Spit on a LEO & You Get the Slobber Knocked Out of You

[baldeagle]

During the Vietnam War, National Guard troops were trained not to react when they were spit on, because they were spit on quite a lot. If you haven't been trained for it, it can be difficult to restrain yourself.

[mojo84]

Cops and jailers are trained to deal such. That's what the hannibal mask and netting are for. There's also a cool wheelchair for the unruly ones. This isn't the first time the officers have dealt with someone spitting at them.

[Javier730]

Cops and jailers are trained to deal such. That's what the hannibal mask and netting are for. There's also a cool wheelchair for the unruly ones. This isn't the first time the officers have dealt with someone spitting at them.

I don't think I could be trained to react any different than he did, especially knowing the kind of infections there is out there. Maybe he slept through that portion of the training.

[Charlies.Contingency]

I'm not going to get into an argument with a bunch of non-leo's on this, so I'll make it simple and to the point.

You spit on me, and it's aggravated assault. You could be spitting a disease that could kill me, it's just like somebody pointing what appears to be a gun at you. It might just be a painted over airsoft gun, or it could be a Hi point 9mm. The picture is the same. I do no believe this video did justice for the officer as far as angle goes, and if he did punch or hit, that is not acceptable. Spitting warrants an instant takedown, and a visit to the restraint chair, as well as an uncomfortable new headpiece.

Simple fix for this situation would have been female officers handling the female inmate, and no closed fist hitting.

[mojo84]

I'm not going to get into an argument with a bunch of non-leo's on this, so I'll make it simple and to the point.

You spit on me, and it's aggravated assault. You could be spitting a disease that could kill me, it's just like somebody pointing what appears to be a gun at you. It might just be a painted over airsoft gun, or it could be a Hi point 9mm. The picture is the same. I do no believe this video did justice for the officer as far as angle goes, and if he did punch or hit, that is not acceptable. Spitting warrants an instant takedown, and a visit to the restraint chair, as well as an uncomfortable new headpiece.

Simple fix for this situation would have been female officers handling the female inmate, and no closed fist hitting.

Wouldn't it be an assault or aggravated assault if someone was to spit I n one of us mere citizens?

[jmra]

I have one piece of advice for anyone and everyone who thinks they could not restrain themselves if someone spit on them...Stay out of the public education career field. Chances are at some point in your career you will get spit on and if you respond the way this officer did you will go to jail.
One of the things my father taught me at a very young age is in life you can very seldom control the things that happen around you, but you can always control how you react to those things.

[Charlies.Contingency]

I'm not going to get into an argument with a bunch of non-leo's on this, so I'll make it simple and to the point.

You spit on me, and it's aggravated assault. You could be spitting a disease that could kill me, it's just like somebody pointing what appears to be a gun at you. It might just be a painted over airsoft gun, or it could be a Hi point 9mm. The picture is the same. I do no believe this video did justice for the officer as far as angle goes, and if he did punch or hit, that is not acceptable. Spitting warrants an instant takedown, and a visit to the restraint chair, as well as an uncomfortable new headpiece.

Simple fix for this situation would have been female officers handling the female inmate, and no closed fist hitting.

Wouldn't it be an assault or aggravated assault if someone was to spit I n one of us mere citizens?

Absolutely, but preforming a takedown on somebody in walmart for spitting on you might not pan out too well. It would probably be better to call 911 and have an officer take care of it, but the situation dictates the appropriate response of course.

[VoiceofReason]

I could not get the video (just a black square) so I am just going by what others are saying.

There is a better way to handle something like this. Let’s assume you are a jailer that is spit on by a prisoner and the prisoner can’t make bail for a few days. Don’t hit the prisoner, but when you are on duty and meals are served, make it a point to take that prisoners meal to him/her personally. When you put the meal in the cell, just smile and say remember when you spit on me yesterday and smile. Do it every meal when you are on duty.

Don’t really do anything that could get you in trouble but have fun.

I just remembered something. We used to keep one of those big black electrical rubber gloves and a big jar of Vaseline on a visible shelf in the booking room.

By the way, I was a patrol Deputy but there were times we had to book a prisoner ourselves.

[Charlies.Contingency]

I have one piece of advice for anyone and everyone who thinks they could not restrain themselves if someone spit on them...Stay out of the public education career field. Chances are at some point in your career you will get spit on and if you respond the way this officer did you will go to jail.
One of the things my father taught me at a very young age is in life you can very seldom control the things that happen around you, but you can always control how you react to those things.

I like it. Very good saying!

[Javier730]

I could not get the video (just a black square) so I am just going by what others are saying.

There is a better way to handle something like this. Let’s assume you are a jailer that is spit on by a prisoner and the prisoner can’t make bail for a few days. Don’t hit the prisoner, but when you are on duty and meals are served, make it a point to take that prisoners meal to him/her personally. When you put the meal in the cell, just smile and say remember when you spit on me yesterday and smile. Do it every meal when you are on duty.

Don’t really do anything that could get you in trouble but have fun.

[mojo84]

I'm not going to get into an argument with a bunch of non-leo's on this, so I'll make it simple and to the point.

You spit on me, and it's aggravated assault. You could be spitting a disease that could kill me, it's just like somebody pointing what appears to be a gun at you. It might just be a painted over airsoft gun, or it could be a Hi point 9mm. The picture is the same. I do no believe this video did justice for the officer as far as angle goes, and if he did punch or hit, that is not acceptable. Spitting warrants an instant takedown, and a visit to the restraint chair, as well as an uncomfortable new headpiece.

Simple fix for this situation would have been female officers handling the female inmate, and no closed fist hitting.

Wouldn't it be an assault or aggravated assault if someone was to spit I n one of us mere citizens?

Absolutely, but preforming a takedown on somebody in walmart for spitting on you might not pan out too well. It would probably be better to call 911 and have an officer take care of it, but the situation dictates the appropriate response of course.

I'm not sure about your walmart scenario. I don't understand why some seem to think how the officer responded is ok. The officer punched a handcuffed woman is twice. It as the other officers that moved to restrain the woman and I have no problem with that.

[Charlies.Contingency]

I'm not going to get into an argument with a bunch of non-leo's on this, so I'll make it simple and to the point.

You spit on me, and it's aggravated assault. You could be spitting a disease that could kill me, it's just like somebody pointing what appears to be a gun at you. It might just be a painted over airsoft gun, or it could be a Hi point 9mm. The picture is the same. I do no believe this video did justice for the officer as far as angle goes, and if he did punch or hit, that is not acceptable. Spitting warrants an instant takedown, and a visit to the restraint chair, as well as an uncomfortable new headpiece.

Simple fix for this situation would have been female officers handling the female inmate, and no closed fist hitting.

Wouldn't it be an assault or aggravated assault if someone was to spit I n one of us mere citizens?

Absolutely, but preforming a takedown on somebody in walmart for spitting on you might not pan out too well. It would probably be better to call 911 and have an officer take care of it, but the situation dictates the appropriate response of course.

I'm not sure about your walmart scenario. I don't understand why some seem to think how the officer responded is ok. The officer punched a handcuffed woman is twice. It as the other officers that moved to restrain the woman and I have no problem with that.

I avoided supporting the officer in my original post, as he should not have done IMO what he did according to my perspective. The officer had reason to respond, but his response IMO was way overboard. I've had tons of people try to spit on me, never once did I react with a punch or hit. It's not exactly a violent assault, respond accordingly. Those that are supporting him seem to be more supportive of his right to react, rather than the punching. I know many might not know how to react when somebody tries to spit on them, but in LE:

1. You never hit closed handed.
2. You obey the force continuum.
3. You preform self control.

There would be no debate had the officer followed those three rules.

[steveincowtown]

You could be spitting a disease that could kill me, it's just like somebody pointing what appears to be a gun at you.

What deadly diseases are transmitted through spitting?

If we compare spitting to be like a loaded gun, we need to throw sneezing in there as well.

IMHO, the officer had a greater chance of getting infection by throwing the punches and catching one of his knuckles on her teeth than he did with her spitting on him. An open wound and saliva is bad news.

[mojo84]

Charlie,
This part of your comment comes across as if you are special and set apart from other citizens and that you have more right to retaliate.

I'm not going to get into an argument with a bunch of non-leo's on this, so I'll make it simple and to the point.

You spit on me,

Then you went on to discuss what can be done without acknowledging the cop punched the handcuffed woman twice while the other officers moved to subdue her and prevent her from doing it again. I understand spitting on a cop may be a higher level crime than just spitting on a mere citizen. However, it does not justify retaliation and punching a handcuffed woman twice.

Like I said in my original post on this topic, I may have done the same as the cop. However, that does not make it right.

[ShootDontTalk]

You could be spitting a disease that could kill me, it's just like somebody pointing what appears to be a gun at you.

What deadly diseases are transmitted through spitting?

If we compare spitting to be like a loaded gun, we need to throw sneezing in there as well.

IMHO, the officer had a greater chance of getting infection by throwing the punches and catching one of his knuckles on her teeth than he did with her spitting on him. An open wound and saliva is bad news.

Shouldn't you be taking your arguments to the Legislature? You should have an easy time convincing them that intentional spitting in someone's face is just a harmless pastime. Until you persuade them, spitting on someone is a crime.

Unfortunately, your face has two prominent avenues of risk: eyes and mouth. I'll let you read about one:

http://www.hepatitiscentral.com/news/can_saliva_tran/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You need to spend some time learning which diseases that can kill you are transmitted by saliva. Here are a few. Hepatitis C, TB (making a big comeback), viral meningitis. Talk to Paramedics and the staff at your local ER.

No, I'm not defending the officer. I am stating that spitting on someone (LEO or not) can be dangerous, even lethal, and it is a crime.