From YouTube:
COLUMBIA, SC — A drunken sheriff’s deputy was recorded during a strange and inappropriate altercation when he tried to arrest a female soldier at a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant in Columbia.
On October 7th, 23-year-old Brittany Ball, a USMC member out of Fort Jackson, was allegedly upset at the restaurant when approached by Richland County Deputy Paul Allen Derrick. She apparently turned down his advances and the two began to argue.
Derrick, a 17 year veteran, left the restaurant to go retrieve handcuffs and his gun from his vehicle, then returning to try and arrest Ball. He was recorded screaming at her and barking orders as he twisted her arms behind her back.
Columbia police arrived and saw the video and ordered Derrick release Ball, then took Derrick into custody and charged him with assault and battery
Sheriff Leon Lott initially backed Derrick, saying that he had authority to make an arrest, suggesting that Ball was “resisting”.
After a week of pressure and reasoning, Sheriff Lott placed Derrick on leave without pay.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A bit ‘more’ on the story. Seems Derrick’s ‘veteran’ story panned out as mostly false as well. http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=38025
I am reprinting this comment I left at a legal blog where the question was asked. I am not a lawyer…just a geology and history student looking for a grad school here in NC, Revolutionary war re-enactor and a volunteer at Guilford Courthouse NMP
I understand some other soldiers were there with her (including the guy filming). Speaking as former soldier, there is not much in the way of SOP to deal with a drunk LE officer who has a gun and a badge and is already showing really bad judgment. They did the best thing in calling the local cops asap and keeping the video recorders rolling since he hadn’t done anything (yet) to demonstrate an actual threat to life and limb.
Interfering in an arrest…even an illegal arrest, is a great way to get dead very quickly. The cop’s attitude is “I will win, and I will do anything and escalate force to any degree necessary to win.”
If the situation has not degraded to the point that you really do have to make a life and death decision regarding yourself or your friend/buddy/date…stay calm, record everything and try to defuse the confrontation wherever possible. An excellent example of this can be seen on video from a few years ago when an Iraq veteran MP was put down on the ground with his friend by a belligerent San Bernardino County deputy who ended up shooting the friend in the back while he tried to comply with a command. The MP showed remarkable composure in a deadly situation and was constantly trying to calm the deputy down. Fortunately, the victim survived and the deputy was fired, although he was found not guilty of various charges at trial.
Any service members reading this: Stay safe and watch your friend’s backs, regardless of what branch they are in. This especially applies wherever alcohol is involved!
I disagree. What do you think her father would have done if he was there?
Evil is evil and I have no faith left in our judicial system. This particular incident ended well. However, we are seeing too many examples of law enforcement being out of control with deadly results.
Alright. Let’s say he tries to bring the arrest to a close and begins to lead her away to his unmarked vehicle and take her away to God knows where. What would you do then?
I hate to say it, but I would absolutely NOT let this happen in front of me without intervening. Whether that be by reason or force. I cannot believe that the witnesses did not do more, although I can sympathize with their apprehension. Those people were witnessing TORTURE before their eyes & did not do enough to stop it. I read a news article that said the soldier and young woman suffered permanent damage due to the amount of force used against her. It was pretty obvious to me that he was intentionally causing a significant amount of pain with absolutely no justification. The fact that the police chief initially suggested that she may have been resisting is disgusting. I realize the consequences of a person taking physical action in that situation are probably grim, but my morals are more truth than any state or federal law.
Thing is, the moment you intervene in that situation, you give the police all the cover they’ll need. Now it’s an incident involving several drunk and disorderly people and the police will close ranks against the victim. By recording the incident, you all but ensure that disciplinary action will be taken due to public outcry.
“By recording the incident, you all but ensure that disciplinary action will be taken due to public outcry.” Based on historical evidence, I find that hard to believe… Rodney King -- LEO acquitted, Kelly Thomas -- LEO acquitted, Henry Glover -- LEO acquitted.
What are you talking about with that headline???? somebody did help her. they filmed the whole incident and showed it to the cops. the charges against her were dropped, he was fired and arrested. They probably did the best thing one could do in that moment. Gathered evidence. what else could you have done? 911 had already been called. are you suggesting take down a drunk cop with a gun? get a police officer in a headlock? seriously, what else could people have done?
What if this situation would have had a different end result? Like the man who was choked to death by police for suspicion of selling cigarettes. Some people are willing to accept a police state. Some are not.
They did EXACTLY the right thing! The time to fight or intervene is not when cop is detaining someone or an arrest is being made. It NEVER works out when you try fight with a cop, especially a drunk, out of control cop. What would you suggest, them bum rushing the drunk cop with a gun? Do you think the cop would just let them overtake him? People could have been shot and killed that night and instead of a drunk cop being fired for abusing his power it could have been “drunk bar patrons shot for assault on a police officer!” The cop inflicting pain on her was horrible. It seemed like the people trying to talk to the cop, just agitated the situation. They were just trying to help, but they should have known by his behavior that he couldn’t be reasoned with. Was everything handled perfectly by those helping? Maybe not, but it could have gone a LOT worse. This was a crime, but he was still a cop and anything tried could have given the cops what they needed to justify that pig’s actions.
Said the slave to his master.