The Malik McDowell Arrest Video

Submitted by ldevon1 on July 9th, 2019 at 12:54 PM

I know this is pretty sad, but I 'm sorry, I laughed watching this. Neg away..... 

outsidethebox

July 9th, 2019 at 1:32 PM ^

I believe it is more that he picked the wrong environment for himself than Michigan dodged a bullet. There are too many signs pointing toward "This is what MSU is" to blame it all on this kid...and yes, many of these young men are really still very immature kids. We truly do not know what a difference Michigan could have made in his life. 

TCW

July 9th, 2019 at 3:11 PM ^

There's a decent chance of this being true.  It's possible he's such a knucklehead he would have turned out to be a disaster anywhere, but Brian has done a good job in the past of laying out Dantonio's track record regarding discipline.  I think McDowell spent three years learning the rules don't apply to athletes.  

MichiganTeacher

July 9th, 2019 at 8:30 PM ^

I agree with these takes. In my career, I've seen a lot of young men grow up. Some young men can really change a lot, and for the better, between 17-22. It's not common, but it's far from unheard of.

What makes this worse is that from what little I know of this particular situation, it seems like McDowell could have been one of those guys. He had his mom's support, which I think is key. She wanted the right things for him. Unfortunately he didn't get the right things. In fact, I think he got a lot of exactly the wrong things.

iMBlue2

July 9th, 2019 at 2:25 PM ^

The officer was too close for the taser to work properly needs to have 4-6 feet of space to the target in order for the prongs to spread out and pass a charge through the body which would incapacitate.  With the looks of the placement it was just pain tolerance on McDowells part. 

MichCali

July 9th, 2019 at 1:18 PM ^

The cop was a little too bold for my liking.  Malik had 8 inches and 100 pounds on him.  I think Malik could have killed him if he fought back and started swinging instead of just trying to wriggle free.

Cop had balls for sure, but I feel like he should have waited for some backup before getting physical, for everyone's safety involved.

Tools Of Ignorance

July 9th, 2019 at 2:29 PM ^

He did wait, but he cant let Malik just walk away and into the store. Verbal commands weren't working at that point and go out the window.

Sidenote: Tasers are ineffective through thick clothing and at that close of a distance. Even if it would've penetrated his clothing, the taser would've only acted as a pain compliance tool instead of incapacitating him.

Gucci Mane

July 9th, 2019 at 5:07 PM ^

The cop tried his best to stay calm, but by not waiting for backup he endangered himself and Malik. Malik could have best the hell out of him whenever he wanted, and that would have forced the cop to use lethal force. Why even allow yourself to Ben in that situation ?

When Malik refuses to cooperate in anyway, the cop should have just returned to his vehicle and waited for backup. 

Police are poorly trained and educated and it endangers all people, not just black people. 

Gucci Mane

July 9th, 2019 at 5:32 PM ^

Not at all.  I’m saying if it’s clear someone will not cooperate, wait for backup before engaging. 

And I'm not blaming this individual cop. I’m calling out the extremely low standards to become a police office. 

And I’m sure many on this blog have been treated bad by a cop. I have been pulled over multiple times for little reason just so they can look around and see if I’m doing something wrong. Once I was pulled over because I supposedly drove on the shoulder of a turn (as in the paved shoulder mere inches over the white line). I checked Michigan law and nothing directly even applies to that. 

Another time I was pulled over for speeding. The cop got mad that I was young and driving a sports car (he told me this). And had me step out of the car, then proceeded to cuff me and slam me against the vehicle with a knee to the back. After all that he had me go without even a ticket. Probably because it would have brought attention to his abuse. 

 

iMBlue2

July 9th, 2019 at 7:32 PM ^

Hey man if that happened that’s terrible, but I wouldn’t say it’s low standards to be an officer, name me another job you have to pass a written and physical examination, in addition to oral board review, a polygraph examination and have a psychologist interview and approval just to get into an academy. The. Spend 22 weeks of training while living at the training academy to pass all the above once again before being placed into a field training officer program for 1 year where you are not allowed to be unsupervised while at work, and at least 2 senior officers/supervisors need to recommend you to remain in the department and to become certified to do that job.  Just because you disagree with the training, which is evidenced based mind you, doesn’t mean they are poorly trained.  But if you had a few run ins that were handled unprofessionally I understand I would think the same thing if I was treated poorly by a specific profession.  Sometimes perception isn’t equal to reality.

jsquigg

July 9th, 2019 at 8:54 PM ^

And that's part of the problem.  It facilitates a tribal environment, and application standards aren't the same as training standards or department standards.  Some of these sheriff departments are terrible, but the evidence is out there and subjectively ignored by people pre-disposed to worship police anyway.  I know that there are a ton of good officers, but the many abusive ones are protected almost every time.

Gucci Mane

July 9th, 2019 at 11:51 PM ^

In my opinion police should have a 4 year college degree before being considered to start additional police training. You learn perspective, problem solving, and people skills in college that will all be valuable for a police officer. 

And without any doubt all police should have body cams that are required by law to be turned on at all times. This protects both police and citizens who abide the laws. 

 

JPC

July 10th, 2019 at 9:46 AM ^

Being a cop is a SHITTY job and the more a city needs good cops the shittier of a job it is. You'd need to pay college grads $200k to put up with all the bullshit cops deal with. 

I wouldn't do it for $1M a year. 

iMBlue2

July 10th, 2019 at 9:46 AM ^

I know officers with 4 year degrees that are clueless and scared a traits that get endanger everyone.  The more you bring up the more it just seems like you have a problem with the idea that police are necessary, I think if you were exposed to the training and policy police are subject too it would be eye opening, I don’t think anyone is worshipping police, I do believe that it is a very tough job and there are a lot of law abiding citizens that recognize it’s a tough job and appreciate the service which shouldn’t be a problem.

iMBlue2

July 10th, 2019 at 9:55 AM ^

I mean you do rely on your co workers to ensure you go home alive at end of duty so it’s human nature for some bond to be formed from that.  There’s poor unethical choices made in every profession doesn’t mean it’s systemic problem as it’s en vogue to decry.

BernardC

July 9th, 2019 at 9:22 PM ^

As bad as it sounds, they have to take someone to fill the vacancy.  As poorly as Cops are treated nowadays, and all the unfair criticism they get, you would have to either really love serving and protecting, or be out of options to apply for the force.  God bless them all and the almost unwinnable job they do for all of us.

 

But yes; I too thought he should have held back a bit.  Although I can see doing it either way.

SpamCityCentral

July 10th, 2019 at 7:22 AM ^

My encounters have been the complete opposite, but my i always had a reason to get pulled over. I agree though there are some asshole cops. There are some that are terrible at there job. For whatever reason it seems that police, military, etc. protect their own for the most part. I guess it's because of the "brotherhood". I don't care if you're my best friend or a family member you do something wrong best believe i'm not backing you up.

Gucci Mane

July 10th, 2019 at 2:03 AM ^

Oh you are related to a cop so you have special insight huh ? Yeah your father is probably representative of all police in America, great point.  

My point is there is going to be a child of someone in Hamas who swears their father is a great guy. There will always be a personal connection for someone. 

JPC

July 10th, 2019 at 10:12 AM ^

I've been treated like shit by more cops than I can count, so I know where you're coming from. I don't know if you're a black dude, but if you are I have zero doubt that there are asshole cops who have treated you like shit for no reason. 

I've always thought that the solution to cops treating black men poorly is... more black male cops. Detroit needs more good cops. Young black inner city men need decent paying jobs. Seems like a no-brainer.