“May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.”


"This report is maybe 12-years-old. Parliament buried it, and it stayed buried till River dug it up. This is what they feared she knew. And they were right to fear because there's a whole universe of folk who are gonna know it, too. They're gonna see it. Somebody has to speak for these people. You all got on this boat for different reasons, but you all come to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything I know this, they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, 10, they'll swing back to the belief that they can make people . . . better. And I do not hold to that. So no more running. I aim to misbehave." ~ Captain Malcom Reynolds

Thursday, April 9, 2015

This is why I advocate body cameras for officers

I hate to come in and second guess people, to Monday-morning quarterback the guy on the street as it were.

But this is a bad shoot. There is no other way to describe it.

I wasn't there. I won't presume to guess what was in either man's mind which led him to make the choices which led to that fateful moment. I don't know if it was a matter of race, of power, of poor decision making, or what.

It was absolutely, unequivocally wrong. There is absolutely no way I can look at this as an officer, as a firearms instructor, or as a human, and remotely justify this shooting.

The only remotely decent thing I can see is that the local jurisdiction immediately moved to charge the officer, and that he has been terminated.

Please don't turn this into a referendum on national actions. Please don't paint us all with the man's brush. I don't know why he did what he did, but I cannot in any way excuse his actions, and I am glad he is being held accountable.

And thankfully we are in a society which openly exposes this act, as opposed to hiding it, or worse, condoning it.

3 comments:

Gothelittle Rose said...

That the man in question has already been fired and charged is a sign that The System already works.

Phelps said...

It would be a lot easier to not paint you all with the same brush if there weren't several corroborating police reports that were also contradicted by the video.

The bad apples ruin the barrel. It wasn't just him -- it was all the other officers backing him up that are the problem.

Old NFO said...

Sorry for the late comment, but yes, agree!!!