11.13.2005

It Happens Here, Too

Vermont has its share of cases where police shoot and kill people in situations that don't always make a lot of sense. This is at least the third I've read about in my 5+ years here and what bothers me most is that this case involves the Barre Police Department, a PD where there has been past indication of officers going overboard.

I came from a small CT city where a police officer had been found guilty and sentenced for killing a black man - again a very small man who was wanted for a non-violent offense - he was trying to arrest when it was determined forensically that the dead man had been on his knees, his back to the cop, his hands not in a position to harm anyone or pull a weapon when the very young cop shot him. Cops throughout the area responded badly by threatening the investigators and prosecutors, something that is not unusual practice in that part of Connecticut.

But, lest you think this is a liberal diatribe about pigs in uniform, it's not. Unless we're in the cop's shoes - and we're not - we don't know what they saw and may have interpreted as a threat. Same holds true for combat.

As a strong society, we need to look at these cases carefully and see what there really is to learn from it. In cases where it's obvious that a cop was clearly in the wrong, prosecute to the full letter of the law. In the rest, we need to strike some intelligent balance between just assuming that a police officer is right and assuming all police are corrupt so this will continue. A cop who really does perceive a legitimate threat shouldn't be hung out to dry, but we also can't assume "mistakes happen" and let it end there with no thorough review.

In a case like this, you can't help but wonder, "Wasn't there something else the officer could do besides empty his gun into this small man?" Multiple shots were fired by the officer, with no indication that the man threatened the officer with the knife.

I've had weapons not just brandished in front of me, but used to threaten or hurt me. I have not responded with violence. And no, I don't just think the difference is because I'm a girl.

One of the reasons, however, I will not allow a gun into my home is that I know that stupid, scared people sometimes resort to a weapon - or something that can be pressed into service as one - whenever they feel any threat. When the last of my parents died when I was 18 and I was left in the house to raise my younger brother, I had several people try to give me guns "for protection". I had been raised around guns and knew how to use one. But by the time I was 18, I'd seen too many people do too many dumb things with a gun, and I didn't want one around me. Still don't.