“Incidents such as this have caused me to withdraw unqualified support for law enforcement officers. “
As a youngster I learned to respect LE but also learned to not give them unqualified support.
“As a youngster I learned to respect LE but also learned to not give them unqualified support.”
I don’t give anyone unqualified support or trust. Currently, I’m not happy with a couple or three of my doctors.
People screw up. In this case, I’ll wait to hear others’ sides of the story. It looks bad for the cops, though.
True-I think some of those guys watch way too much tv
Just as in any other profession law enforcement has its share of bad actors and incompetent people. In their case however the stakes are really high.
Grandfather a Detroit cop, dad was a Detroit cop so I held the same respect for LE until a couple years ago.
It was in Warren MI on a Sunday morning about 12 noon in the fall and I and a group of fellow seniors had finished playing softball at a city park when 5 of us retired to a picnic table next to the parking lot to have a beer and talk, just like they have been doing for the past 20 years (actually 4 mornings a week for 20 years) and myself, the past 12 years.
A Warren PD SUV pulled into the lot and slowly cruised by us while we waived at them, when they decided to stop. Two huge cops got out of the car and slowly strolled over to us with hands on hips.
Now keep in mind, my group of fellow thugs consisted of "Mad Dog" Marv who was 90 years old at the time, Homer "the hit man" who was about 76, Nick "the shoe man" who was 74 and myself, the young trouble maker of the group was 66.
So the big guy looks at the members of my gang who are trying to conceal their beer then focuses on me who had my bottle of Blue Moon beer on the table in front of me.
He then proceeds to tell me in his tough LEO voice that glass bottles are not allowed in the park. When he said that, I started to pour the beer out but he said "I didn't tell you to pour it out". Since I interpreted that as a demand, I stopped. I don't recall what he said after that since he allowed me to keep the unpoured beer. They turned around and left.
I think what happened was that he saw my homies reaching for their concealed guns and realized that he and his partner were outnumbered and decided to leave so that they could return home safely after their shift.
OK, so my homies aren't really dangerous as I portrayed them. But the fact remains, there are no signs in the park prohibiting beer, either in cans or bottles, and this was just an attempt by these LEO assholes to harass somebody that day..........And they chose us.
“As a youngster I learned to respect LE but also learned to not give them unqualified support.”
My grandmother, who emigrated from Northern Ireland and was a very law abiding and religious woman was inclined to take me aside and impart wisdom to me. She once advised me that there were two groups of people one should strenuously avoid: Priests and Policemen. I was a little taken aback by this and asked why. She explained that the reason was the same for both groups. Because they are NEVER around when you need them, but when you wish they would stay away, there they are SURE to be right there!
All joking aside this sounds like a dreadful incident and my heart goes out to the mother of these children. I don’t know why they might have been in the car but robbing a pizzaria is nothing worth shooting anyone over, much less some innocent third party.