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U.S. Senator Alex Padilla Forcibly Removed and Arrested For Heckling DHS Secretary Kristi Noem During Press Briefing (VIDEO)

rjs330

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In watching the video Padina starts harassing Nome while she was speaking. This was not a debate or congressional discussion. Padina just starts interrupting her while she was speaking. This was very out of order. He was acting no different than any other person who might go to one of these events to disrupt and antagonize the speaker.

The security team reacted to a disruptor exactly as they should have. They called him sir and commanded him to put his hands up. He announces who he is and starts talking to them. This happens very fast and they have no idea who he really is. They push him out of the room and its obvious he is pushing back. They are doing EXACTLY what they should do in this situation. Staying in the room and causing continued interruption of the meeting is not acceptable. The proper thing to do was to get, whomever it was, out of the room and deal with it outside. Leaving him in the room was a recipe for further disruption and harassment. Go outside and figure it out there. Its patently stupid for anyone here to think it should have gone any other way. Just because some guy says he's Padina, doesn't mean he is.

The foolishness to expect the security team to leave a disruptor in the room, especially when they dont know who he is, is astounding.

Nome has her hat on, she's looking at her notes and gives no indication at all that she recognized him at any time. She doesn't acknowledge him at any time.

We've seen this at congressional events where people came in who were allowed to be there, start to disrupt the event.

So spare me the fake indignation over being forced out of the room.

Should he have been taken down and handcuffed? Maybe, maybe not. Depends on what's going on. If once outside the room and he is STILL trying to force his way past, then yes, its entirely appropriate. If he has stopped, is cooperative, and is just trying to speak to them and they grab him and take him down, then no thats not appropriate.

But I haven't seen any video on that, so I dont know what happened. But based upon what I saw in the above video, I have a suspicion that Padina continued to try and force his way in shouting his name as if thats supposed to make the agents just let him do whatever. That would be false. Take him down handcuff him and properly ID him. And if he is who he says he is then release him with a lecture on proper decorum in a situation like that. Thats the right way to deal with an agitator.
 
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RocksInMyHead

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Nothing about this says US Senator.
Aside from "I am Senator Alex Padilla," you mean?
He was acting like a garden variety rager.
Yes, standing to the side and calmly identifying yourself is typical "rager" behavior. I can see how someone might make this mistake.
Even seems intoxicated to me.
People grabbing you and shoving you around does tend to make you stumble - especially when you're trying to not be moved.
 
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Sif

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It's still an Hispanic surname. No doubt the man is a terrorist and got what he deserves.

May be they can add him to their quota of 3,000 arrests per day. Just trying to look out for ICE, give'em a hand.
 
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ozso

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Aside from "I am Senator Alex Padilla," you mean?
Aside from that his demeanor said otherwise.
Yes, standing to the side and calmly identifying yourself is typical "rager" behavior. I can see how someone might make this mistake.
He wasn't remotely calm. He acted and sounded very angry from the get go.
People grabbing you and shoving you around does tend to make you stumble - especially when you're trying to not be moved.
He sounded intoxicated to me.
 
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RocksInMyHead

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He wasn't remotely calm. He acted and sounded very angry from the get go.
You can't see or hear the "get go" in the video clip you posted (or any video that I've seen, for that matter), so I'm uncertain how you could possibly make that determination. He's certainly angry about being manhandled ("Get your hands off me!"), but any apparent "anger" in the rest of the things he says is easily attributable to the fact that he's exerting himself trying to resist being forced out of the room. Try talking while pushing against a wall with all your strength and get back to me on the results.
He sounded intoxicated to me.
Based on what?
 
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ozso

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You can't see or hear the "get go" in the video clip you posted (or any video that I've seen, for that matter), so I'm uncertain how you could possibly make that determination. He's certainly angry about being manhandled ("Get your hands off me!"), but any apparent "anger" in the rest of the things he says is easily attributable to the fact that he's exerting himself trying to resist being forced out of the room. Try talking while pushing against a wall with all your strength and get back to me on the results.
From the get go of the footage. But let's go with he was calm, composed and articulate, and they knew who he was. What plausible reason would the FBI have for reacting that way?
Based on what?
Based on hearing intoxicated people in similar situations from both having watched lots of police bodycam videos and in real life.
 
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RocksInMyHead

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You are totally being dishonest with this comment and shows a completely lack of reality.
Uncalled for.
He constantly and continually attempted to force his way through the security.
We see about 10 seconds of him resisting being dragged out of the room. That is neither "constantly" nor "continuously", nor is it "attempting to force his way through security" (since he was already "through" security when the video starts). Once he's out of the room, he stops struggling.
We can't have an honest conversation if people are unwilling to be honest about what he was doing.
I agree.
He pushed and struggled. You are NOT allowed to do that. LE had full authority to remove someone who was being disruptive his response was to fight against them.
I don't disagree with this assessment. However, just because they have the authority to do something does not mean that actually doing it is reasonable or appropriate. I don't see anything that justified manhandling him out of the room in the first place - he was clearly authorized to be there (having passed through security to get into the building, then having been escorted to the room by federal agents), at least some people knew who he was (the federal agents who escorted him to the press conference, and Noem should have), and he did not pose a threat to anyone. He approached to the front of the room and stopped to speak - you can see him pause and settle himself before being grabbed in the first seconds of the video (I think he thought the first agent was just trying to stop him from going further). Hands are not in pockets and his jacket is unzipped, so they can see that he's not armed (and again, cleared security, escorted by feds to the room).

I think mistakes were made on both sides of this interaction, but the reaction by security in the room (not clear who they were, but I'm pretty sure they were ICE - FBI were outside, and were probably the people who escorted Padilla) was way over-the-top.
 
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ozso

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It's still an Hispanic surname. No doubt the man is a terrorist and got what he deserves.
Oh yeah, no doubt Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are already in custody. Even Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez might be in danger.
 
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ozso

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Uncalled for.

We see about 10 seconds of him resisting being dragged out of the room. That is neither "constantly" nor "continuously", nor is it "attempting to force his way through security" (since he was already "through" security when the video starts). Once he's out of the room, he stops struggling.

I agree.

I don't disagree with this assessment. However, just because they have the authority to do something does not mean that actually doing it is reasonable or appropriate. I don't see anything that justified manhandling him out of the room in the first place - he was clearly authorized to be there (having passed through security to get into the building, then having been escorted to the room by federal agents), at least some people knew who he was (the federal agents who escorted him to the press conference, and Noem should have), and he did not pose a threat to anyone. He approached to the front of the room and stopped to speak - you can see him pause and settle himself before being grabbed in the first seconds of the video (I think he thought the first agent was just trying to stop him from going further). Hands are not in pockets and his jacket is unzipped, so they can see that he's not armed (and again, cleared security, escorted by feds to the room).

I think mistakes were made on both sides of this interaction, but the reaction by security in the room (not clear who they were, but I'm pretty sure they were ICE - FBI were outside, and were probably the people who escorted Padilla) was way over-the-top.
Why did they react that way? What triggered their response?
 
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RocksInMyHead

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From the get go of the footage. But let's go with he was calm, composed and articulate, and they knew who he was. What plausible reason would the FBI have for reacting that way?
The FBI were the people outside the room who cuffed him. I presume they reacted the way that they did because that's what their training said they should do when someone is forced out of a room by law enforcement. The security agents in the room (I presume they were with ICE or some other DHS department) were likely keyed up given the situation and grossly overreacted to a Hispanic man approaching the Secretary. I'm not sure that they knew who Padilla was.
Based on hearing intoxicated people in similar situations from both having watched lots of police bodycam videos and in real life.
As someone who's worked in the security business for over 30 years, I agree.
That does give some context to your responses, but surely if you've been in the security business, you'd be aware that adrenaline can also make a person sound intoxicated, right? I know from personal experience that I can sound quite incoherent when especially angry, scared, or excited, even when I'm stone cold sober.
 
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RocksInMyHead

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Why did they react that way? What triggered their response?
As far as I can tell, a Hispanic man walking to the front of the room.

ETA: As I said, I think mistakes were made on both sides of this interaction. Senator Padilla did disrupt the press conference, but the response to his disruption was clearly over-the-top. What disturbs me most is the heavy push by both the administration and the posters in this thread to place all of the blame on Senator Padilla, trying to paint him as "angry," a "rager," "intoxicated," or a threat. It strikes me as eerily similar to cases of law enforcement inventing post facto justifications for shootings or violent beatings. "I thought he was reaching for a weapon" or "He was resisting". If Secretary Noem and her department were willing to accept responsibility for their mistakes in this situation rather than offering lectures and excuses, I'd be a lot less upset by it.
 
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ozso

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The FBI were the people outside the room who cuffed him. I presume they reacted the way that they did because that's what their training said they should do when someone is forced out of a room by law enforcement. The security agents in the room (I presume they were with ICE or some other DHS department) were likely keyed up given the situation and grossly overreacted to a Hispanic man approaching the Secretary. I'm not sure that they knew who Padilla was.
Noem's Secret Service team.
That does give some context to your responses, but surely if you've been in the security business, you'd be aware that adrenaline can also make a person sound intoxicated, right? I know from personal experience that I can sound quite incoherent when especially angry, scared, or excited, even when I'm stone cold sober.
I know that sounds intoxicated doesn't always mean intoxicated, but it's still something to consider as a possibility when dealing with someone in a situation like that. I've had to challenge countless people and I can immediately decipher between reasonable and unreasonable and so on. If I had seen that video without knowing who he is, I would have seen a class A handling of a typically unruly individual. And believe me if they hadn't acted appropriately I would've found it irksome.
 
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ozso

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As far as I can tell, a Hispanic man walking to the front of the room.
Are you sure the agent on the left isn't Hispanic?

Padilla.png

ETA: As I said, I think mistakes were made on both sides of this interaction. Senator Padilla did disrupt the press conference, but the response to his disruption was clearly over-the-top. What disturbs me most is the heavy push by both the administration and the posters in this thread to place all of the blame on Senator Padilla, trying to paint him as "angry," a "rager," "intoxicated," or a threat. If Secretary Noem and her department were willing to accept responsibility for their mistakes in this situation rather than offering lectures and admonishments, I'd be a lot less upset by it.
I don't think the Secret Service made any mistake whatsoever.
 
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Hentenza

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It's still an Hispanic surname. No doubt the man is a terrorist and got what he deserves.
Got what he wanted, his 10 minutes of fame and publicity.
 
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