Posted on 07/16/2017 11:33:33 AM PDT by Pontiac
HINGHAM — As police cars rolled into his pristine suburban neighborhood last Saturday night, past the sprawling Colonials and manicured lawns, and as dozens of officers from across the region surrounded his home, Russell Reeves begged them again and again to back off.
In a bedroom upstairs his son Austin, 26, was distraught over a breakup. He had told his family he needed time alone. With him was his dog and his 9 mm handgun. If you pressure him, if he feels cornered, Reeves said he told the police, this will end with Austin killing himself.
snip
“Please,” the frightened father says he asked them, “why can’t you just let him go to sleep?”
snip
Reeling as the sun rose higher in the summer sky, Austin’s parents tried to understand how a simple police check on their son’s well-being had become an all-night siege.
snip
As they reached the corner, Harrison turned to look back at her home. Distant enough now to see the entire scene, she realized for the first time the full scale of what was happening: the street thick with police vehicles, teeming with armed officers in SWAT gear.
snip
“It was totally preventable,” he said, weeping as he stood outside his house looking up at Austin’s window on Tuesday. “He wasn’t a criminal. He didn’t have a hostage. This was a kid distressed about a girlfriend, and they turned it into a life-and-death situation.”
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
It does bother me that no deference is given to the incites of the parents of this young man.
The protocol comes out and all reason flies away like the wind driven leaves.
Harrison felt certain the police would help her son.
And they did, the minute you let them in he was dead, either suicide or executed by the Police, that’s what they do!
Do I get the impression that some FR readers are blaming the police? The police were called. Their job is to resolve a situation, not to arrive on the scene, listen to a family member say “please go away, you’re not needed” and reply “OK, You’ve got it under control. Call us if you need us.”
Not gonna happen. “Distraught” and “gun” are the keywords here. What do you expect the police to do?
On another note, I hate the “reporter” who wrote this article for two reasons:
Making us read to the end to find out that the kid shot himself,
and for the words “pristine suburban neighborhood ... sprawling Colonials and manicured lawns” which actually mean “You Whiteys have your share of problems too.”
And can you imagine the comments here if they had let him sleep it off but he decided to shoot-up an elementary school before killing himself, to show his girlfriend how wrong she was? Seriously, cities need to come to FreeRepublic and recruit some of these people since they are all better trained at law enforcement than the men and women doing it.
Haven’t you got some boots to lick?
Exactly what I mean when I say
“Think twice or maybe three times before you call the police with a family problem.”
I think the SWAT was overkill.
Kid with no history of violence in his room. Two cops in the house two outside watching his room window I think would have been enough.
Wait him out.
Filling his yard with police cars is only going to increase his anxiety.
So she was a smart girl who figured out a legal way to permanently get rid of a crazy ex boyfriend?
This is the mentality of those who "Serve and Protect."
That’s certainly a possibility.
Don’t forget the OT!
These are not the Peace Officers of old. Unless you want a dead family member, you need to think long, long, long and hard before calling these “Professionals”. Now, no matter how bad the situation is, involving the police will only make it worse.
“Unless you want a dead family member, you need to think long, long, long and hard before calling these “
Wow!
Exactly how often does this happen ?
.
They’d have NEVER put out a show of force like that in the ‘hood there. It would be a huge scene.
SOME writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness POSITIVELY by uniting our affections, the latter NEGATIVELY by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one: for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries BY A GOVERNMENT, which we might expect in a country WITHOUT GOVERNMENT, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built upon the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him, out of two evils to choose the least. Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others. - Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776)
You are pathetic and to be dismissed as a no nothing. I spent decades in police work,and lost 6 police officer friends,the last was a black female officer that left three kids. My dear friend died because of a wacko who committed suicide by cop. You have no clue now,and never will. Shame!!!
So reporters and posters are hating cops again, eh? It probably means Trump v the Russians story is probably dead.
I would never call the police with a family problem. The parents of this poor man should have immediately called their attorney and doctor when this situation began to unfold.
That and a bigger budget for the department, every time SWAT rolls it’s another “response”, duly tabulated and filed for next year’s budget request, plus everyone has to write a report, on over time.
I like my local police and think them reasonably well-trained. And from reading stories like this, I’ve learned a bit of wisdom worth considering in tough situations: There are very few situations so bad they can’t be made worse by the addition of a cop.
Clearly this was one of them.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.