to do as what would happen if someones BMW got dented or cracked window from a semi-frozen snowball and that person decided to lash out? Than you'd have a riot and with mob mentality probably a driver beaten to death by idiots doing what they want WITH police permission.

A GOOD cop would have told everyone to break it up and go home just to prevent further occurrences like that happening.

So yeah, dumb cop to pull a gun on a crowd throwing snowballs at his vehicle but IMO an even dumber cop to let a snowball fight involving dozens of people in the middle of downtown continue.

Fateweaver wrote:I'm still not sure how the cop acted like an F'ing pig. I grew up around farm animals and pigs roll in mud and grunt and eat a lot. I saw this cop doing neither in the video.

Maybe he ate a dozen donuts and grunted while doing so but I clearly only saw snow, no mud, and didn't see the cop rolling in anything.

I just find it odd that in the article it mentioned some of the people were throwing snowballs at cars, mainly hummers and that is why the cops hummer was hit. I'm surprised somebody didn't get out of their vehicle and start laying into the people throwing the snowball. Someone throws a snowball at my car it's on.

I admire your community spirit.

There's nothing like an impromptu snowball fight to get the blood racing and make you feel alive.

Wrexasaur wrote:

Empchild wrote:Often they roll into a situation like that and it's a set up to ambush them.

OH SNAP! IT'S AN AMBUSH!!!

fateweaver wrote:Someone throws a snowball at my car it's on.

Hence, the main reason why all of us appreciate the fact that you are not a police officer. I do look forward to hearing about you in the news though...
*headline* "Man guns down pack of college students after his right mirror got knocked out of calibration".

Hmm, where in my post does it say I'd pull a gun and shoot that person. "It's on" means they'd get a right hook to the jaw. Granted I have my piece(s) in my cubby hole or under the front seat but I don't just go around randomly drawing my gun on people.

There are days I'd love to but I do obey the laws and realize the laws are there for a reason. Afterall, to draw my gun on someone without a good cause is a felony meaning I lose my right to draw a gun on someone who I need to draw it on because all I'd have would be my finger to point.

So yeah, quit trying to put words into my posts because nowhere in the above quoted statement did I mention pulling a gun.


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Kilkrazy wrote:

Fateweaver wrote:I'm still not sure how the cop acted like an F'ing pig. I grew up around farm animals and pigs roll in mud and grunt and eat a lot. I saw this cop doing neither in the video.

Maybe he ate a dozen donuts and grunted while doing so but I clearly only saw snow, no mud, and didn't see the cop rolling in anything.

I just find it odd that in the article it mentioned some of the people were throwing snowballs at cars, mainly hummers and that is why the cops hummer was hit. I'm surprised somebody didn't get out of their vehicle and start laying into the people throwing the snowball. Someone throws a snowball at my car it's on.

I admire your community spirit.

There's nothing like an impromptu snowball fight to get the blood racing and make you feel alive.

I just think there are better places to conduct a snowball fight. Like the park or someones back yard. The guy who twitted it in the first place obviously felt he could get by conducting a snowball fight in the middle of D.C and the most baffling part is that the local law enforcement, except for one cop who didn't see the humor in it, let it happen.

Again, I'm not defending the cop. He was in the wrong and even I know that. I'm not a gun-toting loon that can't see the wrong in pulling your piece for no reason but I also am baffled at the fact that dozens of people were allowed by local authorities to not only throw snow at one another but at innocent people and their cars. That to me smacks of potential for a lawsuit if someone gets hurt or vehicle damaged and it was made publicly known that the D.C police allowed it to happen.

Do to liability issues that kind of thing would NOT be allowed to happen in most cities.

But please, keep assuming I'm defending the cop and that I'm all against having fun.

D.C. Assistant Chief Pete Newsham, head of the investigative services bureau: "We have to see what the entire circumstance was," Newsham said Sunday. "But just a snowball fight, not in my mind. That doesn't seem a situation where we would pull out a service weapon."

Even the D.C. Department of Transportation seemed to embrace it, Tweeting on Saturday soon after the fight began: "SNOW UPDATE as advertised, there is a large snowball battle at 14th and U. Keep it safe."

Seems to me the cop was just being TFG. His peers and superiors pretty much acknowledge that his actions were poor.

Police said initially that the detective had not flashed his weapon. On Sunday, the officer was placed on desk duty after Twitter, blogs and YouTube appeared to show otherwise.

Sounds like the police officer or the higher-ups also got caught smudging the details. Puling out a firearm in a friendly snowball fight is a dumb, dangerous, and a TFG move. That detective seems a little out of touch on how to handle such situations. I can maybe understand if someone called the police about getting hurt or being pissed but none of that seemed to have happened.

Fateweaver wrote:I'm still not sure how the cop acted like an F'ing pig. I grew up around farm animals and pigs roll in mud and grunt and eat a lot. I saw this cop doing neither in the video.

Maybe he ate a dozen donuts and grunted while doing so but I clearly only saw snow, no mud, and didn't see the cop rolling in anything.

I just find it odd that in the article it mentioned some of the people were throwing snowballs at cars, mainly hummers and that is why the cops hummer was hit. I'm surprised somebody didn't get out of their vehicle and start laying into the people throwing the snowball. Someone throws a snowball at my car it's on.

You know, it's funny that hardly anyone has mentioned that.

Because it even says as much in the article, that after awhile it ceased being just everyone having fun--and a point came where the snowballers were throwing at any vehicles that were on the street and rolling down their windows to ask the snowballers to get out of the way.
And then it became a point where they were just throwing at any gas guzzlers, due to the "crowd's political leanings".

Hum. Sounds almost like it was an illegal protest/demonstration at that point...

But either way. It was silly of the guy to pull his gun, and it was even more fething stupid of the police to confirm him as an undercover.
Congrats crowd. You just exposed an undercover officer!


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Cane wrote:

D.C. Assistant Chief Pete Newsham, head of the investigative services bureau: "We have to see what the entire circumstance was," Newsham said Sunday. "But just a snowball fight, not in my mind. That doesn't seem a situation where we would pull out a service weapon."

Even the D.C. Department of Transportation seemed to embrace it, Tweeting on Saturday soon after the fight began: "SNOW UPDATE as advertised, there is a large snowball battle at 14th and U. Keep it safe."

Seems to me the cop was just being TFG. His peers and superiors pretty much acknowledge that his actions were poor.

Police said initially that the detective had not flashed his weapon. On Sunday, the officer was placed on desk duty after Twitter, blogs and YouTube appeared to show otherwise.

Sounds like the police officer or the higher-ups also got caught smudging the details. Puling out a firearm in a friendly snowball fight is a dumb, dangerous, and a TFG move. That detective seems a little out of touch on how to handle such situations. I can maybe understand if someone called the police about getting hurt or being pissed but none of that seemed to have happened.

Department of Transportation does not equal District of Columbia Police Department, broski.

Cane wrote:I realize what you're trying to say and I agree with the notion of not trying to purposely piss off someone else however this news story kind of defeats your point of "it'll get you a fine or jail time" since if I read correctly none of that happened. In fact it was the better cops that told TFG with the gun to stop being an asshat and he's been punished behind the scenes already.

They arrested someone who they thought threw the snowball at the cop but then let him go (which was a good thing, since he wasn't the guy).

They certainly would have arrested the thrower if they were able to.

Empchild wrote:Now if it was ice and the cop had to go to the hospital I could see a arrest, but at the most all he should have done was detaine the person who throw it(if they could figure who) and take them to their parents. I think he needs to remember the crap he pulled as a kid.

The crowd appeared to be mostly college age. They weren't young children.

Albatross wrote:Yeah, it's worth pointing out that the guy's colleague was talking to the crowd in a friendly and decent manner saying 'OK guys, just go back and get on with the snowball fight, no problems' and generally trying to diffuse the situation. He also directed people as to where they could lodge official complaints, and conducted himself in a dignified manner. The people seemed to calm down a bit after that.

You thought so? It seemed to me that it wasn't until the other officer was there, and conducting himself in an appropriate manner, that everyone started to swear and chant at Bailer. Presumably because they no longer feared being shot.

While the gun flailer deserved criticism it's kind of sad to see how everyone takes advantage of the person trying to ease down the conflict...

Fateweaver wrote:I just find it odd that in the article it mentioned some of the people were throwing snowballs at cars, mainly hummers and that is why the cops hummer was hit. I'm surprised somebody didn't get out of their vehicle and start laying into the people throwing the snowball. Someone throws a snowball at my car it's on.

Depending on the consistency of the snowball they may not have been much of a worry. Of course, intentionally hitting the cars of strangers not participating in the snowball fight isn't an acceptable form of amusement in either case, no matter what childish appeals are made by the participants.

Department of Transportation does not equal District of Columbia Police Department, broski.

Yea, its not like I also included a quote from a police official..right "broski"?

And if the head of the DoT says its okay that only helps the snowballers case and makes the cop look like TFG which he was/is.

I'm guessing this is going to escalate soon? This guy pulled a gun, so the next time there will be a SWAT team, or will the National Guard be called in to deal with it?

Ah Kan, but you forget that only the cop who pulled his gun was in the wrong, that the fact the snowballers started throwing snowballs at "gas guzzlers" is somehow irrelevant.

If you watch the video on youtube it's convenient how the dude in the crowd with the camera ONLY captures what the cop did, that somehow the rest of the fight captured on camera fails to show people throwing snowballs at the cars of innocents and wasn't posted on youtube. Appears to me someone is trying to protect the like-minded tree huggers who started turning the snowball fight into a political protest.

Reminds me of how Fox edits out certain portions of clips to make themselves look right. Funny how nobody has mentioned that in this thread.

...
So if that's the case, I guess because the PD issues their officers sidearms and body armor, the DoT should do the same?

Different Departments are...gasp...different.

And it's funny that it says they want to y'know...look at the whole situation. There could be any number of possible explanations once you go into the realm of undercovers. Burnout is common, as is slipping too far into the persona.

It doesn't excuse what he did, but it does explain it. Oddly enough.


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BrookM wrote:I'm guessing this is going to escalate soon? This guy pulled a gun, so the next time there will be a SWAT team, or will the National Guard be called in to deal with it?

No no no, SWAT teams are for when the snowballers join forces with the sledders. National Guard is for when those damned pesky snowballsledders get in touch with the snowmobilers.

And God help us when they join forces with the snowcatters!

Orkeosaurus wrote:

Cane wrote:I realize what you're trying to say and I agree with the notion of not trying to purposely piss off someone else however this news story kind of defeats your point of "it'll get you a fine or jail time" since if I read correctly none of that happened. In fact it was the better cops that told TFG with the gun to stop being an asshat and he's been punished behind the scenes already.

They arrested someone who they thought threw the snowball at the cop but then let him go (which was a good thing, since he wasn't the guy).

They certainly would have arrested the thrower if they were able to.

Considering the bad press and after the videos showed up showing that the officer did in fact brandish his weapon after reporting he didn't...I wouldn't count on the person getting any real jail time or a fine. But a cop basically can try and take you in for anything I suppose.

Kanluwen wrote:

BrookM wrote:I'm guessing this is going to escalate soon? This guy pulled a gun, so the next time there will be a SWAT team, or will the National Guard be called in to deal with it?

No no no, SWAT teams are for when the snowballers join forces with the sledders. National Guard is for when those damned pesky snowballsledders get in touch with the snowmobilers.

And God help us when they join forces with the snowcatters!

Is that the part where the prez sheds a single tear and mutters "May gawd have mercy on our souls"?

Fateweaver wrote:Ah Kan, but you forget that only the cop who pulled his gun was in the wrong, that the fact the snowballers started throwing snowballs at "gas guzzlers" is somehow irrelevant.

If you watch the video on youtube it's convenient how the dude in the crowd with the camera ONLY captures what the cop did, that somehow the rest of the fight captured on camera fails to show people throwing snowballs at the cars of innocents and wasn't posted on youtube. Appears to me someone is trying to protect the like-minded tree huggers who started turning the snowball fight into a political protest.

Reminds me of how Fox edits out certain portions of clips to make themselves look right. Funny how nobody has mentioned that in this thread.

Well of course the like-minded treehuggers start documenting when a cop does something. There was an incident at UNCG a couple years back where a student was hooting and hollering and flipping the bird at a bunch of riot cops when they had some politico on the campus.

That part, of course, wasn't filmed.

After the riot cops brought out the tear gas due to the student and his buddies threw a molotov?
Oh, it was police brutality!

Cane wrote:Considering the bad press and after the videos showed up showing that the officer did in fact brandish his weapon after reporting he didn't...I wouldn't count on the person getting any real jail time or a fine.

It doesn't seem unlikely to me. If they went through the trouble of arresting someone without sufficient evidence to do so I don't see why you think they wouldn't have arrested the person if they actually knew who he was.

He assaulted a police officer. That's not taken lightly, nor should it be, especially in a situation like this.

Kanluwen wrote:

Because it even says as much in the article, that after awhile it ceased being just everyone having fun--and a point came where the snowballers were throwing at any vehicles that were on the street and rolling down their windows to ask the snowballers to get out of the way.
And then it became a point where they were just throwing at any gas guzzlers, due to the "crowd's political leanings".

Hum. Sounds almost like it was an illegal protest/demonstration at that point...

It doesn't say that, it says this:

The Washington Post Article wrote:Some cars passing by rolled down their windows to taunt the warriors -- and were consequently pelted with snow. Gas-guzzling Hummers became a particular target, Grishkoff said, because of the crowd's political leanings.

Kanluwen wrote:...
So if that's the case, I guess because the PD issues their officers sidearms and body armor, the DoT should do the same?

Nope, wasn't saying that at all and you just went off on your own idea. You just focused on the non-police official quote despite there being a police official's quote in the mix as well.

Different Departments are...gasp...different.

Yup.

And it's funny that it says they want to y'know...look at the whole situation. There could be any number of possible explanations once you go into the realm of undercovers. Burnout is common, as is slipping too far into the persona.

Its also funny that the police initially said that he didn't pull out his weapon but quickly changed their tune after the vids were posted. And I think you're thinking about The Departed in this case even though it seems that undercover cop seems to mean detective not dressed in a police uniform which is a norm for them as opposed to infiltrating a crime network.

Sorry, I choose not to recognize your statement!

I coulda swore I saw it different on the BBC's article however.

Orkeosaurus wrote:

Cane wrote:Considering the bad press and after the videos showed up showing that the officer did in fact brandish his weapon after reporting he didn't...I wouldn't count on the person getting any real jail time or a fine.

It doesn't seem unlikely to me. If they went through the trouble of arresting someone without sufficient evidence to do so I don't see why you think they wouldn't have arrested the person if they actually knew who he was.

He assaulted a police officer. That's not taken lightly, nor should it be, especially in a situation like this.

Considering all the bad press they got from this, I doubt any charges would've been pressed. I'm going to nitpick here and say I didn't say they wouldn't get arrested but serving real jail time or getting charged/fined for a snowball assault? Not likely.