Police around the world are often accused of using excessive force, but it’s America’s cops that have increasingly come under closer scrutiny for the way they conduct themselves.

That’s largely due to the fact that they’ve made a habit out of brutalising and murdering black citizens – so many examples but here, here, here and here to get the ball rolling – but this time around it’s a white 20-year-old woman on the wrong end of the law.

Emily Weinman was punched and beaten by police from New Jersey’s Wildwood branch two weekends ago, and cellphone footage capturing their heavy-handedness quickly went viral.

Here’s that footage, with a warning that it will be disturbing to many:

I was sleeping on the beach and I woke up to this.. i can’t believe it.. pic.twitter.com/UJE5Sy7E4G

— Lexy (@HewittLexy) May 26, 2018

Yes indeed, that all seems very over the top.

As the footage gained traction, playing on news channels around the world, the police came under fire.

Eventually, the department decided to release the bodycam footage from one of the officers involved. Before we go to that, here’s Huff Post:

Police officers asked Weinman to breathe into a breath analysis device after they found alcohol near her beach blankets. She apparently passed the test and said the booze belonged to her aunt. Weinman was apprehended after she refused to provide her last name to the officers…

The officers involved in the arrest were patrolmen Thomas Cannon, John Hillman and Robert Jordan, according to NJ.com. It is not clear which officer hit Weinman.

Weinman was handcuffed, put into a police vehicle, and charged with two counts of aggravated assault on an officer and possession of alcohol as a minor.

This one is all action from the get-go, and the violence may be disturbing to some viewers. It gets really ugly from around the three-minute mark:

Get this – Wildwood Police Chief Robert Regalbuto actually defended the officers’ actions:

“From what I see on the video and only on the video, from not even talking to the officers, I think they did a decent job,” Regalbuto told NJ.com. “I think we could have done a better job at trying to explain to her, but it didn’t appear Ms. Weinman wanted to hear what we had to say.”

So two grown men felt it was necessary to resort to such measures in order to pacify one 20-year-old woman?

Imagine if she had asked to speak to the manager? Imagine if she was black?

Action has since been taken, and the officers have been placed on administrative duty while Wildwood and county prosecutors investigate the incident.

I get that being a police officer is stressful, and at times thankless, but you have to find a better way to deal with incidents than this.

[source:huffpost]