(WA)Cops tase and arrest assault victum

[RogueIce]

The officers report confirms some of the information relayed in the dispatch log. I don't agree with the reasoning the officer uses to assign Ms. White as the primary aggressor. We, and the officers, do not know what Ms. White's intentions were. Just because she was "sprinting" over to them does not mean she was the primary aggressor.

From what I've heard, if both parties say the other attacked them, they'd go with whoever took the most injury. Given Ms Johnson apparently had injuries to her side and went with an ambulance to the hospital versus the scratches to Ms White's neck, I'm guessing maybe Ms Johnson took the worst of it. That and if the officers viewed Ms White's actions as aggressive (well obviously they did, hence the use of a taser), along with Ms Johnson "hiding" from Ms White, well... One could maybe see where they came from. Plus it's possible Ms Johnson just managed to sell her story better or something.

Another theory, I ask you. Is it possible Ms Johnson was also arrested? From the look of the report it seems the paperwork assumes one arrestee and one victim. So could there be another report with the roles reversed? Would this be normal or vary from agency to agency? I ask because of a couple things: first the case number on the report. It ends with a .1, which seems kinda non-standard to me (it certainly is different than the otherwise near-identical incident number on the dispatch log; that and it drops the initial 20 for whatever reason). So is it possible there's a ".2" report they didn't post on the news site? That and the very bottom of the dispatch log about the "access response" for LESA (which is basically their E911 and dispatch system). There's the top one for Ms White, but also another one for a name mostly whited out...but you can just see the letter J still. So they at the very least ran the victim's name for...something? But this was an hour after everything had gone down and it's mostly blacked out with technical stuff left shown so I literally have no idea what they accessed Ms Johnson's name for. Maybe they did book her? Granted the dispatch indicates they only transported one female, but the report says Ms Johnson went to the hospital so may have been transported from there.

I honestly don't know. So I'm asking if there's any soundness to the theory whatsoever.

Well that and the reporter's credibility isn't that great. Here's a blog post which talks about some controversy he got in over reporting on some school janitor's record. And it also shows he's been sued twice for defamation and settled. So I seriously question this guy's credibility and that maybe he just didn't mention a second arrest; hell he already failed to even acknowledge the officers had contact with Ms Johnson, and his history doesn't exactly look aboveboard. So... Make of all that what you will.

Oh, and as far as an ASL interpreter goes...the dispatch clearly shows the officers at the scene made the attempt to get someone who knew ASL on scene, but it doesn't say whether or not they were successful. But if they put in a call at the scene why would they then try to deny her someone later? That doesn't make much sense, honestly. At worst, since they took her to county jail, it was Pierce County that failed to give her an interpreter. That would be a failing of the Pierce County detention officers, not Tacoma PD or the two arresting officers. Assuming it's true, anyway. I honestly can't say that I would trust this accounting of events at all, to be perfectly honest.

[Korto]

I'd lay you pounds to pence the real reason the woman got charged was to try and give an air of credibility to the officer's decision to tase her in the first place.
Kind of reminds me of something I heard from Redfern (Sydney), where they had some occasions of people being taken to court, and the only thing they ended up being charged with (after the prosecutor threw out various charges) was Resisting Arrest. So in court it looks like they got arrested for resisting arrest, which is just a trifle questionable. From what I heard, the judges weren't real impressed.

[Kamakazie Sith]

From what I've heard, if both parties say the other attacked them, they'd go with whoever took the most injury. Given Ms Johnson apparently had injuries to her side and went with an ambulance to the hospital versus the scratches to Ms White's neck, I'm guessing maybe Ms Johnson took the worst of it. That and if the officers viewed Ms White's actions as aggressive (well obviously they did, hence the use of a taser), along with Ms Johnson "hiding" from Ms White, well... One could maybe see where they came from. Plus it's possible Ms Johnson just managed to sell her story better or something.

Yes, this is accurate.

Well, usually pictures would be required documenting this injury and maybe they had those pictures or the EMS guys informed them of the nature and extent of the injury. I include that information in my reports but not everyone does it the same way.

Another theory, I ask you. Is it possible Ms Johnson was also arrested? From the look of the report it seems the paperwork assumes one arrestee and one victim. So could there be another report with the roles reversed? Would this be normal or vary from agency to agency? I ask because of a couple things: first the case number on the report. It ends with a .1, which seems kinda non-standard to me (it certainly is different than the otherwise near-identical incident number on the dispatch log; that and it drops the initial 20 for whatever reason). So is it possible there's a ".2" report they didn't post on the news site? That and the very bottom of the dispatch log about the "access response" for LESA (which is basically their E911 and dispatch system). There's the top one for Ms White, but also another one for a name mostly whited out...but you can just see the letter J still. So they at the very least ran the victim's name for...something? But this was an hour after everything had gone down and it's mostly blacked out with technical stuff left shown so I literally have no idea what they accessed Ms Johnson's name for. Maybe they did book her? Granted the dispatch indicates they only transported one female, but the report says Ms Johnson went to the hospital so may have been transported from there.

I honestly don't know. So I'm asking if there's any soundness to the theory whatsoever.

On the system I use, and every other system I've seen used in Utah, Ms. Johnson would be listed as victim/arrestee as would Ms. White. Again, not everyone has the same system but I can't imagine it being that much different.

The bottom line is that if Ms. Johnson was also arrested or cited then it should have been documented in the primary officers narrative. It isn't there so the possibility is not very strong.

Well that and the reporter's credibility isn't that great. Here's a blog post which talks about some controversy he got in over reporting on some school janitor's record. And it also shows he's been sued twice for defamation and settled. So I seriously question this guy's credibility and that maybe he just didn't mention a second arrest; hell he already failed to even acknowledge the officers had contact with Ms Johnson, and his history doesn't exactly look aboveboard. So... Make of all that what you will.

His lack of disclosure from the initial report speaks volumes. I won't accept an article from this guy again.

Oh, and as far as an ASL interpreter goes...the dispatch clearly shows the officers at the scene made the attempt to get someone who knew ASL on scene, but it doesn't say whether or not they were successful. But if they put in a call at the scene why would they then try to deny her someone later? That doesn't make much sense, honestly. At worst, since they took her to county jail, it was Pierce County that failed to give her an interpreter. That would be a failing of the Pierce County detention officers, not Tacoma PD or the two arresting officers. Assuming it's true, anyway. I honestly can't say that I would trust this accounting of events at all, to be perfectly honest.

It does appear that way from the dispatch log but I really want to call the officer up and tell him to include this information in his report. It is effortless to write "I requested an ASL interpreter via dispatch but none were available to respond." As it stands right now it seems like another officer provided interpretation - which is specifically cited as not acceptable.

All that being said even when I view this from the most favorable position I do think the Tacoma officers did make some mistakes and could have handled it better if not just including more detail in their reports.