Cop Harasses Disabled Veteran for Legally Parking in Handicap Spot

[KamaAina]

http://filmingcops.com/cop-harasses-disabled-veteran-for-legally-parking-in-handicap-spot/

Isaah James had all of his documents to prove that he was disabled and he had his handicap placard clearly visible on the dash of his car.

He never expected that a cop would waddle over to him and begin harassing him....

Officer Wilson didn’t think James “looked disabled” despite the fact that all of James’s information was verifiable and his placard was clearly visible....

The officer gets increasingly frustrated and then out of nowhere smacks James’s phone to the ground like a child throwing a temper tantrum.

Bad cop! No donut!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. WTF is wrong with these cops?

The guy did a nice job tearing him a new one, especially where he says he doesn't think the cop looks like a cop with his big gut hanging over his belt.

[randys1]

3. This guy should get a gig on TV or something, funny as hell and right on, as we used to say

Oh and now the other cop shows up and starts to tell the guy he cant talk loud

wow

[Kelvin Mace]

12. In two words?

"Substance abuse"

[randys1]

2. I wish everybody could hear this , the vet is AMAZINGLY AWESOME and FUNNY in a DIRECT way

and the only reason he is still alive is the Black cop harassing him is

well


Black

None of the white folk seem to want to help out

Cop is being a jerk but he is treating the guy like a human being...now we dont see that all the time, so what is different here?

[SoCalMusicLover]

4. This Was A Good Cop

Seriously, what's all the fuss? So he was a bit heavy handed and slapped the guy's phone. It's not like he shot the guy. I mean clearly the veteran was not following the nice cop's orders, so the cop had every right to put some bullets in him had he wanted to.

If the cop would have shot and killed him, there would probably not be an indictment, so in these circumstances, I think the disabled veteran owes the cop a sincere apology, and perhaps a doughnut or two. The cop could have seriously hurt himself when slapping the phone out of the vet's hand.

[KamaAina]

5. Did you forget something?

Like this?

[randys1]

7. Implied...but there is some truth to it, imagine if a Black man mouthed off like that to a white

cop

I mean mouthed off the same way I mean it with Michael Brown, i.e. when being harassed not putting up with it

[SoCalMusicLover]

9. Yeah

I tried to be as blatantly sarcastic as possible, without sticking in the sarcasm drip.

Since when does a fucking Pig get to determine who is disabled and who isn't? They guy had the required placard, and so long as it was not a fake placard, that is sufficient to park in a handicap spot. Is it not?

I realize that there a people who play the system and get placards where they might not be deserved. But once that placard is issued, they have the right to park in a handicap spot. Do they not?

This Pig was clearly trying to bully the guy, and had absolutely no basis for doing so. I don't care if the guy was healthier and more in shape than Tom Brady, he had a placard, end of story.

[doc03]

6. Yes the cop is wrong. But from what I hear Mr. James has an serious anger management

problem. I see people every day abusing the disabled placards. Just this morning at McDonald's a
friend of mine that has a disabled placard and walks with a walker had to park on the other side of the parking lot because there were no spaces. In the space he usally parks there was a car with a disabled placard the driver sitting in the car while her teenage passenger went in and placed a carry out order. I see
people with then all the time that don't appear to have any disability.

[randys1]

8. Anger? If you serve your country TWICE getting blown up both times then get

questioned by cops when you use the space, let us know.

We will see if you handle it with the same sense of humor and non violent way this guy did.

[DLevine]

10. Disabilities are not always obvious.

Doesn't the cop have anything better to do than harass people who are doing nothing illegal?

[Logical]

16. I agree but too many people use them and then spend the next 40 minutes pushing a cart around.....

walmart with no limp or struggle. They are clearly not what the spots are saved for.

If you can walk around walmart for 40 minutes shopping you can fucking park 50 feet further away.

[Cal Carpenter]

20. What does that have to do with this guy?

This argument reminds of people who are like 'food stamps and lobster argghllbargle!!1!'

Geez, people on this thread need to stop before the word 'but'. If you agree with "Disabilities are not always obvious" then how is the rest of your post relevant? Why the disclaimer?

This should be about the asshole cop who disrespected this man who is disabled. Why are people so intent on making it about the small number of unrelated people who illegally park in a handicapped spot? They have nothing to do with this story.

And then this part:
"If you can walk around walmart for 40 minutes shopping you can fucking park 50 feet further away. "

This is nonsense. What is the time limit for a handicapped person to go shopping? How far into the store is appropriate to go? Maybe they can just get to the register and get bubble gum and batteries and live off that. I just don't fucking understand this lack of compassion people have for the disabled, and the level of judgment... What do expect people to do? If they have to shop they have to shop and they could be in pain the entire time. They could be an exhausted achey mess for hours afterward.

You have NO idea what someone is going through.

[doc03]

21. We have no idea what transpired before Mr. James started recording.

For all we know Mr. James could ran out of the store and jumped over the curb. Given the way he was acting I think he may have consumed some alcohol before going to the store. I don't blame the officer at all for getting pissed with this guy in his face with a camera and with his attitude he seemed to be trying provoke an incident. If the cop questions his diabilty placard show him your permit and don't just keep agitating the guy. Maybe the cop had received complaints about him or other people abusing the handicap spaces. There is a limited number of handicap spaces and I see people every day that don't have any problem as far a walking using them. I have seen many young people that pull in a space and put the placard in their window and literally run into a store. I have a partial disability for an injury I received at work 40 years ago and have always had a limp. I am sure I could get a disability placard if I applied but I feel there are people that actually need one more than I do.

[DLevine]

26. Well, one thing we do know is that the cop

knocked the phone out of the man's hand for no good reason. Out-of-control cops have become routine.

I'm sure if Mr James had done any of the things you claim he might have done, we would have heard the cop relating that information to the other cop. You seem willing to give cops the benefit of the doubt in all respects. Frankly, I've learned not to trust them. Mr James had every right to be angry. And, no, he didn't sound like he had been drinking alcohol, wtf, maybe test the cop for substance abuse.

[doc03]

28. What did the second cop keep telling James? Calm down sir. Mr. James never shut is

mouth for 1 second the whole time. If you go off like a beligerant ahole you can expect to be treated like one. It was obvious to me that James was trying his best
provoke the cop. What went on between the two before he started recording it? We don't know?

[CBGLuthier]

22. If you get the placard you get to use it. period. Not up to you or the cop

There are people with heart conditions. Maybe the extra fifty or one hundred feet would be bad for them. But really it isn't up to you if they got the card.

[DLevine]

24. The man had a handicapped placard.

Unless the cop had evidence it was stolen or otherwise being used illegally, he should have let the man go about his business. Some people have heart conditions or other non-obvious disabilities. They shouldn't be subject to harassment by cops everywhere they go.

The cop should have had more important things to do, maybe sample a few dozen Dunkin Donuts (quality control).

[SoCalMusicLover]

11. So What?

If you have a placard, you can park in a handicap spot. End of story.

If you want to get into the ways people manipulate the system to get a placard, that's a whole 'nother situation. But a placard, deserved or not, does give the specific holder the right to park in the handicap spot.

And I too would have an anger management issue if I had some Pig cop telling me I was doing something illegal, when I clearly was not. Only in our current society are cops able to do whatever they want, including bothering a disabled vet over a stupid parking spot, which he was clearly entitled to.

[Mariana]

13. My husband's colleague recently had a lung removed

and he has some other organs damaged by his chemo treatments, I don't know all the details of that. He looks perfectly fine. He doesn't "appear to have any disability" unless he has to exert himself by, say, walking more than a short distance. You wouldn't notice anything unusual if he were going into the McDonald's from the disabled parking space. You'd see a healthy looking man in his 40's. You'd assume he's abusing the placard. You would be wrong.

BTW, teenagers can be disabled, too. You have no idea what's going on inside some stranger's body.

The cop was on the job and should be able to deal with a situation like this without throwing a temper tantrum and destroying property. He needs to be fired before he hurts or kills someone over some minor issue like this one.

[KentuckyWoman]

14. You may as well save yourself time and just go smack a hornet's nest.

Look, I feel your pain when it comes to abuse of disabled placards. My husband has the disabled plates permanently and he's had more than a few situations where people abusing the privilege cost him the ability to participate in whatever activity he was trying to do. For him, it's a matter of no close spots at the grocery he sometimes has to give it up and come home.

However......... He nor I would ever presume to decide by just looking at someone whether they DESERVE a disabled placard.

There are just so many wrong things with your post...... I assume due to a simple lack of insight..... that the rest of us with more experience in the world just don't know where to start smacking you down.

Just stop and think about what you said in your post will ya?

[Cal Carpenter]

15. Your anecdote has exactly nothing to do with this scenario

And being angry is not a crime, and being held for 20+ minutes despite doing nothing illegal, having your phone knocked to the ground, and being completely disrespected seems a decent reason to get angry, afaic.

Some people may abuse disabled placards, but this man was NOT doing that.

Not all handicaps are obvious, and a cop should fucking know that. And when it's been shown to be the case, he should shut the fuck up and let the guy go.

NOT ALL HANDICAPS ARE OBVIOUS. You have no idea what someone's condition is. Just because you think they "don't appear to have any disability" to you doesn't mean it isn't there. You aren't a doctor, you don't know what disease or illness or injury someone may have. You don't know how much pain they are in. I feel sorry for you if you assume the worst in everyone just because a small number of people are assholes who take advantage of things.

In the words of Mr James, that situation was horseshit and a half. You should have ended your post right before the word 'but'. The cop was wrong. End of story.

[MrScorpio]

25. Sounded like a much deserved case of righteous indignation to me. nt

[UTUSN]

17. Cop "deciding" by looking. Nope. n/t

[Snobblevitch]

18. This cop was so wrong in how he handled this situation.

I do know however, that these handicapped tags are sometimes used illegally. The question I have is, are the tags somehow registered with the DMV or other database that is accessible to authorities? I rember reading a story about how a college student used his dead grandmother's disability tag to park illegally at the University of Minnesota. He was finally caught using it, but I do not rember how he was caught. I think the same article said that people (grandchildren) were also selling the tags for sometimes hundreds of dollars.

[Liberal_in_LA]

19. Jerk!

[pnwmom]

23. I am an able-bodied person who would have to park a car with a placard

in the handicapped parking, so I could go inside and pick up my disabled mother-in-law, who was waiting for me.

And of course there are people with heart and lung ailments and others who might not appear disabled, but are.

[SwankyXomb]

27. The kop was pissed

because he wanted to park there.