Posted by
Playful Walrus on Thursday, May 14, 2009 12:40:15 PM
Ever since one of felon Rodney King's arrests - after a high-speed chase, and running at the police - was caught on tape, spurring a criminal trial for the arresting officers, acquittal accompanied by barely related riots, and subsequent convictions of the officers in a federal trial… high-speed, and even low-speed police pursuits and stand-offs have been followed as live breaking news on Los Angeles television. Entire hours of newscasts have been taken up by them. Most of the arrests have been "without incident" (that is, after the suspect is done carjacking/kidnapping, driving like a maniac, crashing into other vehicles, fleeing the scene of accidents, resisting arrest, and trespassing), but there was one time when a guy burned his dog alive and then literally blew his brains out right on live television, and there was another time when an officer whacked a guy in the head a few times with a flashlight, thus resulting in those flashlights being taken away from all other officers in that department… as if that made any sense.
(Rodney King went on to many subsequent run-ins with the law, by the way.)
But the cops don't have to just be perfect, they have to look perfect in their actions, too, as every TV viewer, even those with no experience in law enforcement whatsoever, are experts in how things should be done. It doesn't matter if a suspect has just demonstrated reckless disregard for the lives of others and his own life... the police must not appear to hurt him when they arrest him, or the usual victicrats jump in from of the TV cameras and demand firings and "restitution" ($$$).
Yesterday, a gang member led police on a high speed chase around the San Gabriel Valley (Los Angeles county), gaining the attention of a news chopper, which followed the pursuit. He crashed into a parked or stopped car, then fled on foot. Oh, he also managed to flash gang signs. Classy. Surely he was just taking a break away from his productive, honorable job.
But then the officer who was first to reach kicked him in the face. You can see it here.
Try as I might, I just can't muster any outrage towards the officer. Some people (the ACLU, for example) are rushing to condemn the cop's action. I don't know about you, but if I was making a felony arrest of a gangster, I wouldn't want him looking at me as I approached, either. Maybe that was what the kick was for... to get him to turn his head. It worked, too.
Let's assume for the sake of argument that the cop violated rules and laws and, even if he didn't, this gangster still has a civil case against the city the officer represents. The city will be fearful that a jury will actually reward a gangster with a high six of seven-figure award, and will settle. A lawyer will make a lot of money off of this, not to mention the gangster.
If that gangster gets a penny, I'd love for everyone else who can to sue the gangster – the other drivers, the owner of the car he smashed up, anyone who can possibly claim any kind of problem caused by this guy's stupid action.
I really dislike it when criminals are rewarded.