Patterico's Pontifications

6/24/2014

Mediaite and Gawker Falsely Report Fox News’s Gregg Jarrett Was “Brawling” With Police

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 10:11 pm



Mediaite:

The Minnesota State Airport Police released Jarrett’s incident report, as well as video of Jarrett brawling with police officers at the airport, to Gawker after they filed a FOIA request.

. . . .

After they brought him to a holding cell to be evaluated by health officials, officer Mark Dorsey reported that Jarrett grew belligerent, telling him “This is all your fault,” and calling him a “fucking stupid ass.” He then apparently grabbed at Dorsey and the firefighter multiple times, and was immediately thrown into a hold by Dorsey, who then yells at him for resisting.

Go ahead and watch the video and tell me whether you see Jarrett “brawling” with cops:

Here’s what happens in the video. Jarrett is cooperating with the firefighters until the cop shows up in the doorway. (It looks at first like Jarrett is becoming upset with the firefighters, but if you listen to the voices, you can tell he’s talking to the cop.) Jarrett calls the cop a “fucking stupid ass” and the cop then marches in, clearly pissed off. Jarrett stands up as the cop threatens to put cuffs on him.

At this point, maybe — maybe! — Jarrett touches the cop with his right hand. You can’t see it because the cop’s body blocks the view of what Jarrett is doing with his hand. (There’s a clue to what’s going on at this point in the video. Let’s see who among you observes it.) I assume Jarrett did at least touch the cop, because when the cop declares that Jarrett had put his hand on him, Jarrett replies: “Yeah.” As to whether Jarrett is “grabbing” the cop . . . the clue I mentioned suggests the cop is not being honest about that.

After Jarrett does whatever he does, the cop appears (to me) to totally overreact: first twisting Jarrett’s arm behind him, and then slamming him down onto the bench. Then the cop yells “Quit resisting!” while Jarrett . . . appears not to be resisting, at all. It’s like the cop is trying to be a real-life version of a cop-haters’ caricature of a cop. Then the cop puts handcuffs on Jarrett — who admittedly appears to either not understand the cop’s order to give him his right hand, or plays dumb about it — and the cop tells Jarrett he is going to jail.

For what? For touching the cop?

This is “brawling,” Mediaite???!

Of course, Mediaite probably fell prey to the power of suggestion of Gawker, which broke the story under the misleading headline Drunk Fox News Anchor Brawls With Airport Cops In Jailhouse Video. Give Gawker credit for this, though: they do present the cop’s account, which is . . . not the truth. Here is a passage from the cop’s report:

While [medical personnel] began to evaluate Jarrett, he looked at me in the doorway and stated, “This is all of your fault.” I asked what was, and Jarrett responded, “This is your fault.” I told Jarrett that this was his fault he was where he was. Jarrett then became visibly agitated (angry, upset), his body became rigid and he leaned forward like he was going to jump up on his feet or launch himself off of the bench, and yelled “Fuck You” and stated “Fuck You” again. Jarrett stayed at an agitated level and in the posture like he was going to jump up at any moment.

Gawker then states:

The officer goes on to allege that Jarrett “grabbed my left arm and I broke his grip” before he slammed the anchor into the wall and threw him onto the floor.

That account is false, and substantially inconsistent with the video. Jarrett is in a relaxed position and leaning back — until the cop marches towards him, obviously upset that Jarrett called him a name. The claim that Jarrett repeatedly said “fuck you” is false.

As for the detail that Jarrett “grabbed” the cop to the point where Jarrett had to break Jarrett’s grip? Remember I said there was a clue in the video? Watch it again, and tell me why the cop seems not to be telling the entire truth about that.

Go ahead. I’ll wait right here.

Did you see it?

Jarrett was holding his glasses in his right hand throughout the whole confrontation with the overbearing cop.

How is Jarrett, holding glasses in his hand, going to grab the cop’s arm so firmly that the cop has to break free? How is Jarrett going to muster a grip tight enough to justify charges of resisting arrest? A grip tight enough to justify the cop’s actions in twisting Jarrett’s arm behind him? A grip tight enough to justify the cop roughly slamming Jarrett down onto a bench?

The answer is: that did not happen.

I think the cop should be disciplined (at a minimum) for overreacting, and for writing a false police report. I think the Mediaite writer, Tina Nguyen, and the unknown Gawker headline writer should both be disciplined for claiming Jarrett was “brawling” with the cop, which is clearly false. And Jarrett, if he isn’t already, might want to seek help for whatever substance abuse problems he might have.

As Ken White of Popehat sometimes says, this is one of those stories where I hate everyone.

But if I’m going to feel sorry for anyone, it’s not the overbearing cop who used too much force and wrote an inaccurate report because he wanted to justify sending someone to jail for contempt of cop. I’m going to feel sorry — just a little — for Gregg Jarrett, for undergoing a B.S. arrest for resisting, and for being lied about all over the Internet.

50 Responses to “Mediaite and Gawker Falsely Report Fox News’s Gregg Jarrett Was “Brawling” With Police”

  1. Ding.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  2. america’s police officers are just

    they’re just so special

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  3. Greg Jarrett works for FOX. Fox is an enemy of the STATE. You’d be more likely to get Obama to admit that he chains smokes naked with Reggie Love, than to get a WHACKED OUT LIBTARD to evaluate the TRUTH. Nothing to see here. Meanwhile back at the ARIZONA GUNS STORES, the NSA, the IRS, Iraq, Iran,Turkey, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Cash for Clunkers, the Economy ETC ETC ETC……..Obama is the CLOWN KING. Nothing to see here, move along.

    Gus (70b624)

  4. Gawker Media is chock-full of insufferable leftists. I like to read Deadspin since they have interesting sports-related stories, but even they (maybe especially they) seem to be unrelenting crusaders for every trendy left-wing cause that comes down the pike. It’s like having to sit through a student council meeting at some dipstick liberal arts college like Bard or Swarthmore.

    JVW (feb406)

  5. Just off hand I’d like to see proof that Jarrett was actually drunk. Other than his judgement being a little weak he didn’t look drunk to me. I wonder how they got the blood sample they were fairly obviously trying to obtain when he had his arms cuffed behind him.

    That cop reminds me of a cop in Torrance I saw one night I was in the station to report a missing purse. He brought in a young black girl and was simple bristling looking like he was going to explode and try to tear the whole station down using the girl as his tool. I was VERY happy to be out of there. Such people should never be cops. Hair trigger tempers are not good for public safety officers of any sort.

    {^_^}

    JDow (c4e4c5)

  6. typical pigs…

    too bad i can’t be in a jury pool more often.

    redc1c4 (abd49e)

  7. Minneapolis pigs will let the somalia sect do whatever they want. If your white your screwed.
    Sanctuary state of disbelief.

    mg (31009b)

  8. On the national post I think they said in the hour long version – they cannot hear where he said anything belligerent, all those F/U’s were not audible

    EPWJ (0f0a26)

  9. Terminator, the first one, did not become as popular as it did because Schwartzenegger was trying to kill women named Sarah Connor.

    nk (dbc370)

  10. The quicksilver terminator killed a bunch of cops too, didn’t it?

    nk (dbc370)

  11. I think it’s been amply demonstrated already, that, if one is going to have interactions with law enforcement — irrespective of the situation or scenario, and, whoever may be at fault — it really does pay to be calm, courteous and respectful to a fault, because, frankly, if the incident is being recorded, and, if it does come down to you being arrested and/or charged, you want to have your behavior and reactions be utterly beyond reproach. It simply puts you in a stronger position. The minute that a person acts in a belligerent manner towards law enforcement — even if said belligerence might be conceptually justified on some level — you have lost control of the situation and the cop is free to arrest you and to embellish his/her report accordingly. So, the basic lesson here is, don’t curse cops out and don’t physically touch them, ever.

    Guy Jones (df6cf0)

  12. On Dana’s homeless thread, not too long ago, I pointed out how some homeless/mentally ill get labeled as “violent offenders”. This is it.

    nk (dbc370)

  13. About thirty years ago, I had just moved to San Diego. I was walking in a downpour to get to the bus stop. I was wearing a poncho and carrying a briefcase. It was 5:30 AM. A police car with two police officers inside.

    As I approached the car, they turned on the lights and briefly sounded the siren. I jumped because it startled me. They got out put me up against the elementary school fence. I told them where I was going, and that I needed to get going or I was going to miss the bus(which I did).

    They told me there had been a robbery near, and that a tv was stolen. That’s when I go a little pissed off. I said, “what’s the matter, the donut shop not open yet?” That didn’t go over well with the young police officer, and he started giving me the business until the older officer told him to let me go.

    It was obvious that I wasn’t carrying a tv in a downpour and walking as fast as I could to get to the bus stop. I was calm and polite until they gave me that bu!!$h!t excuse about a robbery. They just felt like hassling someone because they had nothing better to do. I left telling them that the Viking Bakery opened in 15 minutes, and to try the bienenstich.

    Hadoop (f7d5ba)

  14. The truth seems a lot more likely to come out when there’s video. I believe officers should go ahead and have a body cam on whenever they are in uniform. In fact, I would make the body cam and badge a single unit. It would be kinda expensive to have each body cam upload the video via a cell connection, but that’s how it should be set up, so there’s much less opportunity to ‘Lerner the emails’, so to speak. In my vision, the bodycam would be the badge itself too. No cam, no badge.

    Guy Jones is 100% right. I don’t understand why someone would yell ‘fuck you’ at a police officer. Fair or not, officers are keenly vigilant against threats, and will interpret that degree of hostility as a potential threat to their safety. If they don’t react strongly to that, they could even be disciplined for neglecting officer safety. That’s not at all an excuse for how this officer behaved, or for his report, which seems probably a career ending Brady issue in my opinion.

    nk is right too. The judgment error of Jarrett is minor and mostly impacts Jarrett’s life. When an officer overreacts it can permanently screw up someone’s future. Anyone who encounters that kind of error can have a permanent resentment towards law enforcement that goes far beyond a healthy skepticism of government. That only makes the work much harder for the good officers who constantly encounter fear from the people they are trying to engage with positively.

    Dustin (17fbde)

  15. All people, but especially people in the public eye should be so much more careful not to drink too much. No good ever comes of it. Reactions and judgement are impaired. Police sometimes get involved. Popehat is right. Gawker is wrong and the headline is a lie. But the damage has been done.

    elissa (0b3bcd)

  16. Cops have to take a lot of crap, which pisses them off, exacerbates already sky high anxiety levels, and creates the preconditions for hair-trigger aggressive overreaction. Which of course doesn’t justify inappropriate use of force or bullying under color of authority, but it does establish the context of interactions between officers and citizens.

    So, be careful when dealing with cops. They usually don’t know you or what you’re doing or where you’re going. They deal with mean nasty people who are often out to do them harm, and even the best of cops have to assume the worst, at least initially. Even in ordinary encounters they’re apprehensive, fearful, on the alert for sudden assaults, and quick to respond to even marginal indications you might intend to do them harm.

    Jarrett made at least 2 mistakes (in the video, possibly more in the bar) he mouthed off at the cop then stood up and confronted him. It didn’t help matters that Jarrett took off his glasses, which is a well known indicator of an impending assault. From the cop’s point of view, Jarrett was asking for it.

    Had Jarrett kept his mouth shut and stayed seated even a calculating cop on-the-prod and itching for the justification to manhandle a smart ass loudmouth drunk wouldn’t have had the excuse he needed handed to him on a silver platter.

    ropelight (f53e5b)

  17. Guy Jones and ropelight–your advice about dealing with the cops is sound and time tested. Even if they know all this, people who are legally drunk or under the influence do not fully have the wherewithal to use this advice. This is the problem.

    elissa (0b3bcd)

  18. Mr. Frey,

    This stuff right here, is why people, who get pulled over; step out of vehicles and empty clips into cop cars.

    I don’t advocate cop killing or anything like that…. But some of them, have it coming.

    I’m just sayin’

    Patrick in Michigan (f5b7f9)

  19. I hope you are a troll Patrick in Michigan. I’m just sayin’.

    elissa (0b3bcd)

  20. I thought the cop attempted two head slams on Jarrett. I expected to see some significant blood after the first one into the wall at the left of the camera, and then the rotate and down head slam into the bench. That could have broken his neck. This was a lot more violent than I expected from the comments. And noticing that Jarrett was holding onto his glasses throughout was a good catch. Was Jarrett driving? Or was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time? He does sound like he’s had a few.

    bobathome (903208)

  21. Guy Jones and ropelight–your advice about dealing with the cops is sound and time tested. Even if they know all this, people who are legally drunk or under the influence do not fully have the wherewithal to use this advice. This is the problem.

    As a sort of sociology experiment, I once showed up at the Hermosa Pier Plaza just before 2:00 am on a Friday night as the bars were all letting out. Hermosa Pier Plaza features a strip of bars popular with the surfer dudes and beach bunnies. I arrived stone sober. I watched as the bars emptied out and the police attempted to get patrons to clear the plaza and get everyone to go home without making too much of a ruckus. I confess, I was amazed at how awful some of the drunks were to the police — abusive, combative, snide. A fight broke out among a group waiting in line for taxi cabs which the police had to break up, and a few drunk patrons thought it was their Constitutional right to mill about the plaza and carry on in loud voices (there are some homes and hotels close by). Some young d-bag tried to play ACLU lawyer when the cops asked his party to clear the plaza and go home and started to get really mouthy with the cop who appeared to be the senior officer on the scene. I thought the cop would have been justified in sticking his nightstick where the sun don’t shine, but the cop instead just firmly made it clear to the d-bag that there were zero options other than leaving the premises, and that failure to do so was going to have consequences. The cop showed a hell of a lot more patience than I would have.

    I just mention this by way of saying that I absolutely agree with elissa that drunks are inclined towards stupid and hostile behavior where authority is involved. Not so say that bad cops don’t often abuse their power, but everything tends to work better when you dispense with the attitude and realize that you are being a jackass.

    JVW (feb406)

  22. Elissa – that is def a troll. Chuckle likes to get all worked up.

    JD (6ef8ed)

  23. I’ve never had a policeman treat me inappropriately. The tickets I’ve received were all well deserved. When my way has been barred there was always a clear and apparent reason. Professional restrained and often personable, that’s my overall assessment of the police force in California.

    That can’t just be luck.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  24. Why is having a few too many these days equate to having a substance abuse problem? Did I miss something a while back and didn’t realize cutting loose now and then, getting a bit stupid and thrown into jail means I’m an alcohol abuser who needs to check into rehab? Lighten up on the “better get help” bs unless you have intimate knowledge of this guy’s drinking habits.

    Lane M (8c826c)

  25. and Greg Jarrett is a loyyaaaah!

    Colonel Haiku (a08a41)

  26. Look like Jarrett murdered those cops and firefighters. Yeah, that’s it! Murdered them! Sure! Why not!

    CrustyB (69f730)

  27. The first clue is when the cop says ” are you laying a hand on me, again?” Their other fave is to kick the shit out of you while screaming “Quit resisting” for the camera. These days most are zealous frat boy thugs, certainly not the cops of my youth who would cuff you upside the head, but no more, and you respected them because of that.

    Gazzer (6a76d0)

  28. I think what Jarret was doing was setting his spectacles down on his jacket (he had taken them off after removing his jacket – for no apparent reason – and had them in his right hand).
    Now, if there was contact, it was probably purely incidental to that movement, and contributed to by the aggressive actions of the cop.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  29. The caption says these are airport cops so I assume Jarrett was embarking or disembarking when all of this occurred. Some people are poor flyers and need to drink to make it through. Not saying that is the case here, but just pointing out there are possibilities other than him being a drunkard.

    Also someone mentioned earlier in the thread that they don’t know why he took off his jacket but he was asked to present his forearm so it made sense for him to do so. He also did not stand up until the cop came in and made his threat display. It seems to me the cop was taking exception to the verbal altercation with the firemen and escalated the situation when he could have just as easily have tried to defuse it.

    As usual in these videos. There is no violence until the cop shows up. Somehow the concept of “peacekeeper” just seems really quaint these days.

    Thatch (8ace20)

  30. It didn’t help matters that Jarrett took off his glasses, which is a well known indicator of an impending assault. From the cop’s point of view, Jarrett was asking for it.

    No, his taking off his glasses does not appear aggressive on the video.

    As for the person saying how do you know he has a drinking problem — there is a video on YouTube of him appearing drunk on TV.

    Patterico (5a517e)

  31. I want to be on the jury when Jarrett sues the cops. I think hitting the lotto for about a million should be about right.

    Of course, if the cop were to actually get charged, which he deserves from the video, I would REALLY love to be on that jury. Maybe 11 29 for battery would suffice to adjust his attitude.

    Tim (33a58b)

  32. 27- what I said, or meant to say, is that there is no apparent reason for him to take off his glasses after removing his coat. It is quite apparent that he removed his coat to accomodate the paramedic’s request to access his forearm.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  33. There was no verbal altercation with the firemen/paramedics, the broohaha was at the instigation of the cop in the doorway.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  34. At a minimum, as Patterico has pointed out, the cop is guilty of filing a false report – that usually gets charged when done by a civilian.
    But, It’s Chicago!

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  35. askeptic, no it is Minneapolis airport. This is a police force that is not controlled by elected officials. The metropolitan airports commission runs the airport and the commission members are appointed, I think, by the the governor. I get annoyed when I see them running speedtraps on the state highways that pass by the airport. I think the airport cops should stay the hell on the airport.

    This is also the department who beat up a bicyclist a few years ago, no cameras (that were admitted to) caught that one, but it certainly sounded like another failure to respect our author-a-tay beat down.

    Loren (1e34f2)

  36. Is the scene in the video the first time Greegg Jarrett saw that cop?

    The whole thing would make a lot more sense, if he and the cop had argued befire – if maybe the cop had forced him to go with/to the fieefighters.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  37. I used to have a lot more respect for cops until I got to know so many of them. Thin blue line, cover up for your buddies, us against them mentalities and an entitlement mentality rivaled only by welfare queens. Lets not forget about the perpetual sticky fingers of many officers that I know.

    From my perspective, prove to me that you will enforce the same laws against your co-workers, then I will respect your badge and authority. Otherwise, leave me the hell alone and I will reciprocate.

    Easy Target (804124)

  38. THe cop should know better than to provoke a person obviously under the influence. The proper response to “this is all your fault” is either nothing…. or “yes dear” – confrontation and even taking offense in the first place is pointless.
    There is reason to believe there might have been a drug interaction with a relatively modest amount of alcohol, the bartender having noted he was not overserved and some indication that Garret had an Rx on his person and might be on other meds that intensify the effect of alcohol.

    SarahW (267b14)

  39. Sorry to hear that ET, but every cop I have ever personally known has only increased my respect for the police force. Case in point, I was working my way through school as a Restaurant assistant mngr when one late night I had unwittingly found myself alone and without a car and a substantial amount of cash which needed to be deposited in the night drop box of the bank.

    The details are boring, but long story short, I made a call the police dept. and asked for a ride to the bank. The dispatcher finally relented and sent a cruiser to “further asses” my situation. The officer, and a brief discussion took me to the bank. This was his personal call, which I have found typical of all the boys in blue that I have had the privilege to know. Either I am one charming mofo, or those guys really do care about us.

    felipe (960c75)

  40. The officer, andafter a brief discussion, took me to the bank

    felipe (960c75)

  41. Typical police abuse, another Policeman who thinks he’s Judge, jury and executioner.

    Ed (14be48)

  42. There is some back-story floating around the interwebs… it seems that Mr. Jarrett was somehow disturbing to an airport bartender which resulted in his becoming of interest to the police. He was taken to what appears to be a holding cell to be medically checked “for his own good”, thus the paramedics. Maybe there is a local rule about having to medically clear drunks before locking them up. I think his coat came off at the request of the paramedic so the BP could be taken… that’s about the point the police came into the frame and things started downhill.

    This will probably not come through as intended, but: it is not unknown that the bar in the hiring office of some “special district” police units is not that high, compared with actual front-line city and state agencies; of course this varies city to city, state to state. The airport is not a great place for big-time, lots-of-action police experiences, so one has to make do with what little presents itself. This guy probably forgot all about the video in the room, but I’m sure he has been reminded by now.

    If one takes off his glasses as a prelude to starting a fight, they seldom hold them in one of the hands they are going to need in a minute…. unless he is left handed one punch knockout artist. Somehow I will need a lot of convincing to believe that.

    The coppers I know operate on the old “best friend or worst enemy; your choice” protocol.

    Gramps, the original (29ecf6)

  43. Look at YouTube! Most cops are thugs and bullies whose main goal is to have you submit to anything they say or do. They violate your constitutional rights probably on a daily basis. I know, I know, people say there are good cops too, but if a good cop let’s bad cops get away with threats, assaults and intimidation, they aren’t good cops. Cops that continually violate our constitutional rights should be fired and receive no pension. Instead they now dress in para-military gear, drive military surplus assault vehicles and seem to be more concerned about generating revenue then acting as peace officers.

    George Orwell said, “if you want to enviision the future, imagine a boot on your neck forever.”

    Thomas (7c6e82)

  44. P.S. They always say stop resisting, whether your are or are not resisting. Most people don’t see how the police act as thugs or bullies, and think ther police are there to help us. They are not.

    Thomas (7c6e82)

  45. Having now read the police incident report, it is clear that while the video shows that the police officer will not tolerate a citizen touching him, he has no problem with repeatedly tapping a citizen on the shoulder. His own report indicates that when Jarrett was not paying attention to the officer, the officer was tapping him on his shoulder. If they don’t want to be touched, they should not touch themselves, merely to get attention. As the kindergarten teacher said, “Use your words, not your hands!”

    Loren (1e34f2)

  46. There may have been some sort of move at that instant (even with the glasses), but that was a complete and utter overreaction. Plus the fact that the cop went in and exacerbated the heck out of the situation. As a tech, in my opinion that guy was not threatening or interfering with the ‘care’. The cop got up in the guys face, interrupted care and served to get him agitated. Honestly, in this type of situation, not only would there have been a notation of the events in the report but also potentially a complaint against him. While I will admit I have not seen what happened before the incident (and imo the officer’s version is tainted), there is no discernable resistance during the struggle and that is more force than I have even seen used against persons who swung at the officer.

    Drunks and cops tend to be bad mixes, They get each other more and more heated and this is not the first time I have seen contempt of cop go from nothing to threats of arrest over nothing significant (state equivalent of a Baker act threat over an exasperated complaint). I have a feeling this case is one of the, sadly not insignificant number where cops mistake disrespect for an attack and feel the need to put the other person down hard so they are not so uppity.

    Andrew (859f0f)

  47. Strange thing about your posted video. It ends with Jarrett facing down on the bench with the policeman over him. I was left wondering about the glasses issue.

    Then I clicked on another pane of the display that shows when the video ends, to get a replay. The one I clicked happened to be a different one, identical to the first one, but longer, showing that eventually Jarret is sitting on the bench again, and is still holding the glasses in the right hand.

    Did someone shorten the original video after Patterico linked to it?

    Ken in Camarillo (2c0dee)

  48. Loren (1e34f2) — 6/25/2014 @ 1:48 pm

    We’re all in Chicago now.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  49. I would hope that Patterico will follow up on this incident to see if there is any disciplinary/court action against the officer in question, and what is the eventual disposition of charges (if any) brought against Jarrett.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

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