Slog - Comments on SPD, King County Jail Settle Another Brutality Case

Comment by six shooter

six shooter — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:16:19 -0800

I wonder what's got the city is such a settling mood.

Does it look bad for the city to allow five or more years with no effective public oversight and then agree to huge pay raises in exchange for effective public oversight?

It's almost as if they knew they haven't done something they knew should have done.

Comment by john cocktosin

john cocktosin — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:49:29 -0800

What do you expect to happen if you call a police officer / jail guard a faggot?

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that Nebinger was either in Pioneer Square or one of the equally classy joints in Belltown. Maybe Belltown Billiards?

Comment by Fnarf

Fnarf — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:32:48 -0800

Nebinger sounds like a first-class toilet bowl, and will no doubt be intimately acquainted with many, many different cops and jail guards in his hopefully short life.

Comment by six shooter

six shooter — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:49:15 -0800

Take note, scallywags: Keep your mouth shut when you're arrested and in jail.

Comment by vooodooo84

vooodooo84 — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:56:43 -0800

Why don't the decent people like packratt get the big money?

Comment by max solomon

max solomon — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:16:46 -0800

6 mil in attorney's fee + 700K in payments?

$6.7 million/800k seattle residents = approx. $8/resident.

Comment by Damien

Damien — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:19:11 -0800

Well, thanks a lot for the math, Max. I want my $8 back.

Comment by Phil M

Phil M — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:11:45 -0800

John Cocktosin wrote:

What do you expect to happen if you call a police officer / jail guard a faggot?

I expect the reaction to be the same as if he had said just about any other nonsense. Our police have a high-stress job. Part of the qualification for doing that job well is to remain calm and professional in the face of insults from some jackass. That we're paying to settle out of court because some cop couldn't keep his cool is a strong indication that the cop needs to find a different job. We should fire him.

It's not okay for you or I to beat someone because he tossed a juvenile insult at us. (That John thinks it is okay does not make it so, it just makes him equally juvenile.) It's even less appropriate for someone in such a position of authority -- and with such potential for abuse -- as a cop or jail guard to do so.

Comment by snort

snort — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:37:52 -0800

Phil M

Reread the article. Dude was punched out by a jail guard, not a police officer. And yes, there's a difference. Hard to take your opinion seriously when you don't know that.

Comment by Phil M

Phil M — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:00:15 -0800

Snort: I was responding to John's comment, not to the story. I apologize if my quoting John did not make this sufficiently clear. He asked about "a cop or a jail guard".

As for my suggestion that the City's settlement indicates a cop needs to be fired, that was a mistake. Substitute "guard" for "cop" and the rest stands.

I'm tired of this hillbilly "he got what he had coming" attitude that appears every time someone dares to mouth off to someone in law enforcement or the criminal justice system.

Comment by zellers

zellers — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:54:56 -0800

This could be a trend. A student on the Seattle Central student was recently arrested in a violent manner (witnesses disagree as to whether he 'deserved it' or not).

One activist group and some lefty newspapers are calling it "police brutality." Will this become the next case? Or is Julio Hernandez just lucky if someone can afford to bail him out for $75,000?

Just a week before that, a South Seattle youth won a $269,000 in an excessive force case against the SPD.

Besides the ever-present concerns about racial profiling, can our regional government really afford to treat citizens this way, even if someone pays Hernandez's bail?