Compliance with instructions would have helped Abner Louima, Oscar Grant, or Amadou Diallo? No innocent victims?
Volpe arrested Louima on charges of disorderly conduct, obstructing government administration, and resisting arrest. Volpe later admitted he was mistaken about Louima being his assailant.[2]
The arresting officers beat Louima with their fists, nightsticks, and hand-held police radios on the ride to the station.[3] On arriving at the station house, he was strip-searched and put in a holding cell. The beating continued later, culminating with Louima being sexually assaulted in a bathroom at the 70th Precinct station house in Brooklyn. Volpe kicked Louima in the testicles
Grant, who was lying face down and allegedly resisting arrest.[4][5][6] Officer Mehserle stood and, according to his attorney, said: "Get back, I'm gonna Tase him."[7] Then Mehserle drew his gun and shot Grant once in the back.
Mistakenly believing Diallo had aimed a gun at them at close range, the officers opened fire on Diallo. During the shooting, lead officer McMellon tripped backward off the front stairs, causing the other officers to believe he had been shot. The four officers fired 41 shots, more than half of which went astray as Diallo was hit 19 times.[1]
The post-shooting investigation found no weapons on Diallo's body; the item he had pulled out of his jacket was not a gun, but a rectangular black wallet
Originally Posted by htownhammer
Volpe went to jail for his actions and Louima didn't die, though during the ordeal, he probably wished for death. In no way do I think the cops behaved appropriately here, but it is not a valid argument to the compliance point. That said, the story is that Louima was involved in an altercation where the police were called. The altercation persisted after LE arrival. That doesn't sound compliant to me.
Osar Grant. Video located
here . In it, you can clearly see that Mr. Grant begins to get up from seated position, which appears to be contrary to the orders given by the police. They subdue him (forcibly) and he continues to struggle. Finally he is shot, sadly. Again, I do not condone the actions of the officers, but I still feel that if he had complied and waited for his day in court, he'd still be here today to tell his side of the story.
Amadou Diallo. The story again says that the officers loudly identified themselves and repeatedly told him to "stop" and "Show his hands", which he ignored and reached for his wallet. Again, I do not condone the actions of the officers, but I still believe that if he Mr. Diallo had been compliant with the commands he would have had his day in court and we would have never even heard of him.
While all of the above situations are unfortunate and even sad, they are worst-case scenarios that could have potentially been avoided with compliance.
We live in an imperfect world governed by imperfect people enforcing imperfect rules. The point is that if a cop is telling you to jump, whether you agree with it or not, you should jump. Lay down if they say lay down, show your hands if they say to show them. Everyone has a right to have their day in court.