If You Are Going To Hate Cops…
I don’t hate cops. In most cases I believe that anyone stupid enough to refuse a cops lawful orders is a dumbass. I believe that part of doing a cops job is having the ability if not necessity to enforce the law. When people fail to comply with the law, it is probably going to lead to some kind of violence. Sometimes that violence is going to be excessive and sometimes, it’s going to be criminal. But, sometimes, it’s just the way it is. Violence is always ugly and sometimes it’s absolutely necessary. As citizens, we have to look at these instances with an unbiased eye. Most importantly we have to understand that cops are human and they make mistakes. They are not supermen capable of shooting guns out of people’s hands or shooting them in the leg. Basically, if you are going to hate cops, do it for the right reason.
What do I mean by all of that? Well, when you are forced to make split second decisions we have to stop hating cops for not making the best decisions. We have to accept that sometimes cops are going to make mistakes and it’s never going to change. For example, when a cop is faced with someone pointing a gun at them. If the gun looks real, and the cop shoots that person, no matter how old that person is, you can’t blame the cop for that at face value. Yes, it’s brutal and it ugly and it’s a tragedy. It doesn’t mean that it was criminal.
Now of course I believe it should be investigated. Absolutely! Did the toy gun look in question look like a super soaker or did it look a real gun? Did the cop believe the person with the gun was a threat to public safety? Would a reasonable person believe their life was in danger? Did the cop think the gun was a threat to their own safety. Did the cop believe that lives were at stake? If so, the cop sadly, did the right thing. Sometimes, doing the right thing is tragic.
I am not trying to say that the cops are always justified, they are not. For example, just the other day a cop in Phoenix, AZ shot and killed a person for throwing rocks. I am not lying. Some guy was throwing rocks at a police station. He also throw some rocks at a patrol unit and broke a window. A cop was hit on the hand by a rock and for that, the cop shot and killed the man. Now, I will admit that, I don’t have all the facts of the case. My opinion is based solely upon the facts at hand. At this time, I see NO justification for the shooting. What that cop did was commit murder. He should be arrested and tried for the crime. I don’t know why no one is protesting in defense of the rock thrower. There must be a reason no one seems to have a problem with this shooting? There are no hashtags, no one screaming that the shooter be fired? Color me, perplexed!
Why do I believe this shooting was murder and the “toy gun” scenario is not? I don’t understand how anyone could not see the difference but I will explain it, nonetheless. In the first scenario, the cop thought the toy gun was real. The cop shot the person, because he or she believed by doing so they were protecting the public and themselves from serious harm or even death. That’s when it’s justifiable to shoot someone. When it comes to shooting someone because they are throwing rocks, chances are, no one is going to be seriously injured when the throwers alleged targets were all property. Chances are no one was going to be killed be cause someone was throwing rocks at cop cars and cop buildings. The cops new the man was throwing rocks. They didn’t believe those rocks we hand grenades or that those rocks we going to be used as a deadly weapon.
Yet, I must point, that those rocks could be considered deadly weapons and I believe the cops could have arrested the man and charged him with “Assault with a Deadly Weapon.” However, I do not believe that the cops only tactic available to them was to shoot the suspect. The cops have many tools available to them in this case. At no time was any cops life in serious jeopardy. Therefore, the cop is guilty of either murder or manslaughter. Again based only upon the evidence at hand, at the time I am writing this article.
Cops are human beings, it doesn’t matter how much training a cop has, they will always be human and they will always makes mistakes. The true litmus tests to acts of violence committed by the police has got to be not only that the cop feared for his life and that of the public’s safety but also would the average person have realistically feared for their lives as well. That’s why I believe that if you’re going to hate cops, at least hate on them for the right reasons. We have got to stop hating on cops the instant we see or hear that they a cop had to use some kind of force to impede the progress of a suspect. As I stated earlier, sometimes doing the right thing can have tragic results. It’s just the way it is. If you want to hate on someone, blame God. He could have just as easily created a world without guns, conflicts and hate. If you don’t believe in a god then blame life because life, like nature, can be a beautiful thing but it can also be cruel and disgusting for absolutely no reason.
One of These Is The Toy Gun Tamir Rice Was Holding
Phoenix cop shoots and kills man throwing rocks at precinct; striking cruiser, window and officer
