Police brutality, or police doing their jobs?

Has it happened again? Is this another example of excessive police brutality, or is it a case of police trying to do their jobs under difficult circumstances. The video of a young black woman being tackled and beaten by police officers in Madison is certainly troubling to watch. The video shows the Madison police officers kneeing and punching the woman, and it seems she is within their control at the time the punches are being thrown. She is tased, shoved to the ground, and a bag placed over her head. But the fact is we don’t know the whole story. While the video is alarming, it doesn’t show what happened prior. Reportedly, Genele Laird had a knife, made threats against security at the East Towne Mall, and bit at least one officer. Clearly, she failed to comply with the initial police orders to put her hands behind her back, and clearly she resisted police attempts to arrest and cuff her. Predictably, some groups, like The Young Gifted and Black Coalition are upset at the video. But they also want the woman to be released, and all charges against her dropped. They also want the arresting officers fired, and claimed police would not have acted this way if this was a white girl. But the reality is we don’t have all the facts yet. More investigation is needed to see if police exceeded their authority, or were simply trying to arrest an uncooperative woman. Let’s let that process play out before we start making decisions about exactly what happened, and what should be done about it.