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  • The Marshall Project

    What Are Cops Really Thinking When Routine Arrests Turn Violent?

    ”You have to use a lot of force, or you are going to die.”
    by Simone Weichselbaum and Jamiles Lartey Jun 26, 2020 5 minutes

    Why do they do it? Cops have been caught on video, over and over, assaulting Black Americans — bruising their bodies and breaking their bones during routine encounters that escalated. What makes officers engage in rough arrest tactics that seem unnecessarily brutal?

    Paul Huebl, a 12-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department who now makes a living as a private investigator aiding cops accused of excessive force, says it is a simple matter of control. Police are taught to dominate a situation and get someone in handcuffs as soon as tensions start to flare. If they don’t, they risk ending up in a bodybag.

    “If you are gonna use force, you have to use a lot of force, or you are going to die,” Hubel said. “You can’t be a namby pamby.”

    Arrests turn violent, Huebl told The Marshall Project, when people ignore officers’ commands and

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