Disbelief. Sadness. Anger.
Those are the emotions that go through me when I read a story like this one.
First, disbelief:
THERE WERE dozens of witnesses on Nov. 13 when a Fairfax County police officer shot an unarmed, mentally ill driver, David A. Masters, in broad daylight amid heavy traffic in the Huntington area.
Surely, there must have been a reason for an on-duty officer to take that shot.
But none of the witnesses — not the other drivers nearby, nor any bystanders, nor two other police officers who had approached the man’s vehicle — saw what the shooting officer says that he saw, which was Mr. Masters reaching for what the officer feared was a weapon.
And that’s where my disbelief sets in.
Now for sadness …
That, said the officer, prompted him to open fire, killing Mr. Masters, a 52-year-old former Green Beret with bipolar disorder and a tendency toward bizarre behavior.
In the event, Mr. Masters, though he may have gestured oddly and acted erratically, had no weapon. His apparent crime, which prompted the police response? Taking some flowers from a planter.
Police have a tough, tough job. They’re under constant scrutiny and often constant danger. However, it’s not as if though this officer was in Detroit. It’s not like this was a case of involving himself in a gang-war. This was broad daylight, traffic, and a 52 year-old man in a car. Shoot first?
Sad …
… and angry:
After more than two months of investigating Mr. Masters’s death, Fairfax’s top prosecutor, Raymond F. Morrogh, cleared the still-unidentified policeman of any wrongdoing last week, meaning he will face no state criminal charge. That decision was in keeping with 70 years of Fairfax history, in which no county police officer has been charged with a crime for shooting someone in the line of duty.
My guess is that a citizen defending himself in a questionable situation wouldn’t be afforded the same protected status because he wouldn’t have that badge.
That one is close to home. I’m surprised I haven’t heard of it.
Overall, the law enforcement community is going to protect their own. It’s getting to be like that now where none of them are held accountable. In MD a day or two ago, a former cop convicted of murder for shooting two furniture movers was denied appeal. He had claimed self defense, but was ultimately sentenced in 2008 to 45 years. I guess reverse justice is rare.
Yeah, I was thinking about you when I read it because I know you’re down that way. That “70 years” stat just boggles me though. I know Fairfax isn’t exactly murder capital of the world or anything, but still!
Am I being overly sensitive or reading something into this that isn’t there, or does the author of the piece (of __) think the man shouldn’t have been shot, and the police officer shouldn’t have been exonerated?
“But couldn’t he have shot the gun out of his hand?”
The cops carry a continum of force, including the pepper spray the anti-self defense crowd wants the sheep to carry, but when his life is in danger (or he reasonably believes it to be, which means a judge agrees that it was reasonable to believe it was in danger)even the cops use the deadly force.