Why does being a cop allow your wrong "guesses"to be justified simply because you are a cop? "The situation is very unfortunate," Faris said, reading from a statement at a news conference. "It does appear, at this time, that Deputy Knox's actions were an appropriate response to what he reasonably believed to be an imminent threat to his life." The old man was reaching for a cane to help him stand up....... http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-02-26-18-21-52
People tend to give cops slack in these circumstances. I think it is because most of us will go through life without ever experiencing a life-or-death situation. Career cops will experience dozens of these, maybe hundreds and sometimes they are going to get it wrong. It's just the law of averages. That said, I also think that people tend to imagine that all cops are honest, brave, forthright, capable, and perceptive. But if you live long enough, you will encounter cops that are abusive, cowardly, liars, inept, conniving, and jaded. It's a disturbingly high percentage of cops, I'd put it at 20%-25%. The problem is made worse by The Blue Wall Of Silence. The "good" cops don't get rid of their bad apples. Worse, they defend them to the point of lying under oath and planting evidence. It is a sad fact that some people are drawn to law enforcement as a power trip. In time they abuse this power. Whenever I hear a story like this one, I try to determine if we are dealing with a brutal, power-tripping cowboy or just an honest cop who made 99 correct decisions and 1 very bad one. His record will usually tell you.
Sometimes, sometimes not. It is always a tough call for a jury to choose between honest mistake and irresponsible action.
Home intrusion and the home owner is being attacked. Cops show up during the attack at night. Home owner pops the wrong guy. Or it could simply be a case were a cop is literally beating the shit out of someone and they pop one off for self defense. This wouldn't be by accident, but we all know how this would play out. My point is that cops almost always get the benefit of the doubt no matter what while us normal folk do not. In the article referenced, the cop could have just tazed the guy... But the 70 year old man obviously scared the cop....
Whoa there skeeter, maybe cops in major metropolitan areas would have dozens of life or death situations, but not in rural America. And they act like it. Most cops are fucking douchebags. Assholes who were either class bullies or class bullied. Fuck em.
No, I have experienced a lot of cops in 58 years. Hell, I've been arrested in three countries. Most of them are decent, honest, and polite. But there are scumbags among them and I wish they paid better attention to weeding out the misfits.
