The power of a mobile phone equipped with a camera and social media has seen countless of videos of police officers using excessive force. This makes the public wary of having to deal with officers. It can feel like playing Russian roulette; not knowing the type of response a person is going to receive from the men and women in uniform.According to her lawsuit, Hahn was walking back to her van with her children, ages 11 and seven. They were leaving a birthday party.
She says she approached the officer to ask him why he wasn’t doing anything about it. He allegedly told her to “mind your (expletive) business.”
She claims moments later, the officer pulled her over as she was about to drive home. He apparently told her she had a seat belt violation and told her to get out of the van.
That is when she claims she was pushed to the ground and pinned. Her arrest was captured on video by a mobile phone.
Hahn raises her arm asking for help but the officer runs from his cruiser and begins to strike the woman.
A second woman in a blue shirt attempts to ask why Hahn is being physically assaulted by the officers. A third policeman stands by a post telling the woman to step back.
Instead, he blocks the concerned woman. It is unintelligible what he says to her but his body language appears confrontational.
Are police officers allowed to use force as freely as this case? There are two defined cases where using force is justified. The Tennessee vs. Garner in 1985, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an officer cannot use deadly force against a fleeing suspect unless the suspect is a significant threat to the officer or to others.
The Supreme Court ruled in Graham vs. Connor that officers who use force must be judged on the totality of circumstances and a standard of “objective reasonableness.”
It claims Hahn suffered a concussion, injuries to her face, abdomen, and chest. She also suffered memory loss as a result of the punches to her head.
A felony charge of resisting arrest and battery of a police officer was filed. Geragos’ lawsuit said the counts were dismissed after the video was viewed.
“I want to assure the public that we are prepared to provide a complete and detailed account of the facts of this incident in a courtroom,” Gallucci’s statement said. “Including what is not shown on the video released by the plaintiff’s attorney.”
“Anybody I’ve shown this tape to has been appalled,” he concluded. Ironically, Hahn is the daughter of a reserve police officer.
Hahn says she was beaten up by the police and then they lied about what happened afterwards. “The only thing correct in this, in the documents that they filed with the court is the spelling of her name,” Geragos told ABC News.
One of the officers involved in the arrest was voted officer of the year by the Carlsbad Police Department in 2014. A year after Hahn’s assault.
She is handcuffed and taken in as onlookers stood shocked by what they had just witnessed. Geragos is concerned the officers were not disciplined.
“If this goes on with a unarmed mother of two, God forbid what happens when there is somebody who’s perceived to be a threat,” Geragos warns.
->**Please note, the video is disturbing to watch. It contains violence and foul language.**<-