Most ER Personnel Say Cops Use Excessive Force

[marmar]

via AlterNet:



Most ER Personnel Say Cops Use Excessive Force

Posted by Digby, Hullabaloo at 11:11 AM on December 25, 2008.

But Tasers weren't included in the study.



A bunch of readers have sent this story to me today and it fits in quite well with another than that several forwarded to me yesterday. First, we have a vast number of ER docs saying that based upon their observations of injuries, police often use excessive force:

In a survey of a random sample of U.S. emergency physicians, virtually all said they believed that law enforcement officers use excessive force to arrest and detain suspects.

The sample included 315 respondents. While 99.8 percent believed excessive force is used, almost as many (97.8 percent) reported that they had managed cases that they suspected or that the patient stated had involved excessive use of force by law enforcement officers.

Nearly two thirds (65.3 percent) estimated that they had treated two or more cases of suspected excessive use of force per year among their patients, according to a report of the survey published in the January 2009 issue of the Emergency Medicine Journal.

Dr. Jared Strote of the University of Washington, Seattle, and a multicenter team also found that emergency physicians at public teaching hospitals were roughly four times more likely to report managing cases of suspected use of excessive force than those at university or community teaching emergency departments.

Blunt trauma inflicted by fists or feet was the most common type of injury cited in cases of suspected use of excessive force, followed by "overly tight" handcuffs.

Most emergency physicians (71.2 percent) admitted that they did not report cases of suspected use of excessive force by law enforcement officers. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/115372/most_er_personnel_say_cops_use_excessive_force/

[BlueJazz]

1. This post is strange, (to me)..Last night I was talking to a Friend of mine who is a Doctor....

...and he stated...after 3 drinks.."I don't report "excessive force on patients".."I don't want to be driving home and get stopped for
Reckless driving and Resisting arrest".


Whoa...Speak of the Devil. :)

[Fumesucker]

3. The NYC cop who bodyslammed the bicyclist is a good example..

Without undeniable video of the incident he would have gotten away with it and the cyclist would have a record.

[unblock]

2. the math is a bit puzzling -- you can't get 99.8% from a sample of 315 respondents

314/315 = 99.68% and 315/315 is obviously 100.0%.

perhaps they had a graduated scale, and nearly everyone "strongly agreed" but someone "slightly agreed" and they counted that one vote as half a vote for.


hardly changes the point of the article, of course.

[Mari333]

4. when the so called leaders of a nation walk away scot free

from crimes of torture, war, and the deaths of millions of people, the message to the rest of the nation is that its okay to be brutal.
sad, isnt it.

[bushmeister0]

5. And this is news?