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Originally posted by AKA_Monet
Being that I lived in SoCal at the time of the LA Riots then I am very familiar with the situation.
My perspective and from what I remember and not as a physician:
King was overweight when he got beatdown... So were some of the police that beat him down. But King, himself looked unhealthy due to his obesity and he wasn't fit. Did that merit that the cops should have used other techniques to subdue him in a "suspected crime"? I don't know? But most folks will say that the issue was at that time do those who represent the government (in uniform) having the "right" to apprehend a "suspect" that is giving them "trouble" in that manner? They sure did not do that to OJ and what OJ got accused of was worse...
Reginald Denny, looked like he did way too much Crystal Meth and toked up on his pipe most of the day... He got beatdown by gang members who used brute force--no batons and if they did, they would have killed him.
Both perspns were beatdown by too much force. But because they were ~relatively younger men, under the age of 50; had normal height and were not overtly sick or malnourished, then as adult males, they were able to withstand the force levied against them.
Most of these "torture studies" were done on Caucasian men by folks like the Nazi's with detailed sketches of what exactly would happen before one dies ~50-80 years ago. Barely anything was known about hormones, development, genetics and the predisposition to certain diseases.
Moreover, now there are more lethal forces, like poisons, gases and germ warfare, as well as weaponry and some restraint techniques that include some level of martial arts positions... If one presses a certain pressure point in some people it could kill them or make them go to sleep...
But one ought not do that to folks they do not know every detail about their physiology, because you NEVER know what will happen with the "thread of life". It is very fragile at times...
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The issue is force not the person's health. I think that sometimes things are taken over board with trying to retrain a person and clearly in the videotape the young man did not appear to be resisting or resilient. He looked exhausted and feeble. Whether a person can withstand a hit or not, should excessive force be used and if so how much is too much? I don't think a lot of police officers ask themselves that question. They just feel they are in control and act on their misconceptions about the accused or anger toward whatever crime that may have been committed. Don't get me wrong, I believe the punishable should be punished but let the punishment fit the crime and no one that violates traffic should be beat down or that steals a car should be killed.