Washed up meter maids need due process lessons as much as punk kids need a night in juvie.

Oh man, I heard this clip on the radio yesterday morning. I'm kinda bummed that I watched it b/c I pictured the cop as the movitational speaker who lived in a van down by the river.

@pepelicious: @sample032: I love his shorts

@Nicholas Carlson: I think he does, too; it must be a prerequisite for the job.

Liter'a'cola is French for "gimmie some fuckin cola!"

@Nicholas Carlson: He reminds me of the security guard at my jr high who was just as preachy and wore similarly ridiculous clothing. I one time witnessed him commandeer a kids dirt bike and take off across the field to break up an afterschool fight in the park. I think these two are soul mates.

That kid needed to be taught a lesson though. Innocent or not, you have to respect police officers. Disagree civily if you want, but talking back will lead to death in some cases.

If that kid talks back to a large police officer, then there is nothing preventing him from disrespecting you or the wrong person (with a gun).

Stupid kid.

It is too bad this was videotaped. There are some confrontations that need to be or needed to be taped, but this isn't one of them.

notice at the end when he starts to say "You got that video camera on? If I end up on Youtu...."

The kid is clearly disrespectful and needs to be set straight. However, the cop has an authority issue of his own (he's searching for an opportunity to exert his "power" and it's easier to pick on a little kid than some one who would be a real challenge). The cop smacks of a high school bully (or someone who was bullied, and now it's payback time).

Both are morons IMHO. The kid should get smacked upside the head and the cop fired.

I'M NOT YOUR DAD! I'M NOT YOUR DAD! I SWEAR YOUR HONOR! WHAT!? NEVERMIND.

"The kid is clearly disrespectful and needs to be set straight."
It isn't at all clear to me. Please tell me what these kids did that was so disrespectful.
What is so disrespectful about calling someone dude?

Some dude in a funny little car wearing a yellow polo with ridiculous shorts thinks a kid is showing him disrespect. If it were me, I'd look toward City Hall because I'd just laugh at the clown, if it were me.

There are no winners here. The kid and the officer both needed to learn lessons. I bet neither one does.

@jccalhoun: I'm no fan of authoritarian behavior or primate dominance games. There's a reason I live in San Francisco. Still, cops are the people we employ to maintain order, and their primary tool for that is establishing authority.

When a cop tells you to do something, the proper answer should generally be yes, should always be respectful, and hopefully involves the word "sir" or "officer". For the duration of your encounter, they are basically in charge. With certain narrow exceptions, the safest and smartest thing to do is to act that way. If you're going to complain, do it afterwards and to his bosses. Don't believe me? The ACLU says pretty similar stuff.

In this case, calling somebody "dude" suggests either a peer or inferior relationship depending on how you say it. Another mistake was interrupting the cop. That's a clear sign of disrespect. That's a lesson Roger Clemens learned just yesterday.

I have almost zero respect for this porker and his mall-cop existence. But he is (or at least was) a real cop, and during an encounter like this, the badge deserves respect even when the man behind it doesn't.

The kid had every right to talk and ask questions. This idiot of an officer has an issue with control and thinks that he can control people with his mindless agression. He even had the kid in a headlock at one point and threw him down. Had he been really trying to restrain him, he would have kept him down and put the cuffs on him. He knew he was wrong, so he got up and started to walk away.

Then and only then did he realize that he could get in trouble so he tried to intimidate the kid. This idiot should be fired, but lucky for us he will be out there again.

A better way to handle the kid would be to just talk to him. Let him know what the rules are and send them on their way. He would have gotten cool points from the kids and earned some respect. Now we have this video to prove to kids that all cops are assholes to them. This is 100% the officers fault.

@pepelicious: I was thinking the same thing ...

Admittedly the kid is stupid for using "Dude" with the cop and not "Sir" like his friends. But the cop did escalate this really quickly going from being sardonic, to yelling, to physical restraint and takedown in under 60 seconds.

bump to get it posted ....

Kids need to be kicked in the head a bit more often. I've gotta agree with the guy - if you let the punks run around without discipline, they'll go and shoot up a school or something.

The cop's angry because he has to wear those god-awful shorts and ride around in that emasculating electric vehicle.

I'll go a step further and say this cop ought to be tested for roids.