"The officer is still employed and has not been charged with a crime."

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**Ouze**

Seaward wrote:
Do we know what the other cops saw?

Yes. The tape clearly shows the female officer walking right next to the assaulting officer from 1:49 to 1:54 holding the keys. The second officer (slightly behind the bullpen) is clearly facing the cell 5 seconds previous to the assault, and is in the cell 4 seconds later, so he was clearly saw what happened and came over to check (though I'd only give him a 90% possibility, hell, maybe a phone rang across the room at that exact second).

--

The obvious analogy here, to the argument you guys are making, is a police officer witnessing a robbery while he's shopping, and deciding it's better not to intervene so he can testify without tainting the case if the store owner sues the burglar in a civil case.

**Seaward**

Ouze wrote:
Yes.

Nah, we really don't. Awesome net detective work aside, there isn't an angle I can see that shows where everyone else was actually looking at the time the assault occurred.

The obvious analogy here, to the argument you guys are making, is a police officer witnessing a robbery while he's shopping, and deciding it's better not to intervene so he can testify without tainting the case if the store owner sues the burglar in a civil case.

That's a really gakky analogy for a lot of reasons, but the main one is that in yours, the burglar's a flight risk, and in this case, what, you think the cop's going to tear ass out of the building for Mexico? What do you want them to do, exactly? Yell at him for a while? The complaint seems to be that "nobody said anything to him," yet I don't see him in the rest of the video after the assault, which says to me that somebody got him away from the scene. If you want him arrested on the spot, that's not really how it works, and if you don't want him arrested on the spot, then presumably you'd want the other cops to respond like professionals and triage the situation out a little bit, which it looks like they did. Get medical attention to the woman first, deal with the assault after.

**dogma**

Wait, why was her bra taken out the cell despite her boots being left there?

**Seaward**

dogma wrote:
Wait, why was her bra taken out the cell despite her boots being left there?

Isn't that usually for self-harm prevention? Dunno if the boots still had laces.

**TheMeanDM**

Fire his ass
Assault charges
Abuse of power charges
Brutality charges

Throw the damn book at him, and then make sure he gets put in a cell with some big fella that wants to make him his bitch.

He has no business being a police officer if he treats people like this.

**Relapse**

Ouze wrote:
Relapse wrote:
I believe that many of us here would have had words with the officer responsible if we were his co workers in that situation as I am sure the ones helping that woman must have.

That's the weirdest part of that, right? If you're one of those cops that walked in, and found that woman in there with her face broken. I mean, how do you let that slide as a law enforcement officer? Blue wall is one thing, but that to me seems like a bit much.

Really, the whole deal looks like something out of a bad movie, like return to Macolm County 10.

**Ouze**

Seaward wrote:
Nah, we really don't. Awesome net detective work aside, there isn't an angle I can see that shows where everyone else was actually looking at the time the assault occurred.

The argument that one has to be a net detective to deduce that officer 2 might have seen what happened perhaps 18 inches away from her face is as foolish as I was, with your brief foray off my ignore list. Clearly we both learned a lot from this thread; I know I did.

**Relapse**

Rewatching the thing it looks like the cop got pissed because she was too drunk or whatever to look at the camera. At that point he seems to lose it.

**Seaward**

Ouze wrote:
The argument that one has to be a net detective to deduce that officer 2 might have seen what happened perhaps 18 inches away from her face

That's weird. I can't see her face at all.

And don't worry about the ignore thing, dude. It's definitely not reciprocated. Unintentional comedic goldmines are too good to pass up.

**dogma**

Another article.

A Chicago woman has sued the village of Skokie and one of its police officers, alleging she was seriously injured after being shoved headfirst into a jail cell bench after a drunken driving arrest last winter.

Cassandra Feuerstein, 47, said in a federal lawsuit that the incident required facial reconstructive surgery and the insertion of a titanium plate to "replace the bones that had been shattered."

Part of the alleged incident was recorded on jail video cameras, which Feuerstein's attorney, Torreya Hamilton, released Wednesday.

"The video speaks for itself," Hamilton said. "She does nothing to justify what this male police officer does."

In a written statement released today, Village Manager Albert Rigoni said the village has “deep concern for Ms. Cassandra Feuerstein’s injuries that occurred at the Skokie Police Station.” The statement said that an officer involved has been placed on station duty, with no contact with the public, while both the village and the state’s attorney investigate.

Feuerstein was arrested for drunken driving March 10, according to Hamilton and court documents. The video shows officers searching Feuerstein inside the jail cell, where she appears to be asked to remove her boots and bra before being removed from the cell for additional processing.

An officer then takes Feuerstein by the arm and appears to push her back into the cell. Video shows Feuerstein falling forward and striking her head and face on a bench, before officers and paramedics tend to her as a pool of blood spreads on the floor.

"If this was a tavern fight, which of course it wasn't, it'd be like she got sucker-punched," Hamilton said.

In addition to a drunken driving charge, Feuerstein was charged with resisting a police officer. A Cook County court document filed by police said Feuerstein "knowingly resisted … in that she pulled away from (the officer) and placed both her hands on the sides of the cell door all in an attempt to not be placed into the holding cell."

The lawsuit also alleges the officer made false statements to others in the Skokie Police Department about why he pushed Feuerstein into the jail cell, causing his fellow officers to write false reports on the incident.

Feuerstein pleaded guilty to the DUI charge, but county officials dropped the resisting arrest charges. The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of damages.

The village said other officers who were present at the time of the alleged incident, both male and female, have been interviewed and “treated Ms. Feuerstein with professionalism and respect.”

The village values the police department’s “high professional standards and reputation and is deeply concerned about this isolated incident,” the statement continued. “… The Village of Skokie is committed to reaching a full resolution in this matter.”

The bold piece, in particular, interests me as it seems like a bit of a gamble by counsel.

Seaward wrote:

That's weird. I can't see her face at all.

If the second officer wasn't paying attention to the act of placing the woman in a cell, then she wasn't doing her job. At the very least that suggests incompetence.

Edit: This is also interesting.

**Ouze**

dogma wrote:
The lawsuit also alleges the officer made false statements to others in the Skokie Police Department about why he pushed Feuerstein into the jail cell, causing his fellow officers to write false reports on the incident.

Fascinating - nice find.

**schadenfreude**

It's from a Chicago suburb right? If so the officer should be backed by a powerful union and will probably walk.

It would be really bad for the city if they fire the officer and press charges. Both would look terrible in the cival suit, and the city would rish the loss of the officer's cooperation. The top priority for the city is sadly going to be damage control on the civil suit.

**Seaward**

dogma wrote:
If the second officer wasn't paying attention to the act of placing the woman in a cell, then she wasn't doing her job. At the very least that suggests incompetence.

Quite possibly. Things that shouldn't often nevertheless become routine.

Anyway, just one of many possible reasons his coworkers did not immediately start night-sticking him as our resident experts demanded.

**dogma**

Seaward wrote:

Quite possibly. Things that shouldn't often nevertheless become routine.

If incompetence is routine, then that is a problem which needs to be addressed; something which requires public acknowledgment.

Seaward wrote:

Anyway, just one of many possible reasons his coworkers did not immediately start night-sticking him as our resident experts demanded.

I didn't see anyone claim that Officer Hart should have been beaten with nightsticks, or that they happened to be an expert.

schadenfreude wrote:

It would be really bad for the city if they fire the officer and press charges. Both would look terrible in the cival suit, and the city would rish the loss of the officer's cooperation. The top priority for the city is sadly going to be damage control on the civil suit.

Hart's cooperation isn't really an issue, it is the cooperation of his fellow officers that is at stake.

**master of ordinance**

Okay, that was just wrong. Ive never been to the US, but surely there are laws against the mistreatment of prisoners?
And what the hell prompts all that, she's just standing there, then the officer grabs her and drags her back to the cells and throws her at the bench. How the hell is that arsehole still employed after that. How can that be excused?
Its hardly like she is some big 200 pound plus biker, she is a little lady, with a slim build. There is nothing she could do to threaten him.

Frankly I am disgusted that he can get away with this, and I hope that something is done. This arse should not get away with this, there is no excuse for what he did no matter what his excuses.