I have often seen sad stories in the paper or on TV where someone shoots or kills a police officer. But I have never seen or read any total of how many innocent people are killed by cops. What should the verdict or the punishment be in a case like this? Exactly the same as if the roles were reversed! What would the result be if a driver speeding 124 mph had run into and killed 2 policemen? Would the court brush it under the table as just an accident with no punishment? Not likely. Would it be ok if a couple of gang members broke into the cops house, shot his dogs and terrorized his family?
There is a chance in a case like this that the victims families may be able to win a large settlement in a civil suit directly against this bum. The city of LA has paid out $millions in wrongful death suits, but the money doesn't come from the cops directly, it is taxpayers that end up paying.
I am sure all cops are not rotten, not a violent danger to society. But in too many cases like this, the "decent and honest cops", will almost always side with the other cop, no matter what they have done. They often blame the media for even covering a case like this. It is a rare event when an honest cop will stand up and say, "This is wrong". It is so rare that they made a movie, SERPICO, out of one who did. I could name a half dozen cases just off the top of my head where cops got away with murder. Of course, I grew up in Texas where violent and crooked cops were no rarity.
They have a very hard job, one I would not want. But so does a surgeon. If a Dr. loses his temper during an operation and stabs his patient or a nurse to death, he would be held accountable. It would not be "just an accident".
_________________ Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK
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