
Originally Posted by
Dan Druff
A very good rule of thumb to live by, involving police:
When you feel you are getting mistreated or unfairly commanded by police, deescalate the situation and do as they say. Then give it a day or so and reflect on what happened (when you're sober). If you are still convinced they violated policy, go to the station and file a complaint. Body cams will usually tell the story.
Had Flanagan done this, she would have sobered up, realized she was acting stupid, and nobody would have ever known about this.
When I was young, I had two encounters with officers in traffic situations where they were definitely abusive and violated policy. Never got beaten or anything like that, but in both cases the officer incorrectly assumed I was on drugs just because I was a young, skinny white guy driving late at night. They acted very abusively because I wouldn't "admit" to being on drugs when they pulled me over. I regret in both situations not reporting both of them later, but in both cases I think they realized they fucked up and didn't write me a ticket, so I called it a wash. In one of the cases, I was actually put in cuffs while the guy searched my car -- which I consented to him doing just so he'd see I wasn't on drugs. (I wouldn't do the latter today, due to the rise of civil forfeiture bullshit!) But I do give myself credit for trying my best the entire way to deescalate both situations, and eventually doing so successfully. This type of stuff never happens anymore because I'm middle aged, nor am I skinny, so they don't default to assuming I'm a druggie.