Police teacher explains takedown tactic

A teacher of police said Thursday that the cell-phone video of a transit scofflaw being taken to the ground shows a technique that looks more violent than it is.

The takedown, said Mylan Masson, director of the law enforcement program at Hennepin Technical College, "looks violent ... but they're bringing him down to the ground. And they're also pulling them back, so that they don't hit hard."

Metro Transit Police are reviewing the incident in which a transit cop arrested Draon Armstrong, who reportedly admitted that he had not bought a ticket for the light rail line and said he did not intend to pay the fine. A video shot by Armstrong's sister was circulated on the Internet and broadcast on Fox 9.

Chief John Harrington said his preliminary review of the video suggests that the officer's actions were warranted. The NAACP has protested the arrest and planned a rally in Minneapolis Thursday.

Interviewed Thursday morning on MPR News, Masson said that a suspect might resist arrest in a variety of ways.

One way, she said, "could be very verbal, and saying, 'I'm not going to be taken into custody.' The other thing is posturing. Could I be setting up to balance my feet off to make a punch toward you? Or could I be pushing off on you?"

"And when I saw the video, I saw that twice the person pushed off against the officer to try to get away or whatever they were doing," Masson said. "Of course, we don't know what was going on, because we weren't there."

She added that Armstrong "certainly could have been [resisting arrest], yes."

Masson explained that when a suspect is resisting, the arresting officer wants to minimize the danger to himself and to the suspect.

"So what you're trying to do is get them to a position as low to the ground as possible," she said. "That way, they cannot move as quickly, they're not going to hurt anybody else as quickly. They may not grab for your weapons that you have on your duty belt. And then, also, it gives them a little bit of understanding that, 'OK, I'm down here on the ground. Now I'm probably not going to get hurt, either.'"

But she added, "There are times, too, you might say, "You know what? This isn't worth it. I'm just going to let him walk away, and I'll get him another time.'"