Cops In Florida Beat Up 66-Year-Old Man With Dementia

RomanNose said:
Terrible, this is why dash cameras should not be possible to disabled. Also why filming should completely legal unlike some US states think.
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Actually a federal court ruled last year that filming of police officers is legal, and overrules any state laws that prohibit it.
 
Half of the police are clueless idiots, they think they can bend the law. Hopefully he goes to jail for a lengthy period.
 
Alphane said:
I don't know lets say.

@10 yards police man says 'freeze put your hands up'
@5 yards repeats his warning
@striking distance makes descion to restrain possibly dangerous opponent
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Then goes on to try and delete all evidence of it...yea..uh huh, im sure he KNEW for a FACT he did the right thing to procedure that made him go out of his way to do that.

It absolutely astounds me theirs are that many that try and defend this kind of behaviour.
 
The link says he switched off the dash cam before confronting him, not later on once he'd done the deed.

Do you think he would have done this, had he thought he was about to be dealing with a dangerous, possibly armed criminal?

This suggests he knew full well what was about to 'go down'...which is why he didn't want anybody seeing it.
 
JDMaverick said:
The link says he switched off the dash cam before confronting him, not later on once he'd done the deed.

Do you think he would have done this, had he thought he was about to be dealing with a dangerous, possibly armed criminal?

This suggests he knew full well what was about to 'go down'...which is why he didn't want anybody seeing it.
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Of course, it absolutely does suggest this. This is why I'm bewildered by people who would dismiss this, and the needless slapping, on the grounds that we have no audio to listen to lol.
 
i've dug out the article on this in Florida Today

http://www.floridatoday.com/article...-incident?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Local News

MELBOURNE — About 30 people gathered Saturday afternoon in support of Albert Flowers, who was
involved in an altercation with a police officer in October.

Some were concerned about what they described as the brutality inflicted on Flowers by Melbourne police
officer Derek Middendorf.

Flowers, 66, was arrested Oct. 7 after officers were called to investigate reports of a disturbance
involving a man with a knife.

Police said Middendorf arrived with sirens on and turned off the dashboard camera before he stepped
out of the patrol car. Police suspected Flowers, owner of a lawn care company, had earlier pulled a knife
on an employee. The camera remained on but sent the video to the hard drive, officials reported.

In video later salvaged by technicians, Middendorf is seen kicking and punching Flowers after he fell to
the ground. Another officer Tasered Flowers, who has dementia, according to his family.

The Brevard County State Attorney’s Office dropped charges of aggravated battery on a law enforcement
officer and resisting arrest against Flowers last month after learning about the dementia, saying the case
would not have been filed had Flowers’ condition been made known earlier.

Assistant State Attorney Wayne Holmes said the use of force, however, “was appropriate,” and that officers
do not have to retreat when confronted with the threat of violence.

Middendorf was reprimanded for disabling a dashboard camera in his patrol car before the Oct. 7 incident

When Middendorf returns to duty, he will be reassigned to a different patrol area, according Melbourne Police
Chief Steve Mimbs.

But others at the event Saturday disagree with that decision and say more should be done.

“We are here today to let the public know that nothing is being done about the brutal beating of Albert
Flowers,” said civil rights activist the Rev. Johnnie Dennis, 59, of Cocoa.

“The first thing you need to do is get him off the streets, because this man is a threat to society. And he is
dishonest. He proved that by turning off his dashcam,” Dennis said. “Moving him from the eastside to the
westside is not going to do any good. The problem is still there."

Ron Greene, 35, senior pastor at Destiny Life Church in Melbourne, led the gathering in prayer in front of Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. Public Library on University Boulevard. After seeing the video of the incident, Greene said
he felt the situation was beyond explanation.

“Any injustice on anyone, no matter what culture or race, is not good, especially when it is so unjustified, so
malicious that it is unexplainable,” Greene said.

One watch commander found the use of force justified, but questioned whether Middendorf used proper
protocol in handling the disturbance without waiting for backup, according to police department records.

The watch commander also noted in a report that Middendorf could have used his Taser to stun Flowers into
submission before resorting to hands-on force.

“Information regarding the arrest of Albert Flowers was sufficient to indicate that an internal investigation was
not warranted,” Melbourne Police Chief Steve Mimbs said last month. “Officer Derek Middendorf is a valued officer
whose record since joining the department in 2005 reflects the fact that he has done a very good job for the city.”

Albert Flowers’ niece, Willie Daughtry, 59, of Melbourne, held a sign Saturday with the message, “Fire Officer
Middendorf today.”

“(Albert Flowers) was a man I looked up to. He was very smart, even as a young man,” Daughtry said. “He would
help us with our homework. He was a great uncle, someone you could look up to and admire.

“To see him in this kind of condition is something you just can’t grip. To actually see that brutality on film, I can’t
even watch it,” she said. “When I see it, I turn my head.”

Albert Flowers’ family says his health issues are still a challenge.

“Every day is a process. His cognitive levels are really not there,” said daughter Audrey Flowers, 35, of Palm Bay.
“He is still not really understanding what happened and not fully understanding what is going on.”

After Flowers was released following his arrest in October, Audrey Flowers said he complained about chest pain
from being kicked during the altercation and was taken back to Holmes Regional Medical Center, where he was
originally taken by police after the incident.

“Medical costs were at $70,000, last we calculated, and I’m sure it is higher than that because he has to see a
cardiologist,” Audrey Flowers said. “He still goes in for routine checkups, and (medication) costs are through the
roof.

“He already had dementia, but it probably wouldn’t have been at this rate if he wasn’t beaten as bad as he was.”

The low turnout for the event Saturday was a concern to one community leader.

“If we don’t do anything now, this is just a shadow of things to come if we keep quiet and don’t speak out,” said
Robert Johnson, president of the South Brevard chapter of the NAACP. “It won’t get better. It will get worse.

“I don’t know how to awake the African-American community. We need to have an awakening,” Johnson said.
“Somehow, we need to tap into our conscience.”
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Alphane said:
I don't know lets say.

@10 yards police man says 'freeze put your hands up'
@5 yards repeats his warning
@striking distance makes descion to restrain possibly dangerous opponent
Click to expand...

if the guy was that dangerous the officer would have had a tazer/stick/pistol out. not relied on a kick to the chest..
 
The attitude of some people in this thread is amazing.

What this officer did was reprehensible (I seem to be using that word a lot recently...). He clearly knew that he was going to be doing something that would be frowned upon at the very least - hence he turned off, or tried to turn off, the camera. The old man was elderly, and was clearly not putting up any sort of fight, so the level of force that this officer used was completely excessive.

Defending this officer's actions is something I can't comprehend doing. I really don't understand where some people are coming from...
 
At 66 he could have easily killed the guy with a kick like that. The man was probably confused and wanted to ask the cop a question and so approached him. If he had bad intentions he wouldn't have been caught off guard so badly, as he clearly was. I understand that policing in the US isn't a walk in the park and cops have to be extremely vigilant when approaching suspects, but everything so far seems to point to a grossly excessive use of force in this instance. His attempt at destroying evidence is further proof of this.

Hope the cop gets punished by the full extent of the law.
 
if the officer believed he'd acted lawfully he would have kept the video as his defence evidence.


he knew he hadn't so tried to destroy it.
 
Unveleuvable that they were going to charge the guy with aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer

And he did use excessive force. End of story.
 
neil_g said:
p

Um yeah okay.. The guy had plenty of time to assess if the guy was a risk before he was in kicking distance.

:rolleyes:
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Oh man approachyes you , you've been called to a 'knife incident', he may of refused verbal commands to stop.....


what do YOU do ?

Remember your life may depend upon it :eek:
 
this is why police officers shouldnt take any chances
No suitable.

this cop could have beat this "old man" up and a very different video would be on the internet
 
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Seriously remove that video ive seen it before and its well OTT for this forum. Dont wanna sound a dick but if kids see that theyare going to have nightmares.

That policeman is an idiot too, if he had stopped shooting back he would have been alive most probably.

Americans are freaks..
 
Alphane said:
Oh man approachyes you , you've been called to a 'knife incident', he may of refused verbal commands to stop.....


what do YOU do ?

Remember your life may depend upon it :eek:
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Find out any perniant infomation before/during going out there.

Leave my camera on, and taser the guy?


What I wouldn't do is go out there blind, then turn off my camera before using my foot as a weapon on someone I presume has a knife?
 
arknor said:
this is why police officers shouldnt take any chances

this cop could have beat this "old man" up and a very different video would be on the internet
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That isn't a particularly pleasant video.

It's the cops own fault though, you say "drop the gun" once and if he doesn't, you drop him.

You don't take chances like that.
 
Efour2 said:
Seriously remove that video ive seen it before and its well OTT for this forum. Dont wanna sound a dick but if kids see that theyare going to have nightmares.

That policeman is an idiot too, if he had stopped shooting back he would have been alive most probably.

Americans are freaks..
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agree remove it arknor no place for that here.
 
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