I think that the officer was justified in the way he handled the situation. If those kids had not been there on skateboards(and they knew they were breakin the law) this might not have happened. Let's face it, IF you break the law, then you have to face  whatever comes along with it. You get roughed up, that's too bad. They were disrespecting the officer and violating the law. What are you suppose to do? Go buy them an ice cream cone and sweet talk them.

Good Job Officer Williams and The Hot Spings Police Department. Keep up the good work.

You must be joking.  The officer justified.  Lets remeber that we are talking about kids here.  Lets also remeber that skateboarding is a ticket, not an arrest.  So please tell me what these children did to warrant being choked by someone who is supposed to be protecting them.  If you chose to educate yourself, which obviously you don't, and watched the whole video, you would see that this officer was not only completely out of line in his handling of the situation, but was also using his position to rob those american citizens of their first amendment right, the freedom of speech.  When the child who fled clearly stated that he had captured the officer choking a 14 year old child, he demanded that the camera be turned over to him.  Who are you kidding, tell me isupportcops, would you do the same if they were demanding your evidence of a wrong doing.  The kid fled when the cop came after him....  Jesus, seriously watch the video, educate yourself before you put your narrow minded, brainwashed opinions out into the world.  There is a law broken here, but the kids were not the ones who did it.   Now here is where I teach you about something you obviously know little about,  a city ordainence is what these kids broke, the only law that was broken was 5-11-104 false imprisionment, and that officer was the one who commited it.  Hey I have and idea, instead of downloading useless crap off the internet, why don't you go on to the state web site and introduce yourself your governments penal codes, or how about reading up on your constitutional rights, that might help you get a better idea of what your speaking about before you speak...

What you are seeing is an example of what is wrong with some, not all, of our youth.  A total disregard for the instructions given by an authority.  The officer asked them to sit down so he could gain control of the situation.   Had they followed this simple instruction they probably would have gotten a lecture and then gone home.  Instead, they have to rebel against his lawful authority and thumb their noses at all the rules. 

Does anyone teach their kids respect anymore?

That is insane. Im a skateboarder from Conway and here you cant touch the pavement without getting kicked out. Telling a kid to not skateboard on the sidewalk is like me telling you not to drive your car on the street. At least on a sidewalk where out of the way and not getting run over. Also, skateboarding is not a crime and doesnt need a ticket/arrest. If those kids did anything wrong its not fighting back.

I think that the police carried it a little bit too far. And if they are going to enforce this law they need to make sure that there are plenty of signs posted and that they are in plain sight. Just because the kids in Hot Springs know this law doesn't mean that the tourist do. I happen to know that they are plenty of kids that come to visit Hot Springs that are skateboarders and they probably don't know the exact laws of Hot Springs pertaining to skateboarding.

Mom of a skater in Malvern

The officer is completely justified for many reasons. Granted skateboard is not a arrest able offense there may be other causes for his attempted arrest.. Disobeying an officer such as what the girl did. When an officer is in the process of "arresting" or detaining a person you should never attempt to come up behind them. In this day and age of people being sort of crazy cops must keep their guard up greatly. Think like he would be thinking.. Maybe one might attempt to go for his gun. Maybe attempt to strike him in the head so they can escape without getting caught. Attack in general and do other things. Granted they were teens and such there is still a good memory of what "kids" can do in this day and age. Police have the right to act as he did in that situation.. If you keep struggling with a cop when they tell you to settle down then you’re going to get a more aggressive tone then if you were to just be still, listen to what your told, and just be very respectful like you should to a person in authority.

 

Also yes skate boarding on public property or in parking lots should be illegal because they tend to grind on things and what if they fall on your car? You going to just sit there and say your sorry that they just put a nice dent in your hood? That is what skate parks are for and thats what tax payers have paid for..

Skateboarding in the same area as pedestrians is dangerous to both the pedestrians and the skateboarders.  If the skateboarders in question had obeyed the policeman's request, no physical force would have been necessary.  Since they obviously did not obey, the policeman had the duty to use whatever force was necessary to make them do so.   

Your overly hostile answer illustrates the real problem. A lack of respect for authority in the skateboarders and you. I also noticed you used Jesus name in vane. This illustrates an even more serious problem that maybe you should seriously look into.

Have you noticed how the State and Federal Government is doing everything they can to eliminate any fun, physical accitivites our children are doing. Now they have the Hot Springs Nazi Police beating up our children for skateboarding. You may think "Hey, he was breaking the law, he deserved it." Would you want this to happen to your child? I would run away too if I saw someone who was supposed to protect and serve acting like a vicious street thug. This is going to be great for tourism. I can just hear all the vacation plans changing and pocket books slaming shut for Arkansas. As my sons t-shirt says, "SKATEBOARDING IS NOT A CRIME!"

I respect your right to skateboard.  Some of the tricks I've seen are very impressive.   However, if I were a 75 year old woman on the sidewalk you and 3 or 4 of your skateboarding friends would scare me - all I need is one fall and it's over for me.  If I can respect your right to skateboard, can you respect  my right to walk safely in a tourist area on a designated walkway?

The crime is NOT skateboarding.  The crime is the disregard for the police's authority and resisting his efforts to restore calm and order.   It's his job

 

 

WHY DONT THEY SHOW THE WHOLE VIDEO AS TO WHAT CAUSED HIM TO DO THAT.  OR MAYBE WHAT WAS SAID.  THERE WASN'T ANY AUDIO TO THAT.  IF A POLICE OFFICER TELLS YOU TO LEAVE BECAUSE YOUR BREAKING THE LAW AND YOU GIVE HIM A HARD TIME WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN. DONT BE A PUNK, JUST DO IT.

If all i can do is not skate on the sidewalk or in the street. What else is left? I think to only thing i could do is skate in the living room. Well im not that stupid. And if your the person who says "go to the skatepark" well the skatepark isnt always open and it's overcrowding alot to. You cant just treat skaters like toys and just choke them and kick them out of everything. Now if it's people playing football or soccor nobody would have a problem with it. People give skaters bad names and its wrong. What if i decided to make riding a bike on a sidewalk illegal? Cause the bigger and more dangerous.

Angry Skater From Conway

The cop was not justified.   He completely over-reacted to the situation.   I can't believe that anyone would say that he  WAS justified.  I watched the video about 10 times with my hand over my mouth in disbelief the entire time.   What would happen to a parent if they choked their child and then headlocked them and knocked them to the ground??   Come on people, open your eyes.

There is audio to the video on youtube.  Don't post anything until you've watched it.