The Use of Force
Officer's use of force is excused - until a camera documents it
Susan Sward, Bill Wallace and Elizabeth Fernandez

Monday, February 6, 2006

The San Francisco Police Department should have known that Anthony Nelson was one of its most violent officers long before he slammed his baton down on the arm of a war protester and cost the city $835,000.

It was right there in the records. In nearly three years policing city streets, Nelson had reported using force on suspects more than any other officer in that period.

His reports showed that he had resorted to his baton -- considered an officer's second-deadliest weapon, after a firearm -- far more than other officers.

As the reports piled up, he had appeared five times on the department's quarterly watch list of officers who use high levels of force.

But Nelson's career hadn't suffered. If anything, he was on the fast track. On the day that a video camera caught him raising his baton high over his head before shattering the protester's arm, he was a field training officer, showing a rookie how to do his job.

The story of Nelson's unchecked forays with his baton and pepper spray shows how the Police Department tallies its officers' use of force but then does little with the information.

On Oct. 5, two months after The Chronicle first disclosed his record of using force, the Police Commission fired Nelson for writing a false report about his actions at the war protest. Before that disclosure, the commission had cleared him of using excessive force on the protester.

From Page A1 | All the information The Chronicle reported was available in the department's files. In analyzing thousands of use-of-force reports from a nine-year period, The Chronicle found that Nelson had used force 27 times in his 33 months on the job before the war protest.

Again and again -- 14 times -- he had turned to the baton to subdue people, often injuring them.

Repeatedly, the 6-foot-2-inch, 223-pound officer had cited fear for his safety as his reason for resorting to force.

Yet on March 20, 2003, there was Nelson in a police skirmish line at Fourth and Market streets, facing a swirling crowd protesting the war in Iraq. Among the protesters was Linda Vaccarezza, a 39-year-old court reporter from Sonoma County.

In a report he filed after the protest, Nelson said he was afraid of Vaccarezza when he became aware of her in the crowd.

"The woman was screaming and also carrying a sign attached to a solid wooden pole," Nelson wrote in his report. "The woman was holding the pole above her head. I feared the woman would strike me."

"I delivered one baton strike ..." he wrote. "The strike hit the woman possibly on her left arm/hand area. The woman then retreated and disappeared into the crowd."

Nelson's account might have been difficult to challenge, but it was recorded on videotape.

The tape shows Vaccarezza moving about in a crowd. Her sign is a plain piece of poster board, thin and wobbly, not attached to anything.

On the tape, Nelson delivers a violent overhead blow.

Officers are required to report injuries they inflict, but Nelson made no mention of any injuries to Vaccarezza in his report.

Vaccarezza would later testify that she immediately screamed at Nelson: "You broke my arm.''

Witnesses would tell Office of Citizen Complaints investigators that they heard the baton's impact on her arm and saw her hunched over, shaken and crying.

"Most of the witnesses and film footage of the incident do not support the accused officer's interpretation of the baton swing or the threat posed by the victim,'' the Police Department stated May 1, 2004, when charging Nelson with using unnecessary force and writing an inaccurate incident report.

The department recommended a 30-day suspension.

Jean Hyams, a lawyer who represented Vaccarezza in a lawsuit that the city settled for $835,000, said in an interview that "Nelson's behavior in this case and the fact it was documented on video should be enough alone to terminate him."

After conducting hearings that started last January, the commission ruled in August that Nelson had not used unnecessary force. It did find that he had written an inaccurate police report, a much lesser offense.

On Oct. 5, after The Chronicle had reported on Nelson's overall record, commissioners voted 5-2 to fire Nelson for the inaccurate report. It found that "Officer Nelson intentionally wrote and submitted a false description of the incident" and that "the officer's behavior indicates an attempt to divert scrutiny from his own use of force against a member of the public."

It was the first firing of a city police officer in five years.

"The department should have been monitoring this man long before Linda Vaccarezza ever stepped into his path,'' Hyams said.

Vaccarezza said the pain from her broken arm limits her to working at only 70 percent of capacity; in the year before her injury, she said, she earned about $250,000.

Doctors want to remove the plate they put in her arm after it was shattered, she said, "But I am terrified I wouldn't be able to work if something went wrong with the operation.''

Nelson did not respond to requests for comment made through his lawyer.

Officer's use-of-force reports grow

Born into a working-class Irish family, Anthony Nelson grew up in Pacifica, just south of San Francisco. At his disciplinary hearing in the Vaccarezza case, he described how he came to be a San Francisco police officer.

Growing up, he said, a next-door neighbor was a Pacifica police officer who acted as a mentor to him. The neighbor "kept me on the straight and narrow and made sure that I wasn't hanging out with the wrong people.''

In 1995, when Nelson turned 23, he joined the Pacifica Police Department. He applied to the San Francisco Police Department five years later and was hired in April 2000. He made the move, he said, because "San Francisco, in my opinion, is the epitome of what a police department is all about. It has a reputation worldwide.''

Nelson said he thought he could do something "that would be looked on in a favorable light.'' On the streets, he said, were criminals who preyed on the weak and vulnerable, and he wanted to build cases that put their kind in jail.

At his disciplinary hearing, Nelson acknowledged under questioning by Office of Citizen Complaints attorney Susan Leff that he had a citizen's complaint lodged against him before he left the Pacifica department. But he said that wasn't why he left.

Pacifica Police Chief Pat Brennan told The Chronicle his impression was that no complaint was pending against Nelson at the time he resigned. He praised him as a "good officer, good employee and hard worker.''

"That's not to say he didn't get complaints while he was here,'' Brennan said, but the San Francisco police looked at Nelson's record in Pacifica before hiring him, so "whatever there was can't be devastating.'' He said privacy laws barred him from going into further detail about Nelson's record.

In Nelson, the San Francisco Police Department liked what it saw.

After graduating from the police academy, new recruits with no experience spend 17 weeks in the department's field training program, being coached and graded by veteran officers. After his graduation on June 8, 2000, Nelson was in the program only 10 weeks, he testified, apparently because he "was ahead of schedule'' in demonstrating his ability.

Nelson was still in the field training program when he logged his first use of force. It was Aug. 10, 2000, and Nelson used his baton.

In his report, Nelson said a man running from him on Sixth Street had suddenly turned back to avoid another officer and "was now running directly at me and was closing distance very quickly.'' He said he swung his baton at the man and "he fell to the ground." The man did not complain of pain and there were no visible injuries, according to the police report.

Completing his field training later that month, Nelson began the standard one-year probation period. Steadily, his use-of-force tally began to climb.

In the next seven months, he reported using force four times. Two of those times, he used a baton. Once he fought a man he suspected of using drugs in a doorway of Mission Dolores, and the suspect ended up in the hospital after complaining of pain in his right wrist and left knee. In the fourth incident, he reported using pepper spray on a suicidal man threatening him and his patrol partner with a barbecue fork.

Then in April 2001, he used force three times in less than a month, qualifying for the first time for a watch list the department keeps of officers who use force frequently, defined as three or more times in a calendar quarter. Appearance on the list is supposed to prompt a review of the officer's record and counseling by the officer's superior when appropriate.

In one incident, on April 24, he used pepper spray on a man he described as "in an altered state of mind," jumping up and down on a car and screaming in the Mission District.

"I felt that he could possibly lose his footing and fall off the vehicle,'' Nelson reported. His solution: two bursts of pepper spray in the face. The man then obeyed his order to climb down, he said.

On May 9, he used force for the fourth time that quarter, after chasing down a man suspected of trespassing on St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church property in the Mission District. His reasons for using his baton to hit the man twice in the leg included that the man was 6 feet tall, that he ran when ordered to stop, and that Nelson suspected he had a weapon or a tool. Nelson stated in his report that the man said he was not injured and did not need medical care.

As Nelson's force reports accumulated, there is no indication the department was concerned by his continued high use of force. It soon moved again to place Nelson on a fast track.

Before his probation was up, Nelson testified, the head of the department's field training program recruited him to join the corps of officers who pair with new academy graduates to grade their conduct and pass on lessons about the world of the streets.

The training coordinator "apparently was impressed with my competency, my professionalism and my level of ability," and suggested he apply to become a field training officer. Nelson said he was told, "We think that you would be a good role model.''

As a trainer, Nelson testified, "You are literally molding the future of the San Francisco Police Department.'' He considered the invitation an honor "because most officers have to wait three years in this department before they can even apply."

Under department rules, only the police chief can make exceptions to the requirement that field training officers have at least three years' experience.

By Aug. 20, 2001, when Nelson said he began 40 hours of classes to be a field training officer,

he had reported using force 11 times in his first 14 months, including five incidents with his baton and four with pepper spray. His name had appeared once on the department's watch list of officers with potential force problems, and he was on his way to logging enough force to make the list a second consecutive quarter.

He did that on Sept. 30, about a month after his field training officer course, when he used his baton again, hitting a man on a Mission District street four times. He said the man was bigger than he was and was holding a whiskey bottle that could be used as a weapon.

According to The Chronicle's analysis of use-of-force logs from 1996 through 2004, only 61 officers in a department of about 2,200 made the watch list twice or more over the entire nine years. Nelson did it in 16 months.

At this point, his probationary period was over and he was a full-fledged member of the department.

In the next two months, he reported six uses of force and made the watch list for a third consecutive quarter. By December 2001, he had used his baton 10 times and pepper spray five times.

The department refused to say whether Nelson was counseled about his use of force, citing personnel privacy laws.

Over time, a pattern was emerging. Often the suspects he dealt with were hospitalized or treated at the scene for injuries. Several of the people Nelson used force on had mental health problems. Many of the suspects he described as big and physically fit.

Nelson also made frequent comments in his reports about the dangerous nature of his work, noting that he was alone, outnumbered or in a high-crime area when he used force on a suspect.

Baton a dangerous weapon, manual warns

Department regulations say that, to the extent possible, officers should use "an escalating scale'' of force in which the baton is the last option before a firearm.

The Police Department's crowd control manual is also blunt about the weapon's power, stating: "The baton is a dangerous weapon. Almost any effective strike, jab or thrust can break bones and/or cause permanent disabling injury to any part of the body.''

Nelson would testify at his disciplinary hearing before the Police Commission that he knew this was a weapon that "could basically cause death."

By the time of the war protest, he'd been on the streets for nearly three years and had reported using his baton 10 times in 27 incidents involving force.

That rate of baton use is high. A 2002 department report, for instance, found that 19 percent of all force reported by officers that year involved the baton.

Required by department rules to make certain there was a complete report made each time he used force, Nelson often went into meticulous detail about why he used the club.

Nelson's incident report for his Nov. 3, 2001, arrest of a graffiti suspect in the Mission District was fairly typical. He wrote that he was alone without backup in "a high crime area where violent crimes are common."

The graffiti suspect ran away. Pepper spray wasn't an option, Nelson wrote, because he was chasing the suspect at the time, and if he had attempted a "hands on" technique, both he and the man could have been injured falling down. Nelson reported that he hit 23-year-old Andrew MacDonald three times on his left leg with his baton and quoted MacDonald as saying he was not injured.

MacDonald, who left the state rather than face charges in the incident, denied in a telephone interview that he had been writing graffiti but admitted he ran when police arrived because he said he was drunk and standing near some people who were hanging out on the street using drugs.

"I ran maybe half a block and then thought, 'This is stupid, and I probably won't get away.' I stopped and turned around and put my hands in the air, just like completely passive," MacDonald recalled.

He said he knew that once one runs from an officer, "you can't make a truce, but I didn't expect to get it that bad."

Nelson "had ample time to stop running -- he was about 15 feet away, and he had his baton out." MacDonald said. "He was like coiling up his body, and he hit me really hard and I went down. He swung and first hit me in the elbow. I remember being smacked repeatedly while I was on the ground.''

Videotape shows officer striking protester

For Nelson, the March 20, 2003, war protest changed everything.

In testimony about how that day began, Nelson told of being among hundreds of police officers who gathered at Pier 70 to prepare for the demonstration. The police chief, Alex Fagan, told the assembled throng that "you as police officers are not going to be cannon fodder'' and that officers had a right to defend themselves as long as they followed policy and procedure, Nelson said.

Several hours later, Nelson positioned himself with fellow squad members at Fourth and Market streets as police attempted to clear the intersection.

Vaccarezza had decided to join the protest against the Iraq war before she went to a job she had that afternoon in the San Francisco courts.

Before joining the protest, she bought some poster board at a drugstore and penned the slogan "Don't Buy the Corporate Lies'' on it.

The 5-foot-7-inch mother of two said she mingled with the crowd in the street and waited for a police dispersal order, which she planned to obey. She didn't want to be arrested, she said, or to hurt her spine, which had been fused in an operation when she was 16.

Suddenly, she saw police start swinging clubs.

She saw another protester she didn't know, later identified as Ian Walker, get hit in the head and the back by police, she said.

Nelson's report said he hit Walker with his baton three times because Walker was holding onto the baton of the recruit Nelson was responsible for as his field training officer.

Nelson was standing close to her, Vaccarezza later testified, and she said to him, "Is this what you do? ... You're hitting him in the head.''

She reached out to pull Walker out of harm's way, she said, and just then, Nelson hit her arm with an overhead strike, causing her to fall to the ground as she felt "hot, searing excruciating pain." Vaccarezza was Nelson's 16th known baton strike victim.

The next day she had to have surgery, during which Kaiser doctors inserted a metal plate in her arm to hold the bones together while she healed.

In his police report, Nelson said Vaccarezza, whom he identified only as a white female adult, "rushed towards me" holding a placard attached to a wooden pole above her head. Echoing the fear he cited in other incident reports, Nelson testified later that he saw Vaccarezza as a "threat" and added: "I delivered a baton strike for my own safety."

He testified: "I didn't want to get hurt."

Without Colby Stoddard's video, it would have been the word of Vaccarezza and some witnesses against Nelson and other officers. But Stoddard, then an employee at a Berkeley biotech firm, was there recording the demonstration. He told The Chronicle that as he watched Nelson, he wondered, "Who is this guy, and why is he going nuts when most of the other cops are being professional?"

The video shows officers hitting Ian Walker, the protester standing near Vaccarezza. She is seen tugging at the back of Walker's leather jacket. The video then shows Nelson smacking his baton down on Vaccarezza's arm.

As the video moves on, Nelson is seen continuing to swing his baton until he drops it on the street and has to retrieve it.

Walker was arrested in connection with the incident, but charges were later dismissed.

Having seen the video and interviewed witnesses, Office of Citizen Complaints investigators rejected Nelson's account. In its charges, the Police Department states: "Film footage of the baton strike and the overwhelming majority of witnesses demonstrate that the victim did not rush at the accused officer, did not possess a wood-backed sign, and did not hold that sign over her head."

At the Police Commission disciplinary hearing, Sgt. Robert Deltorre testified he was standing nearby and never saw Nelson hit Vaccarezza. Lt. Michael Connolly testified that he gave a command for officers to use their batons as the protest heated up, but he did not order Nelson to hit Vaccarezza.

Connolly, who has special training in weapons use, testified he saw nothing wrong with Nelson's baton strike and that Nelson probably was responding to his order to use batons. But he also said he saw nothing in Vaccarezza's behavior that would have prompted him to order Nelson to hit her.

In the months after the war protest, Nelson kept adding to his force count.

After Nelson was charged in the Vaccarezza case, on May 1, 2004, his use of force stopped. His tally stood at at least 35, including 13 baton strikes and 7 uses of pepper spray.

At Nelson's disciplinary hearing, Vaccarezza told police commission member Peter Keane that her ordeal had changed the way she looks at police officers.

"These people are supposed to make you safe," she said, "but they end up being the people you are afraid of."

sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/02/06/MNUFNELSON.DTL&type=printable

Second-deadliest weapon....

Idiots.

Let's see the tape!

War protestor? I'll give him a pass on this

Seriously, it is San Fran they are talking about....looking crosseyed at most of those lib freaks would cause them to scream brutality....

That guy needs to do time.

Quoted: War protestor? I'll give him a pass on this Seriously, it is San Fran they are talking about....looking crosseyed at most of those lib freaks would cause them to scream brutality....

Looking cross-eyed at someone does not shatter their bones.

tag

IBTPA

The line of officers was moving the demonstrators back, and she made the choice that put her in that situation.

Video sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2006/02/06/MNUFNELSON.DTL&o=0&type=printable

LESS HIPPIES MORE STICK TIME

tag for home

Quoted: Second-deadliest weapon.... Idiots. Let's see the tape!

Then what is?

Batons are often placed just under a firearm on the use of force continuum.

Quoted: War protestor? I'll give him a pass on this

The troops defend the right to free speech, even if they disagree with it. Suppression of that freedom isn't what the oath is about.

Quoted: War protestor? I'll give him a pass on this

Yeah...catch him on the next piece of brutality.  

Quoted: Quoted: War protestor? I'll give him a pass on this The troops defend the right to free speech, even if they disagree with it. Suppression of that freedom isn't what the oath is about.

Notice the devil smiley....still, I hate war protestors, so don't expect me to shed a tear over this one...

If you hit someone, don't lie about it.

Quoted: The line of officers was moving the demonstrators back, and she made the choice that put her in that situation. Video sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2006/02/06/MNUFNELSON.DTL&o=0&type=printable

You're kidding right? She's pulling another protester back, she's walking backwards, she has her sign, sans stick as the police report alleged, and she was struck. The officer lied about the threat she posed.

This was brougth up today.. basically shows that of the 2,200 or so officers in SF, only about 100 of them account for most of the use of force situations.

The report, however, is completely blind to where in SF the officers are patrolling (and some of SF makes Oakland look bad) and is as such, misleading.

Well.......

Maybe this is sort of a win/win solution for us.  A goddamn hippy gets her arm broken and a potentially bad cop gets in trouble.  

The $835,000 settelment is a downer though.  I couldn't give a fuck less about San Frans budget, but I hate seeing said goddamn hippy get rich.  And I would hate to think that the SFPD just lost their next Dirty Harry....


-K

C'mon, I dislike the war protesters as much as anyone here, but this cop just likes to hit people.  She wasn't doing anything or threatening him in any way, although it's possible she said something he didn't like.

Damn, maybe I should become a war protester!  Damn near a million bucks for a broken arm?  Hell, I'd do it for half that!  

What a fuckin coward.

Was this a baton strike on (a) woman holding up a piece of posterboard or (b) violent mob protester?

Your choice (if you are a LEO) just fill out the appropriate form and check the boxes.

Good thing there weren't any dogs around.
May have been a little gun play

Stomp, Drag, Stomp, Drag, Stomp, Drag?

EDIT: Tasteless humor, sorry. Cop needs to be canned, and charged.

Quoted: War protestor? I'll give him a pass on this

Yea, they should fall in line with the rest of us.

Quoted: IBTPA

You called?  

Standard result from any civilian/ leo interaction, to be covered up by the blue wall. Move along.

Quoted: Stomp, Drag, Stomp,CRACK!, Drag, Stomp, Drag?

Fixed it.

Now THAT is tasteless humor.

He is the posterboy for the term JBT.

Does he have a Maglite as a backup?

Quoted: That guy needs to do time.

I was thinking a promotion to hang man.

Awesome! Dirty hippie gets beaten! I really don't see any positive players in this situation, a self rightous JBT, or a anti-war douche.

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE IS STILL DISOBEDIENCE!!

We should keep the journalists away while the police take turns going at them.

Dirty hippies were probably high and probably committed crimes at one time or another and had it coming.

The guy deserves to be fired.

Quoted: Well....... Maybe this is sort of a win/win solution for us.  A goddamn hippy gets her arm broken and a potentially bad cop gets in trouble.   The $835,000 settelment is a downer though.  I couldn't give a fuck less about San Frans budget, but I hate seeing said goddamn hippy get rich.  And I would hate to think that the SFPD just lost their next Dirty Harry.... -K

Don't worry about the cash.  Odds are she'll give most of it to poor people, who will of course spend it on strippers.  SUPPORT SINGLE MOMS.

Quoted: CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE IS STILL DISOBEDIENCE!! We should keep the journalists away while the police take turns going at them. Dirty hippies were probably high and probably committed crimes at one time or another and had it coming.

"First they came for the dirty hippies, and I did not speak up, because I was not a dirty hippie. Next, they came for...

Wait.......she made $250K  the year before as a COURT RECORDER? A TYPIST makes $250 K a year? Damn,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,break BOTH my arms so I can walk away with 1.6M.

If the cop lied I don't have any sympathy. Don't have any for her either tho.

The JBT should have kept both hands on the baton and used it like the officer to his left to engage the man in the brown jacket. My wager is that she was a vegan with reduced bone mass that would get a fracture from most anything.

wganz
¶

Quoted: Quoted: IBTPA You called?

Quoted: CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE IS STILL DISOBEDIENCE!! We should keep the journalists away while the police take turns going at them. Dirty hippies were probably high and probably committed crimes at one time or another and had it coming.

Obedience to the state is of paramount concern, of course.

I don't think this guy was right for what he did.  I am curious if this was an ASP/extendable baton or a regular baton.  An asp will do much more damage.  Also, I think this article exagerates the damaging effects and legal uses of pepper spray.  Honestly....tazers and pepper spray would be my main two go-to weapons (after my brain) if it boiled down to having to use force.  

Quoted: I don't think this guy was right for what he did.  I am curious if this was an ASP/extendable baton or a regular baton.  An asp will do much more damage.  Also, I think this article exagerates the damaging effects and legal uses of pepper spray.  Honestly....tazers and pepper spray would be my main two go-to weapons (after my brain) if it boiled down to having to use force.

Only problem is tasers are fairly inaccurate, and pepper spray doesn't go after one individual in a crowd.

Quoted: The line of officers was moving the demonstrators back, and she made the choice that put her in that situation. Video sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2006/02/06/MNUFNELSON.DTL&o=0&type=printable

Did you watch the same video as me?  

If the people don't comply with "herding" then use of force manual allows the officer to start the beatdowns?

HORSECRAP.

Protestors engaged in civil disobedience risk arrest for disobeying lawful orders of the authorities.   Cuff her and stuff her, fine.   But don't tell me that even a dirty hippie should be beat down under the circumstances presented in that video.  There's a reason they paid this lady almost a million dollars to go away:  Its because short of a jury of twelve JBTs, no way she was going to lose that case against the cops and the city.

You don't get to let loose with that fucking baton unles YOU are in jeopardy, which is why this shitstain lied in his report claiming that she was a threat.   She clearly was not.  Not under any possible analysis.    This guy wasn't even the closest officer.   He comes racing in from the side to smack her because she did not respect his "ah tho rah tay."    

You know, if the blue wall quit reflexively defending even clearly bad apples, the fear and concern about JBT-ism on this site would be greatly reduced.   Funny thing is, a lot of the cops who come to the defense of thugs like this have also been seen to be posting to Islamist threads questioning (rightly) why we shouldn't be suspicious not only of the terrorists, but also those of their co-religionists who sit back and make excuses for them.

She saw another protester she didn't know, later identified as Ian Walker, get hit in the head and the back by police, she said. Nelson's report said he hit Walker with his baton three times because Walker was holding onto the baton of the recruit Nelson was responsible for as his field training officer. Nelson was standing close to her, Vaccarezza later testified, and she said to him, "Is this what you do? ... You're hitting him in the head.'' She reached out to pull Walker out of harm's way, she said, and just then, Nelson hit her arm with an overhead strike, causing her to fall to the ground as she felt "hot, searing excruciating pain." Vaccarezza was Nelson's 16th known baton strike victim.

So this guy Walker grabs the police baton.  Yeah, uh, not a very smart move.

Vaccarezza admits to reaching out to pull Walker out of harm's way.  Yeah, uh, harm that he put himself into.  

Nelson was stupid for lying.  But don't interfere with police business and you won't get your arm broke.

Quoted: The line of officers was moving the demonstrators back, and she made the choice that put her in that situation. Video sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2006/02/06/MNUFNELSON.DTL&o=0&type=printable

The stupidity of the statement above is amazing.  Wonder if your opinion would be different if it was a protest on eminent domain, gun control, or illegal immigration?  

EPOCH

Quoted: But don't tell me that even a dirty hippie should be beat down under the circumstances presented in that video.  There's a reason they paid this lady almost a million dollars to go away:  Its because short of a jury of twelve JBTs, no way she was going to lose that case against the cops and the city. You don't get to let loose with that fucking baton unles YOU are in jeopardy, which is why this shitstain lied in his report claiming that she was a threat.   She clearly was not.  Not under any possible analysis.    This guy wasn't even the closest officer.   He comes racing in from the side to smack her because she did not respect his "ah tho rah tay."

Vaccarezza was interfering with the police's arrest of Walker.  She even admits to it.  I hope you are not saying that Nelson is not supposed to protect another police officer.  These were violent anti-war (irrelevant) protesters.  Walker tried to take away the rookie's baton.  Nelson acted immediately to prevent the situation from spiralling out of control.  Yes, he's a complete moron for lying, but I won't fault him for taking care of his own.  Nelson was responsible for the rookie.

She saw another protester she didn't know, later identified as Ian Walker, get hit in the head and the back by police, she said. Nelson's report said he hit Walker with his baton three times because Walker was holding onto the baton of the recruit Nelson was responsible for as his field training officer. Nelson was standing close to her, Vaccarezza later testified, and she said to him, "Is this what you do? ... You're hitting him in the head.'' She reached out to pull Walker out of harm's way, she said, and just then, Nelson hit her arm with an overhead strike, causing her to fall to the ground as she felt "hot, searing excruciating pain." Vaccarezza was Nelson's 16th known baton strike victim.

Quoted: Quoted: I don't think this guy was right for what he did.  I am curious if this was an ASP/extendable baton or a regular baton.  An asp will do much more damage.  Also, I think this article exagerates the damaging effects and legal uses of pepper spray.  Honestly....tazers and pepper spray would be my main two go-to weapons (after my brain) if it boiled down to having to use force.   Only problem is tasers are fairly inaccurate, and pepper spray doesn't go after one individual in a crowd.

Well if he had Chuck Norris riding along, a simple round house would've taken care of the intended target.  No "innocent" people in the crowd would've been injured.

The new SFPD logo:

Quoted: Quoted: But don't tell me that even a dirty hippie should be beat down under the circumstances presented in that video.  There's a reason they paid this lady almost a million dollars to go away:  Its because short of a jury of twelve JBTs, no way she was going to lose that case against the cops and the city. You don't get to let loose with that fucking baton unles YOU are in jeopardy, which is why this shitstain lied in his report claiming that she was a threat.   She clearly was not.  Not under any possible analysis.    This guy wasn't even the closest officer.   He comes racing in from the side to smack her because she did not respect his "ah tho rah tay." Vaccarezza was interfering with the police's arrest of Walker.  She even admits to it.  I hope you are not saying that Nelson is not supposed to protect another police officer.  These were violent anti-war (irrelevant) protesters.  Walker tried to take away the rookie's baton.  Nelson acted immediately to prevent the situation from spiralling out of control.  Yes, he's a complete moron for lying, but I won't fault him for taking care of his own.  Nelson was responsible for the rookie. She saw another protester she didn't know, later identified as Ian Walker, get hit in the head and the back by police, she said. Nelson's report said he hit Walker with his baton three times because Walker was holding onto the baton of the recruit Nelson was responsible for as his field training officer. Nelson was standing close to her, Vaccarezza later testified, and she said to him, "Is this what you do? ... You're hitting him in the head.'' She reached out to pull Walker out of harm's way, she said, and just then, Nelson hit her arm with an overhead strike, causing her to fall to the ground as she felt "hot, searing excruciating pain." Vaccarezza was Nelson's 16th known baton strike victim.

Did you even watch the clip?  Walker at NO time grabs the officers baton.  Nelson and the officer next to him both used their batons on Walker as he was moving backwards and continued to stike him after he struck Vaccarezza, as they moved forward.  They were in no way trying to arrest Walker

Quoted: Quoted: Vaccarezza was interfering with the police's arrest of Walker.  She even admits to it.  I hope you are not saying that Nelson is not supposed to protect another police officer.  These were violent anti-war (irrelevant) protesters.  Walker tried to take away the rookie's baton.  Nelson acted immediately to prevent the situation from spiralling out of control.  Yes, he's a complete moron for lying, but I won't fault him for taking care of his own.  Nelson was responsible for the rookie. She saw another protester she didn't know, later identified as Ian Walker, get hit in the head and the back by police, she said. Nelson's report said he hit Walker with his baton three times because Walker was holding onto the baton of the recruit Nelson was responsible for as his field training officer. Nelson was standing close to her, Vaccarezza later testified, and she said to him, "Is this what you do? ... You're hitting him in the head.'' She reached out to pull Walker out of harm's way, she said, and just then, Nelson hit her arm with an overhead strike, causing her to fall to the ground as she felt "hot, searing excruciating pain." Vaccarezza was Nelson's 16th known baton strike victim. Did you even watch the clip?  Walker at NO time grabs the officers baton.  Nelson and the officer next to him both used their batons on Walker as he was moving backwards and continued to stike him after he struck Vaccarezza, as they moved forward.  They were in no way trying to arrest Walker

Nelson said that Walker grabbed the rookie's baton.  

I wasn't standing where Nelson was standing so I couldn't see what Walker was doing.  The reason I couldn't see was because Vaccarezza's anti-war (irrelevant) poster was in the way the whole time.

Are you trying to tell me that you saw through Vaccarezza's poster?  I didn't think so.

IATPoliceApologists
IATCopBashers

What a deuschbag. Makes all the other LEO look bad on TV once again. All it takes is one rotten apple sometimes.

Quoted: Quoted: The line of officers was moving the demonstrators back, and she made the choice that put her in that situation. Video sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2006/02/06/MNUFNELSON.DTL&o=0&type=printable www.whatonearthcatalog.com/graphics/products/regular/AU2352.jpg Did you watch the same video as me?   If the people don't comply with "herding" then use of force manual allows the officer to start the beatdowns? HORSECRAP. Protestors engaged in civil disobedience risk arrest for disobeying lawful orders of the authorities.   Cuff her and stuff her, fine.   But don't tell me that even a dirty hippie should be beat down under the circumstances presented in that video.  There's a reason they paid this lady almost a million dollars to go away:  Its because short of a jury of twelve JBTs, no way she was going to lose that case against the cops and the city. You don't get to let loose with that fucking baton unles YOU are in jeopardy, which is why this shitstain lied in his report claiming that she was a threat.   She clearly was not.  Not under any possible analysis.    This guy wasn't even the closest officer.   He comes racing in from the side to smack her because she did not respect his "ah tho rah tay."     You know, if the blue wall quit reflexively defending even clearly bad apples, the fear and concern about JBT-ism on this site would be greatly reduced.   Funny thing is, a lot of the cops who come to the defense of thugs like this have also been seen to be posting to Islamist threads questioning (rightly) why we shouldn't be suspicious not only of the terrorists, but also those of their co-religionists who sit back and make excuses for them.

I don't know if "every cop's a criminal" like Mick said, but this one sure as hell is.  

Apart from filing the false report, Ca. Penal Code sec. 149 says:

"Every public officer who, under color of authority, without lawful necessity, assaults or beats any person, is punishable by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by imprisonment in the state prison, or in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

And any damn cop who went along with his lie needs to be fired and prosecuted as well.  And any cop who saw what he did and didn't report it need to be fired.

If LEOs want respect from the public, they need to quit covering for the criminals carrying badges and quit making excuses for cops who commit crimes.

So, he broke some freakin Marin county hippies arm.

Promote him to Major, make him an astronaut, and give him his own Jeannie.

Quoted: He testified: "I didn't want to get hurt."

Awww pobresito...

Because he was so terrified of a woman he broke her arm.

That fucking coward deserves worse than what he gets.