Today I am reading an article in the local newspaper about a jury trial in our area for a guy charged with felony assault on a Law Enforcement Officer. The guy was in custody in a holding cell and said he was cold. Officer is bringing a blanket opens the door and the guy jumps him. Took two other officers and taser to bring the guy under control. One officer was bitten in the chest. The newspaper called it a "tussle".

I have heard the term "tussle" used in other media outlets recently to describe a fight.

What is our world coming to??

Could be worse. They could've referred to it as a "kerfuffle."

These days when we're all more safe, peaceful and prosperous, we're much more conscious of individual rights. Olden days privileges have become rights. A distant relative of mine was a small town rural sheriff. His wife was employed as a jailer and tax collector. She had a "tussle" or "kerfuffle" with a drunk on his way to jail and he broker her wristwatch. When sobered up the miscreant spent many days on my relative's farm digging post holes and busting rocks. The inmate was completely rehabilitated without recidivism. Today that would be called slave labor by a host of advocacy groups, prosecutors and our dysfunctional justice department.

When fighting with police officers became routine to increase the chances of recording some 'misbehavior' on the part of the police trying to apprehend you.

It's not 'resisting arrest'. It's just a 'tussle'.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Seems that when describing a Law Enforcement Officer it was "excessive force "
But when describing the perpetrator, they only tusseled.

Good thing it didn't happen in Donnybrook. Most Judges are smart enough to not pay attention to newspapers.

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Front sight and squeeze

My favorite tussle scene is in the movie Out of Sight when a fellow with bad judgement decides to tussle with Jennifer Lopez. I'd post a link but the language violates the standards here. Easy to find on YouTube though.

You obviously have better judges than we do.

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Bill

I always referred to it as a “misunderstanding . . . “

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

Years ago that bite would have resulted in false teeth. Today suspect was merely resisting an illegal arrest. Pardon my cynicism.

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Made it, Ma! Top of the world!

The media loves using words to change a narrative. Another one they'll use is "fight" or "fighting" to describe a pack of 5 or 6 predators descending on a single person they don't know and beating the person half to death for entertainment purposes.

Gee, the media get it wrong again.

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No baby we aint

Long ago and far away, the guy that was cold would have shortly been much, much colder.

Had my share of “tussles” on the street but we were trained to end the fight very quickly. Things were more urgent then b/c retention holsters were years away, and no tasers or pepper spray either.

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Old Cop
LEO (Ret.)

If it's only a "tussle", then maybe you don't need anything more than a Social Worker.

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Only a cold warrior

About the same time that rioters became "protestors" and violent criminals became "victims".

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NHI, 10-8.

Words have meaning, but if you can twist or repurpose some words it softens the true meaning. Consider how the term "dreamers" is supposed to soften the aspect of people in this country illegally.

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Live long and prosper

When I started on the job, we'd make sure a "tune-up" was conducted. A "tussle" never came into the discussion.

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Support Israel!

Yeah, in today's world, that's known as an illegal assault. Seems a little silly to me to brag "Yeah, he was a little out of line, so I tuned him up . . . "

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

"Attitude adjustment" was the term of art when I was a reserve officer (a long time ago).

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protocalldesign.com

I spent many years of my life dealing with other peoples' children and their stupid little problem behaviors.

Over 40 years ago I responded to a disturbance call in a bar. One guy apparently didn't like seeing me handcuff his friend so he picked up a cue ball from the pool table and smacked me on the head from behind, fracturing my skull. Charged with felony assault on a peace officer, preliminary hearing with no problem, bound over for trial. Date of trial comes, the deputy DA accepted a plea to misdemeanor menacing, $50 fine and $28 court costs. Yes, I had a few tense words with a deputy DA.

Caught a burglar coming out of a medical office one night. I had a flashlight in one hand and portable radio in the other hand. He had a .380 stolen from a doc's desk, shot me in the leg, I beat him senseless with a flashlight and portable radio. Spent the next couple of years responding to his lawsuit for excessive force, assault & battery, and civil rights violations. Figured what the heck, so I counter-sued him, got a judgement but never collected a dime.

15-year old female shoplifter, unable to contact her parents so I was taking her to the juvie center to be released when mom or dad could be notified. She decided to kick me in the face while I opened the car door for her, which cost me a few teeth. I threw my flashlight at her chest, stepped in and decked her. Her parents sued me (yeah, another false arrest, assault & battery, civil rights violations, yada, yada, yada). I counter-sued them, received a judgement, they moved out of state and I never saw a dime.

A year or so before I took early retirement I responded to a domestic violence complaint. 28-year old construction worker beat the **** out of his live-in girlfriend, then his elderly uncle intervened and ended up with broken jaw and broken ribs. Auntie jumped in and got kicked in the face by the young man. I arrived and the wrestling match was on. I got him cuffed, but I had a dislocated elbow and shoulder. On the way to county jail he kicked the window out of the car and damaged the door frame. Going into the booking area he reared up and kicked a wooden door out of the frame. Tried to get him seated in the booking room, he head-butted me in the face breaking my nose and shattering some teeth. Deputies put him in 4-point restraints (on a padded floor mat with both arms and legs restrained). After the dust settled the only person involved who didn't need medical attention was him. Ended up pleading guilty to felony assault on a peace officer, long criminal history (including a homicide), spent the next 4 years in prison filing hand-written pro-se lawsuits against me for false arrest, malicious prosecution, assault & battery, civil rights violations (they all seem to get repetitive on that stuff). Still dealing with that nonsense for 3 years after I retired (no pay, no mileage back and forth to the federal courthouse, no parking fees, no meals, no lodging reimbursement).

I could tell a dozen more, just like most cops who tried their best to do the job and ended up taking the short end of the dirty stick again and again.

Tussle? Yeah, shortly after the tussle we learn that State Workers Compensation Authority has to respond to our medical claims within 30 days, so they always deny every claim before they get their act together a few months later. Meanwhile, I usually ended up with thousands in doctors and hospital bills, sometimes going into collection actions before the WC people decided that maybe a cop injured in the line of duty was actually a legitimate claim. Who woulda thunk it?

Tussles. Always tussles. Everybody understands a little tussle. Probably the cop's fault anyway so who really cares?

There may come a time when good men and women refuse to put on a uniform or badge. I can't say I would blame them a bit.

I think about this a lot especially with the way police are treated like they are the problem these days.

I can't imagine why anybody wants that job. Current conditions have got to be driving good cops away.

I used to tell people that I could never have been a police officer because the cars aren't big enough to hold all the ammo I would want to carry...but the truth is that very few of us have the patience and restraint necessary to do what you did for a living.

Thanks for your service, Lobo...I hope retirement is a lot easier than your career!

Words have meaning, and in many cases are carefully chosen to lead the reader or listener to a specific conclusion. It's not a coincidence that a prisoner-initiated fight is called a "tussle", while a police officer who shoots an armed suspect is described as having "murdered" that person...

In 2013 a group of young gentlemen at the Youth Correctional Facility I worked at took over a living unit in a pre-planned uprising. They improvised weapons, barricaded doors, took hostages and destroyed what they could, causing $150,000+ in damage to the facility. Multiple law enforcement agencies responded, including SWAT teams. When it was all over, the agency heads downplayed the riot by telling the press that a small group of youth had become "unruly".

At the same time as when the media describes an accurate description of their behavior as a "vicious assault".

I'm curious as to why the officer didn't just stuff the blanket through the tray chute? Did the officer enter the cell alone? I made the mistake of going into a cell by myself about 25 years ago and learned my lesson.

A DA explained to me that regardless of clear law defining assault on a peace officer or battery on a peace officer, his office would not charge someone with a felony unless an officer was injured more than a black eye, fat lip, non-stitched cuts, and/or bruises.

Magistrates generally would not find defendants guilty of resisting arrest (misdemeanor) unless there was a fight or an extended chase to get them in iron. You could CHARGE resisting all you wanted, but they would generally just dismiss it, especially if you charged it fairly often. Your job as a cop is to keep the peace, then enforce the law - that involves risk, and the courts don't want to hear you whining about minor injuries or difficult arrests.

Anyone who goes into policing thinking they're not going to get hurt needs to find something other than an armed service for a job.

In my line of work (English teacher) we call that euphony. Also in my line of work, I'm supposed to be liberal enough to agree with such euphony. But as is true of me for most of my life, I don't conform to other people's expectations. I've broken up many a "tussle," but the last one I broke up, I told my administrators they'd probably best not expect me to break up another one. I narrowly avoided being struck by a student, and my reaction was probably not the politically correct one since the way I avoided being struck was to "move" said student into the railing behind her.......rather harshly. Had she actually hit me, I'm certain my teaching career would've ended then and there. I'm also certain the media would not have used such euphony in their description of my handling of the "tussle." We've become a world where perpetrators are now victims and authority figures are now villains. God help us.

VaTom,
I'm afraid, you are a little behind time, It's already here!

As to what will be required, to put our world into a reasonable state again, I'll not comment on, as it would get me banned fore sure. I believe we all know what must be done, but who will be willing to face the consequents for doing it?

Chubbo

If I am roaming around and see a cop I make it a point to tell him, "Thanks for your service, real American people are behind you 100 percent". Then I listen to them. Unreal what is happening to law enforcement in the late great golden state just awful.. When I was a kid if you resisted arrest and fought- you could expect to be subdued harsh. Old ways were usually better imo. Thank you all for your service.