“Why were you running?” the police officer asked the terrified man pinned beneath his knee on the sidewalk.

A video this week showed Officer Edward P. Barrett on top of a pedestrian with his knee on the man’s back.

It started as a typical traffic dispute, especially for this city. Then it got crazy. And then, improbably, city officials managed to make it even worse.

A 54-year-old man was crossing Arlington Street at Boylston on Tuesday against the lights. He was in the crosswalk when an off-duty Boston police officer, who had the green light, turned onto Arlington in front of him. He said he tapped the car’s window with his umbrella in protest. The police officer said the pedestrian whacked the window, cracking it. We don’t know for sure how hard the umbrella hit the glass. But we do know there was no crack. According to the police report, a mark on the car’s rear passenger window wiped right off.


So far, so Boston.

But then the officer, Edward P. Barrett, left his car on the corner and took off after the pedestrian. He was driving his personal vehicle, wearing a Red Sox shirt, not immediately recognizable as a police officer. The pedestrian ran — as anybody would when pursued by an enraged motorist bigger than himself. A bystander began filming after he said he saw the police officer tackle the man and push his head into the pavement.

Barrett marched the man roughly back to the corner, yanking him by the collar all the way, even though it was obvious he wouldn’t flee. Multiple state and local police vehicles descended. Our tax dollars at work.

Before we go any further, let’s acknowledge that what the pedestrian did was a bad idea. Though it will be news to many around here, crossing against the lights is wrong, as is making any kind of contact with a car in protest, which is potentially dangerous.


The pedestrian made a rash, stupid decision. What’s Barrett’s excuse? He had several minutes to rethink his overreaction. Bystanders, including the man recording him, begged him to let up on the pedestrian, to no avail.

More important, we need police officers to keep their cool in tense situations, for everyone’s safety. If Barrett is this much of a hothead in broad daylight, during a minor kerfuffle steps from Hermès, what’s he like in truly pressurized situations, in less visible or affluent neighborhoods?

Do we really want a cop this impulsive on the streets? His is a police force known for defusing conflicts, rather than creating them. The BPD does community relations better than those in many other parts of the country, especially under Commissioner William Evans, who urges his officers to earn their good reputation every day.

To protect that reputation, the city should take a strong stand against the hotheadedness Barrett displayed. Instead, we’ve heard criticism of the pedestrian. On Radio Boston last week, Mayor Marty Walsh declined to comment on Barrett’s conduct, citing an internal affairs investigation. But he was happy to judge the man he pinned to the pavement.

“You can’t be hitting people’s cars, whether it’s a police officer’s car or not a police officer’s car, with an umbrella,” Walsh said. A BPD spokesman was also critical of the pedestrian, saying “it’s never a good idea” to act as he did, though when I pressed him on Friday Lieutenant Detective Mike McCarthy did say the video was “troubling.” Walsh did not respond to a request for comment.


A real expression of concern over the police officer’s behavior would have been nice here. Or, at the very least, the mayor could have given the pedestrian the same courtesy he gave to Barrett, reserving judgment. Doing otherwise leaves the impression that the pedestrian deserved what he got.

Officers who can’t control themselves put the safety of their fellow officers at risk. Being for accountability doesn’t mean you’re anti-cop. Sometimes, calling out bad policing is the most pro-cop thing you can do.

Yvonne Abraham is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at yvonne.abraham@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @GlobeAbraham.