Homeland Security officer charged in tourist beating

[WonderNine]

Associated Press

BUFFALO, N.Y. A Homeland Security inspector is charged with violating a Chinese tourist's civil rights at a border crossing in Buffalo after an altercation left the innocent woman's eyes nearly swollen shut.

The incident occurred late Wednesday at the Rainbow Bridge on the U-S-Canadian border in Niagara Falls, after Customs and Border Protection officers confiscated marijuana from a male pedestrian.

Witnesses say Officer Robert Rhodes, mistakenly believing the woman standing nearby was involved, sprayed her with pepper spray and threw her against a wall. They say he kneed her in the head as she knelt on the ground and struck her head on the ground while holding her hair. The woman had bumps and bruises on her face and head.

Rhodes told investigators the woman ran from him as he tried to question her about the man with marijuana. Rhodes says he sprayed her with pepper spray when she swung her arms at him. He says she scratched his arm and they both fell to the ground.

 

[c_yeager]

He said She said.

On one side you have a person who is using his real name and who will be in big trouble if it really happened. And on the other you have the paraphrased comments of unnamed witnesses who may or may not have a reason to lie. it is rather strange that the alleged victim isnt even indirectly quoted in the article though.

 

[pinblaster]

If the guy beat his wife like he allegedly , beat this woman they would have confiscated his guns and taken him to jail .

 

[Leatherneck]

a Chinese tourist's civil rights

it is rather strange that the alleged victim isnt even indirectly quoted in the article though.

Maybe she only speaks her native tongue?

TC
TFL Survivor

 

[c_yeager]

Maybe she only speaks her native tongue?

And they couldnt find a Chinese translator at a border checkpoint? And the AP couldnt find one to have a chat with her afterwards?

 

[hammer4nc]

...in big trouble if it really happened.

Our "objective observers" will conclude she self-inflicted the facial injuries, just to victimize the innocent TSA inspector.

paraphrased comments of unnamed witnesses who may or may not have a reason to lie.

I suggest you may be assuming too much, cyeager...I mean, don't you want to rethink the "or may not" clause in your comment?

What is this, Glock talk?

 

[yankytrash]

That'll teach her to scratch his arm...

 

[JPL]

"They couldn't find a translator?"

Sure, every border crossing has a full contingent of translators...

"Need a Wolof translator at checkpoint 7. Wolof to 7, please!"

It was a border crossing with Canada, not with China, so I'd have to say no, there probably wasn't anyone around who could speak Mandarin.

 

[WT]

Lesson Learned: Don't run from the law and don't assault a LEO.

 

[Carlos]

Sickening. God, I just love people in positions of authority.

 

[JPL]

"Don't run from the law..."

Hum...

Witnesses appear to say the woman was standing still when the "officer" doused her with pepper spray, he says she started to run.

My natural disgust with stick and spray happy storm troopers in uniform leads me to automatically discount anything that one of them has to say.

 

[liliysdad]

Lesson Learned: Don't run from the law and don't assault a LEO.

Exactly..why did she run?

 

[nero45acp]

I hope they throw the book at that terrible woman for beating that poor Fed's knee with her face like that!! :banghead:


I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm feeling safer!



IHRE PAPIERE, JETZT!!


nero

 

[pax]

Why'd she run?

Maybe because she doesn't speak English and didn't know she'd been told to Stop Right There.

pax

 

[liliysdad]

So the officer was to just ignore her running after being told to stop...thinkig to himself "maybe she just didnt understand"?

I dont think so.

 

[JPL]

I'll note again that that the two segments of the story don't mesh up.

Witnesses say the woman was STANDING nearby, not running, when the JBT hosed her down and assaulted her.

The JBT, on the other hand, says she was running.

 

[liliysdad]

The JBT reference is really nice, thank you

 

[atek3]

Wait, where are FedDC and wildalaska, this thread has too much cop-bashing. Needs more balance.

atek3

 

[Beren]

Multiple witnesses claim she was standing there when she was sprayed, then thrown into a wall. The inspector claims she started to run. Hopefully the incident was caught on camera, because as it stands, it does not look good for the inspector. So the inspector has earned a Kerry Purple Heart award, good for him. Maybe the scratch will get infected and they can charge the lady with using biological weapons against a law enforcement officer.

Where, exactly, was she going to run? Back to China? Was immediate, forceful action necessary to detain her for questioning - was she really threatening the officer with force? I don't know. I wasn't there - but from the article, it does not look good.

It's a crying shame our great republic has fallen to the point where officers of the law are duty-bound to throw women into walls over chopped shrubbery.

 

[FedDC]

Yeah, she was probably just standing there planting pretty flowers when that mean old cop decided to violate someone's rights and she was probably the easiest target...

The simple truth is that none of us know what happened. What we have above is a limited, one sided description that is paraphrased... Now that is a great piece of intel for folks to start throwing the JBT label around. I think some of the folks that like to use the Nazi terminology need to take a trip to the Holocaust Museum and refresh their history bc having been there, there is no comparison between the Nazi concentration camp guards that systematically murdered millions of Jews and American LEOs. Name calling like that is nothing more than a poor excuse for a lack of honest debate skills.

 

[JPL]

My pleasure.

My unmitigated pleasure.

 

[Penforhire]

It does make all the difference in the world whether she tried to evade the officer first.

 

[deej]

I think some of the folks that like to use the Nazi terminology need to take a trip to the Holocaust Museum and refresh their history bc having been there, there is no comparison between the Nazi concentration camp guards that systematically murdered millions of Jews and American LEOs.

Ding ding ding! We have a winner!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law

 

[Wildalaska]

My usual response...Ill say the officer was bad or good when I got more facts, not just what I get in the press...

Im not so much a cop defender as I am a skeptic, and of course since I have a clean record, a non cop hater..

WildbacktogunsalesAlaska

 

[Glock Glockler]

I think some of the folks that like to use the Nazi terminology need to take a trip to the Holocaust Museum and refresh their history bc having been there, there is no comparison between the Nazi concentration camp guards that systematically murdered millions of Jews and American LEOs

Just because the outmost extreme of Nazism would compare with American LEO behavior (for the most part) doesnt mean that Americans LEOs dont exhibit bahavior that would make Nazis proud. My grandfather had a Luger put against his head and the trigger pulled by a group of drunk SS soldiers who thought it was funny.

He wasnt killed or even physically injured, but is it incorrect to label such behavior Nazi-like?

What if someone just had an absolute and blind obedience to the govt, does that qualify?

It does make all the difference in the world whether she tried to evade the officer first.

Why spray their eyes if they try to evade you, that seems more like a tactic to be used against someone who attacking you? If they're evading you why not just grab them, why spray their eyes?