The Texas police officer caught on camera
throwing a black teenage girl on the ground and drawing his pistol should have done more to de-escalate the situation, not make it worse, a Newsmax panel says.
While there is still a lot to be learned about the situation, "it's also fair to say that officers have certain procedures that they should be following, and according to reports, there were 12 officers dispatched to that scene with a group of teenagers," Danielle Moodie-Mills of the Center for American Progress told Ed Berliner on "MidPoint" on
Newsmax TV.
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"I find it really startling that an officer in that position faced with teenagers would decide to escalate a situation rather than use the skills that they've been taught to de-escalate it," Moodie-Mills explained.
Christopher Ingraham, reporter for The Washington Post, told the "MidPoint" host that it's similar to other policing problems we're seeing around the country.
"It seems to me in a lot of these situations we have police who are often in a mindset of suppress and occupy rather than protect and serve," Ingraham said.
"Good policing — it's not just about going in with your guns drawn and telling everybody to do what you tell them to. It's also about building relationships with the community members and de-escalating things," he explained.
In this particular situation in Texas, the Post reporter said there were other police officers present but they "weren't getting in altercations with these kids," which "says that maybe there are multiple ways this officer could've handled this situation."
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