The
Daily Texan Editorial board published an article criticizing Austin
Police chief, Art Acevedo. When confronted by the press about an
arrest made last Thursday morning, Acevedo responded in an
“alarmingly aggressive” manner. The incident involved a jogger,
24 year old Amanda Jo Stephen. Her initial violation was “failure
to obey a pedestrian control device.”
At the time, Stephen was wearing headphones and did not hear the
officer approach. Unable to verbally gain the assailant's attention,
the APD officer grabbed Stephen by the arm and arrested her.
According to an eye witness, she refused to identify herself and was
yelling at the cops that were pinning her to the ground. A video
taken by an onlooker quickly went viral and evoked a “swift,
negative and complex” public reaction.
In a press conference Art commented this: “In
other cities there’s cops who are actually committing sexual
assaults on duty, so I thank God that this is what passes for a
controversy in Austin, Texas.”
This hurt the situation and negatively affected the trustworthiness
of the Chief of Police. The
author explains that “officers
should have the discretion to enforce the spirit of the law, not just
the strict text of it.”
In their opinion, the arrest was unnecessary as was the hostility of
Acevedo's response to it. I agree that he absolutely could have handled the
situation more maturely.
No comments:
Post a Comment