Glendale police chief criticizes Trump’s rough suspect treatment joke

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Another Valley police force has condemned President Donald Trump for joking about officers roughing up suspects during arrests.

“We not only care about our community as a whole, we care about the individuals that live in our community,” Glendale Police Chief Rick St. John said.

“That’s how we’re going to lead law enforcement here in Glendale. And if people want to speak out in opposition to that — whether it’s the president of the United States or anyone else — they have the freedom to do that.”

St. John was speaking after Trump’s speech in Long Island, New York last week where he addressed law enforcement. He said he didn’t mind seeing suspects being treated a little rough by police officers.

“When you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon – you just see them thrown in, rough – I said, ‘Please don’t be too nice,'” the president said. “Like, when [police officers] put somebody in the car, and you’re protecting their head…I said, ‘You can take the hand away, okay?'”

Both White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions have said Trump was joking, but St. John said freedom of speech does not protest from poorly-timed of ill-made remarks.

St. John said it would not be out of place for the president to apologize.

“People are people, and everybody’s entitled to make mistakes,  but when you make a mistake, you have to own up to that mistake and apologize,” he said.

The Phoenix Police Department also criticized the president’s remarks.

Follow @ClineKathleen