Second-guessing cops who confront thugs

Maybe parents complaining about dead sons dropped the ball

Thomas Sowell About | Email | Archive

In recent months there have been a series of cases reported in the media, where some teenage thug – white, black or Hispanic in different cases – has been stopped by a policeman for some routine violation of the law and, instead of complying with lawful instructions, such as “show me your driver’s license,” chooses instead to defy the policeman, resist arrest and finally ends up physically assaulting the cop.  In the most recent case, the teenager happened to be white, but the story doesn’t seem to change much, whatever the complexion of the guy who violated the law. Nor does the sad ending change, with the young wise guy shot dead. Nor do the reactions of the media and the parents vary much.   “He was only a kid” is an almost automatic reaction of the parents and the media. “He didn’t deserve to be killed” over a traffic violation, or because he didn’t drop a toy gun when ordered to, or some other minor infraction. 

 

Are we so addicted to talking points and sound bites that we can’t be bothered to use common sense? If you are killed by a teenager, you are just as dead as if you had been killed by the oldest man in the world.  It doesn’t matter how minor the law violation was that caused the young guy to be stopped. He wasn’t shot for the violation – which could have been jay-walking, for all the difference it makes. He was shot for attacking the police, after having foolishly escalated a routine encounter into a personal confrontation......To Read More.....