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From the video, the officer striking the suspect in the head and kicking him did not act appropiately and should be repremanded.

There is no way to determine anything from the obviously edited video, except that the officers were struggling with a violent, armed man who refuses to make his own fate less violent by continuing to resist arrest by the obviously tired officers.
I guess some folks have never encountered a violent, armed man determined to get away with whatever crimes he can. Thank God we have police to do it for us.

Police today have a lot more to contend with.When they tell you to STOP....you do it! They represent the law! They don't know if you are a crack head or crazy SOB when they come upon a scene.Especially in the South where there is much more open space and cops are not right around the corner. Sorry but if you are a law abiding citizen(and not a crack head or persistant problem)when the police tell you to "STOP" you do it...THEN you can plead your case.Look at what they are dealing with.....over,and over and over again!Scummy,dirt bags!Huge numbers of Southern States such as Greensboro,N.C. failed every single stat regarding crime,drugs,rapes and murders......Do I blame the police...NO..They are not out committing these crimes...it's your very nice neighbor there just minding his own business! Yeah Right!

Every officer on the scene especially the initial two should be commended for a job well done. They displayed a lot of courage and even compassion for the suspect in a deadly force situation. They were in a situation where they would have been legally justified in shooting the suspect but instead they took the time to continously issue verbal commands and struggle with him physically until they could control him. I think the suspect might agree that a little cursing, striking and kicking is a lot better than being shot.

If the accused man would have just followed the policemens orders to get down on the ground then the policemen would not have had to use force. The policemen had no choice and were well within their rights. When you are ordered to "get down on the ground" by a policeman, you better do it, or you are assumed guilty. The policemen should be commended on a job well done.

The police responded to gunshots being fired!!

He had a gun in his hand
...and they did not shoot him....
I would say they acted professional.....

I would have shot him the minute I saw the gun....

Officially/legally ... he could be dead....

Funny how not much has been mentioned about the suspect being armed with a handgun.
The officers could have used deadly force on the suspect as soon as he produced the weapon.
If anything the officers should have been more aggressive. However they were in Smith Homes and there were several people who had surrounded them. I guess they somehow had the day off?

I thought it was GREAT!!!

If you don't comply, esp. with a gun in your hand . . . PUT THE BOOTS TO 'EM

BTW . . . if the fools taping could please learn some english, I mean really now . . . "he ain't did nothing" . . . children please stay in school . . . the immigrants speak better english . . .

. . . did you see the way the crowd was getting all puffed up . . . genetic Gang Mentality . . .

In looking at the video, it seems as if it was staged. The officers as stated showed a lot of restraint. To make it worse, someone came over to pick up something and get involved also. Wasn't it convenient that someone had a video camera to record the incident? All through the video you can hear people cursing at the officers just adding to the mob mentality. Why can't people let the police do their jobs. If an officer gives you an order to get down, if you are not guilty, obey the command.

That guy should of just stopped and listened to the officers. I can say that I don't think it was right for the officer to be kicking and hitting him. He could found another way to calm him down.

If your son, daughter, husband, wife, brother, sister, mother, father were a police officer, would you question how they responded to this call? When police officers respond to a call, stop a car, enter a residence, they have no idea what is waiting for them. They risk their life every day, all day, during the night while you are sleeping safely in your home, during the holidays when you are with your family. They responded to a shots fired call, the subject in fact had a gun. The subject did not follow the request they made of him. If you were a police officer, how would you have reacted? Think about it before you are so quick to critize these two officers. Think about it.

I am getting tired of city council trying to second guess how or why a police officer is doing his /her job. When they have the guts to put their life on the line to protect people they don't even know, then they can be so judgemental. Nobody but the officers and the suspect knows what happens in each situation. Modern technolgy allows an individual to skew just about any circumstance to their advantage. Maybe we need to remind people that the officers have their hands full protecting the lifes and property of the citizens and are not randomly picking on "innocent criminals" just to get their jollies! I for one appreciate what our officers do for us, and I am well aware that not all police officers are above scrutany, but, like I said before...they're the ones risking their lives and I thing if they need to take precautions, so be it. What is an honorable police officers life worth? Surely not worth the risk of offending a suspected criminal's rights and paying the ultimate price!

Just another benefit of our "diversity!" I wonder how often scenes like this one take place in Japan. How does Japan survive with such a lack of diversity, and multi-cuturalism? Do you think our great diversity and multicuturalism have anything to do with fact that we have have the most people in prisons of any country in the world? Just askin'.

The officers should've gotten the guy on the ground, why do they keep holding the guy and not drop him like you see on TV. Once he was handcuffed I don't know why the one guy gets out of his car and knees the dude, but other than that if the guy had a gun then he needed to be dealt with. I wouldn't say this was police brutality, but it could've been dealt with in more effecient manner. Drop the guy and cuff him, but again we weren't there in the situation and he did have a gun. I love the part Call my mama, what's she going to do for you at this point. Also, this Timothy X character needs to get off it, the dude had a gun and no telling what else. They sure didn't walk up to the guy starting trouble, he was up to something and hopefully he's locked up now. Smith Homes is nothing but trouble anyway and that place should be demolished!

You should see Timothy X's old rap sheet. I have a hard time believing he can be objective. However since he doesn't work for a living he can take time to follow cops around. So are the police the real problem for communities (using the term losely) like Smith Homes? Maybe he should focus on encouraging the thugs not to hang out there and not to carry guns (especially when they are convicted felons as this guy is. Illegal immigrants of all colors come to the country and find work. Why can't Timothy X and Carles Montgomery just get a job already. Just check out SOME of Mr. Montgomery's convictions:
INITIAL 05096696 POSSESS WITS SCHEDULE II (PRINCIPAL) 11/06/2005 FELON CLASS H

CONCURRENT TO SENTENCE NUMBER BA-001 06070095 FELONY B&E (PRINCIPAL) 02/14/2006 FELON CLASS H

INITIAL 05096696 POSSESS WITS SCHEDULE II (PRINCIPAL) 11/06/2005 FELON CLASS H

CONSECUTIV TO SENTENCE NUMBER BA-002 06072615 FELONY B&E (PRINCIPAL) 11/28/2005 FELON CLASS H

You can look it up at the NC DOC website. He has many more.

Well as an officer I can say that the suspect is very fortunate that a more aggressive officer didn't initiate the contact. Because the suspect could have been shot when the weapon was first produced. However the two officers were able to effect the arrest and go home and the end of the day. All while sparing this CONVICTED FELON'S life. Timothy X is not too concerned with the plight of the people in this neighborhood or he would spend time encouraging them to get jobs and take some pride in their neighborhood, excuse me, their hood.
However if you don't have to invest time and effort into your residence then you are not likely to put much care and concern into it's surroundings. My my, the GHA has really got a nice place over there in Smith Homes.

did anyone listen to the video.

"Call my mamma". Well hasn't he grown into a fine productive, independent young man. Notice he did not say "call my boss i may be late for work".

Right is Right and Wrong is Wrong. The Police were right, up until the knee kick, which was totally unnessasary, and the Officer should be held accountable and punished accordingly. I wonder why two officers could not have thrown one slender man to the ground and handcuffed him. Maybe they need to go back to training classes. By the way,the young man was totally wrong and should have obeyed. Mr. X, you should get a grip and should have said so if you are so concern about the Black community, instead of trying to instigate rebellion in the community.

"Call my mamma" . . . I mean . . . call my boss i may be late for work . . . call my boss i may be late for work . . .

HAHAHAHAHA that's the Greatest!

This guy is a joke . . . if he'd been shot to death no one would have missed him . . . well maybe his court appointed lawyer . . .

where is the black communities support for this criminal? . . .

I would be there in a flash if I weren't race baiting in Ohio . . . I called Jesse . . . it's odd

Odd that . . . he said something about having Obama's balls and couldn't be disturbed . . .

So what is the problem? The suspect was arrested the gun was confiscated and the tow officers went home that night.
I ride down Florida St a lot and I have never seen so many people just hanging out during the middle of the day. Since they have so much time they could spend it picking up trash or mowing the lawn to make the area not look like such a , well, dump.
I'm sure that this fine young man was just sitting around reading from the Bible with his friends until the oppressive cops rolled up just to "harass" him. Give me a break.
Everyone wants to live in a nice place but they don't want to clean it up themselves. And when the police come to collect the trash they expect the cops to ask the suspect to nicely come to jail. If you live in that area and don't support the police then I suppose you are content with your little neighborhood and the thugs that have taken it over.

"Once he was handcuffed I don't know why the one guy gets out of his car and knees the dude."

You must be watching a different video. It looked to me as if the officers were still struggling to get the handcuffs on this guy. A nice knee strike to the thigh is an approved Justice Academy technique to gain compliance in that situation. If the officer "dancing" with this felon had done that in the beginning instead of whatever it was he was doing, this would not even be in the news. This guy would have been just another out of work, drug dealing low life who threw down his drugs and gun then shouted about his innocence.

Like I said before the police are called to "many dangerous situations"and they have to react in a seconds. When I see some low life scum disrespecting the law and carrying a hand gun, he is a public threat and nuisance to everyone.His ass is lucky he wasn't in N.Y because his booty would have been down and out for the count after word one! As far as I am concerned the police don't get paid enough to put up with dealing with that kind of trash on a daily basis. When the police tell you to stop...you do it .....guess he thought he was special! I think they treated him to good. Hope mamma got some extra cash to bail her bad boy outta jail......how old is he...lol Call my mamma ...lol

Mary needs to get a grip I don't think the Police call her every time they arrest someone and have to use
force. The two cops went home safe and the criminal went to jail. he should have been tazed.

I am an officer in a city about the size of Greensboro. I have almost 20 years of experience...most of which has been on the streets in housing communities like this. I know how fast a simple call can go south. To me, what I don't understand is why those officers dance around with the suspect, especially after he had been located with a gun...he should have been leg swept and took to the ground. But then again, I can't really make a good judgment here and I really don't want to...because I know how it is to be Monday morning quarterbacked when I have made decisions. To me, they use much less force than I would have and probably should be commended for not really hurting this guy.

I am an officer in a city about the size of Greensboro. I have almost 20 years of experience...most of which has been on the streets in housing communities like this. I know how fast a simple call can go south. To me, what I don't understand is why those officers dance around with the suspect, especially after he had been located with a gun...he should have been leg swept and took to the ground. But then again, I can't really make a good judgment here and I really don't want to...because I know how it is to be Monday morning quarterbacked when I have made decisions. To me, they use much less force than I would have and probably should be commended for not really hurting this guy.

The police officers went above and beyond - at the first sight of the suspect's weapon, the responding officers would legally have the right to shoot the idiot.

Despite what certain officers of GPD are doing, the majority of the officers are well-trained and have a good head on their shoulders.

If anything, I could see more force being used. Have YOU ever tried to talk a crackhead or heroin addict into putting down a weapon? Have you ever tried to pepper spray someone that was hyped up on illegal narcotics? If not, here's a lesson - a lot of the time the pepper spray only agitates the doper - it doesn't incapacitate them.

Had I been one of the officers on the scene that saw the suspect get his weapon, I would not have hesitated to draw and fire my weapon. It's an instantaneous reaction - you see a weapon being drawn while you're giving the suspect verbal commands that he's not doing - you don't know what his next move is, but you know he has a firearm. Do you get shot at or do you shoot the suspect that's a danger not only to the officers, but to the innocent citizens all around. Let's just say that if I'd responded, I hope all of the time I've spent at the range would pay off - I'd only have to use one of the thousands of bullets GPD purchases each year.

How much are the taxpayers going to have to pay to keep the suspect incarcerated? Food, medicine, clothing... Even behind those bars, the good guys are getting the raw end of the deal.

Thank you to all of the officers involved - you should be very proud to wear the uniform and badge that you earned.

I believe that Mary Rakestraw owes the policemen an apology. If the guy with the gun was in her front yard I'm sure that she would have seen things differently. She would have appreciated the efforts of the policemen a lot more even to the extent of wishing they had used more force (which the policemen were entitled to). Clearly, she’s too far removed from reality to be an effective city leader. The police put their lives in danger everyday and deserve a lot more appreciation from the citizens and especially from our city council, which Mary Rakestraw represents. They deserve an apology!

In reading more into the article and with what Ms. Rakestraw said, maybe the police needs to call her every time they go into a situation like what happened at Smith Homes so she can instruct the officers in the proper way to handle the situation. It's a shame she believed a video from an activist instead of the police. I'm glad I'm not in Greensboro any more with people like Mary Rakestraw on City Council trying to control what th officers do when they put their lives in danger to protect her.