I’ll assume by your defensiveness that you would have answered “no” if had bothered to read what I had asked. In that case, then why suggest that he shouldn’t be on the job? He got angry, but never “lost it.”

I applaud that the policeman decided to teach the young man that his actions have consequences. If you are suggesting that policemen should be infallible, that they can be expected to never get mad when a hooligan calls him a dick, then your are living in an imaginary world.

And yes, I called him a hooligan again. By definition, it is a rowdy, unruly disrepectful youth. If you equate a term like that to a vulgar term used to describe the male genitalia, you are again living on another planet.

As far as threatening to break the skater’s arm goes, it wasn’t so much a threat as a statement of fact. The whole reason a policeman grabs a person’s arm like that is to immobilize them. Hence the warning “if you resist me again I’ll snap your amr like a twig.” What are you people gonna say next? That cops aren’t allowed to say “stop or I’ll shoot?” That sounds like a threat according to you people. I don’t suppose you’d be in favor of cops breaking people arms, or shoothing them without giving them warning of the consequences of their actions.

Let these guys do their jobs. It’s not like he threw the guy in the back of his squad car and took him to an abandoned warehouse to beat the crap out of him. Something like that is what we should be vigilant against. Not something like this.

Where did I imply we should get rid of cops? The officer is entrusted with more rights and responsibilities and should act in such a way.

I’m also amazed at the amount of prejudice and name calling. Ironically many of the same people who think the skater should have shown respect and not called the officer a “dick” see no problem with calling the skater a ‘hoolagin.’

Would you be happy if we just got rid of cops, Ari? Let’s just make it a free for all and see if you are happy then.

The officer was also incorrect, it is not against the law to skate in residential districts during daytime hours in San Francisco.

He should be given a warning by his superiors much like the police man was giving a warning to the skaters. If the policeman when given such warning called his superiors ‘fucking dicks’, then he should be fired from his job in the same way the skater should have been arrested once he thumbed his nose at a mere warning. If, however, the policeman had heeded the warning not to threaten other suspects with a broken arm, then he should be allowed to continue to do his job in the same way that the skaters would have been let go if they had taken their warning.

It’s really ashame that people don’t seem to be willing to cut this policeman the same slack that he was willing to cut these law-breaking hoolagins.

To all the people who think the officers shouldn’t have taken an agressive posture; how would YOU handle it if you were by yourself dealing with 4 or 5 young men (these were not 8 year old children)? One of them calls you a f@cking D#ck and you don’t react, they all take that as a sign of weakness and before you know it you’ve got 5 angry young men shouting insults and getting agressive with ONE cop. Sounds to me like someones about to get whacked in the face with a night stick in that situation.

I think the way it was handled was just fine, and if anything I don’t think the cop should have explained himself to the citizen who questioned him forcing the skater into his patrol car with his foot. Oviously this wasn’t a “beat down.” Just a little tough stuff to hopefully teach this young man not to mess with cops anymore.

What worries me about this whole video is that now those skaters have learned just the opposite lesson. You can break the law, vandalise cars, mess with city property and even curse out a cop if one shows up to stop you as long as you get a video camera running and can catch the cop doing something “not by the book.”

We’re teaching these kids the wrong thing by standing up for them.

Ever go into a public restroom and see all the crap scratched into the mirrors and written in marker on the walls? Well crap like that is never gonna stop if the jokers that do stuff like that aren’t intimidated by the authority of the police. YES YOU SKATERS. I’ve seen you doing it.

Give this cop an award.