Stories about perceived police brutality are always lightning rods for conversation. Today's story — about a Seattle woman punched in the face by an officer — was no exception. What action was appropriate in the given situation?

From TheSometimesWhy:

A lot has been mentioned about jaywalking in this post. If your beef with the cop with no professional grace is that he was enforcing a law that is on the books, your bitch is with the legislature that put the law on the books, not with the cop who is charged with enforcing the law, no matter how illogical or unnecessary.

Case in point: here in Los Angeles they take jaywalking very seriously. And here the boys in blue ride up on motorcycles out of nowhere to inform you of your transgression. It is an unnerving and highly stressful encounter to behold, let alone to be the object of.

And at the risk of repeating a comment I made at the initial post on this topic, there is no one in our society with more life-and-death discretion than a cop in the field. And we agree that that has to be the case—they have to be imbued with the authority to meet what they perceive as lethal force with lethal force.

I know you're thinking "Yeah, but what did this poor woman do to get punched in the face?" She violated Rule #1 of dealing with cops: Never, ever put yourself between a cop who is doing his duty (however questionably) and the object of his intention. And if you do, whatever you do don't do anything that leaves your actions open to misinterpretation, i.e., don't put your hands on said officer. And never, ever, double-dog never go near his gun. The minute you do you have opened a Pandora's box of inappropriate and potentially life-threatening responses.

The desire to see this case in black and white terms, literally and figuratively, guarantees we will never solve this riddle. The woman who was screaming "get the fuck off me" invited an entire world of pain by way of her irresponsible response to what may have been a less than necessary intervention. The woman who intervened on her behalf raised her vacuous gesture ten-fold by putting her hands on the cop.

And the cop? He did what every cop would do, given what they tell me they do in situations in which their authority is directly questioned—he went for the jugular.

And when that happens, the only thing you're guaranteed is a lot of bloodshed.