Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
It's all winter fun until someone pulls a gun.
Well, maybe there is a use for Twitter, after all. Seems that in the middle of the big snowstorm smacking the East Coast, some folks in DC decided to organize a good ol' fashioned snowball fight. You know, show up, informal sides, throw snowballs at one another. Some 150 - 200 people joined in. And everyone was having just too much fun.
Until some idiot in a Hummer drives through the intersection where this party is going on, and his vehicle gets smacked by a few snowballs. Said idiot jumps out of said Hummer, and draws a gun.
WTF?
Seriously, that's what happened. There were plenty of witnesses, plenty of pictures, plenty of video. Here's a good one, where you can clearly see the gun in his left hand:
Nice, eh?
And here's the *really* good part: the guy in question is a D.C. police detective, tentatively identified as Detective Baylor. But don't take my word for it, here he is himself:
Rest assured, the DC police administration are on the case:
D.C. police have said they are investigating the incident. Assistant Chief Pete Newsham, who leads the department's investigative services bureau, has said the detective in question "was armed but never pulls his weapon." Photos and videos posted online appear to contradict that, though none show the detective pointing his gun at anyone.
* * *
According to Newsham, the detective approached the group of snowball fighters and had "some kind of interaction" with them. He said the detective holstered a cellphone, and someone from the crowd called to report a man with a gun.
"I think what probably happens is somebody probably saw his gun and called the police," Newsham said.
OK, there are many things wrong with this . . . First, the behaviour of those who threw snowballs at the Hummer, but that's a pretty mild transgression. Then there's Detective Baylor's behaviour is jumping out of his vehicle - again, a fairly mild transgression, and an understandable one for most people. But then the idiot pulled his weapon. Because people were throwing snowballs?? Are you fucking kidding me???
He's frankly lucky that he didn't get shot when uniformed officers showed up on the scene, after someone did call in a "man with a gun". Kudos to the reporting officers for keeping their heads about them, in dealing with Baylor and with the crowd.
But what may even be worse was the knee-jerk reaction of Assistant Chief Newsham in dismissing the reports that one of his detectives behaved in a manner which is completely unacceptable. Supporting your officers is one thing - making statements to the press blankly denying that what happened, happened, is extremely unwise. Detective Baylor may need some anger management classes, or to be moved to a nice desk job or something. Newsham needs to lose some rank or even his job.
Why? Well, because he has just betrayed the public, and even the officers in his department. You deny reality (or jump in prematurely) like this and you show that you cannot be trusted to appropriately investigate any charges against your officers. Do that, and the public will respond appropriately by not providing you their faith and cooperation. Furthermore, and this is the thing that really pisses me off, they won't trust your officers, either, and not give them their help and cooperation. And cops need all the help they can get.
Jim Downey
(Cross posted to my blog.)
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I know it's just wishful thinking...
But wouldn't it have been awesome if the entire crowd had ganged up and snowballed him down?
Of course, nobody wants to get shot, so one thug with a gun can exert a certain amount of control over even a large group of people, and only so many people could be close enough to clearly see what was going on. Still, it might have been cool if somebody had nailed him on the back of the head while he was throwing his little bitch tantrum.
Sadly, I also agree with Hank. If these people had stood up for themselves in any way, some of them would be going to jail, no matter how right or necessary their actions. Even though it's not in the constitution or in any legal codes, the first real law in a police state is that you, as a citizen, are not allowed to defend yourself against a policeman, no matter how violent or criminal his actions. I've never once seen or heard of a case of police assault or excessive force that wasn't fully supported by the department.
One could say that these folks were causing a disturbance, and should be prosecuted for the incredibly dangerous act of throwing snow. I'm sure the thug cop in question wouldn't mind, since he is clearly of the opinion that his personal car should be treated like the Popemobile under pain of death. The part that gets me is how quick all of the other officers will be to back him up, and how the general public will just put up with it.
Bullets vs. Snowballs
This is all my own opinion, of course, but based on similar incidents in the past ...
I'm absolutely certain he will get away with it. I doubt if anyone will even have harsh words with him. If there's enough public clamor, it's distantly possible there MIGHT be a "show" suspension, but he will receive full pay during it, essentially getting a paid vacation for pulling his gun on snowballers, and nothing will go in his permanent record. Even look for him to get promoted a few years down the road, as someone not afraid to get tough with a potentially dangerous mob.
As to anger management, I don't think anger is what happened here. Look at the picture; he's not furious, he's HAPPY. Rather than out-of-control rage, this was more likely a matter-of-fact reaction that grows out of a work environment in which violence against citizens is totally accepted, even approved. He was just acting like every other officer in his department would ... in every case in which they think they can get away with it.
I guarantee you that this guy went back to the station and every officer there either laughed about it, or nodded seriously and said "Well, you had to do it. You had every reason to think your life was in danger. I would've done the same damned thing." Not one officer even looked at him sideways.
I'd always heard, from officer friends, that you never pull your weapon unless you're prepared to use it, but also that you never pull it unless someone's life is in danger. This guy, either he'd never heard those rules, or he actually believed he might have to kill someone.
I'll go you one better: If he HAD shot and killed one or more people in that snowball crowd, he would not only get away with it, there's a solid chance that one or more of them would be arrested for the murder of the people killed. And be CONVICTED. Because THEY caused the thing to escalate to lethal levels by assaulting an officer.
And Jim, you writing about this stuff, anger management and such, every one of those officers who happened to read this or similar comments will believe there's something wrong with YOU, instead of with this cop. In their eyes, he acted the way they all would act. You, on the other hand, are siding with the breakdown in law and order.
I know an ex-cop
I know an ex-cop, a former MP commander who has quite a few stories to tell of overheated officers. He is simply the most diplomatic person I have ever known and seems able to defuse any situation. So there are smart cops who have a sense of proportion.
Of course, you notice he's an ex- cop now. The world of civilian policing just didn't sit right with him (or he with them) so he went on and got an MBA.
Jeebus, what a jerk
But we already knew that from the fact that he drives a Hummer. It's the car that says; "Fuck You" to everyone.