# Fighting Like a Girl



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

Use of force and female cops

*SGT. SUSAN GRANT
Women in Policing Contributor*
_Officer.com_

"Fighting like a girl" brings up images of two ten-year-old girls in sleeveless paisley dresses and cotton shoes scratching and slapping each other on the playground because one stole the other's Barbie. But to the 2,000 female boxers registered in the United States or to the thousands of female police officers in North America, fighting like a girl means something totally different. 
I remember it as if it were yesterday (I've always wanted to say that). It was a hot night and I got a call of a drunk person filling his car up with gas at a local gas station. When I drove up the drunk was walking into the station to pay for his gas while his girlfriend, also liquored up, was sitting in the passenger seat of the car. I was working alone and my backup was ten minutes away at the time. When I confronted the suspect as he staggered out of the gas station, he began to push me and yell drunken obscenities. At the same time, the passenger side door was opening and the liquored up girlfriend clicked her way towards us in her high heeled shoes. The look on her face sent me messages that she wasn't there to help me. Hmmm...now what? I grabbed his wrist and turned him around with his back facing me. He struggled so much I ended bear hugging him from behind as we hit the ground. Since I knew that if I was on top I would get throttled by the girlfriend, likely with one of those high heeled shoes, I spun myself around so I was on my back, bear-hugging this guy with my arms, and now legs, as he tried to get out of my hold. Not a pretty sight I imagine, but it was the only way I could keep him still and me safe. But now what? Try and get out that hold! He kept struggling and I kept holding until the troops arrived to help. Within five minutes my backup arrived and we were able to handcuff the guy and arrest him. So this begs the question: if I were a man would I have reacted to the situation differently? I say "yes." Men and women fight differently--but we still get the job done.

Full Story: http://www.officer.com/article/article.jsp?siteSection=21&id=36386


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