Posted on 10/20/2002 7:48:19 AM PDT by SamAdams76
The photos above currently on the Drudge site concern me. I followed the link and the article clearly stated that nobody was arrested last night.
Why then, do we have drivers of white vans, innocent civilians, evidently being pulled out vans at gunpoint and treated like dangerous criminals? One photo shows a man on the ground, evidently in handcuffs, with police officers standing over him as though they have just captured Whitey Bulger. When I first saw the photo, I figured the man was obviously a wanted criminal that police just so happened to come across during their search. But since there were no arrests last night, this man was obviously released and was no criminal after all.
The other photo shows a man by another white van with his hands in the air and a police officer has a gun drawn on him. Again, this was evidently just another innocent civilian who had the misfortune to be driving a white van on I-95 last night.
Now I understand the need for these roadblocks and for the police to be very thorough in their search for the sniper(s). But I cannot see the point of innocent people dragged out of their vehicles at gunpoint with no pretext other than the fact that they happen to be driving a white van.
Now maybe somebody here has an explanation why these two individuals were treated like criminals. Maybe they tried to evade the police or maybe they were driving stolen vans. But again, there were no arrests made last night. So what is the deal with our citizens being treated like Jesse James just for driving a white van?
Would you please point out the guns in the picture to me. I cannot see a gun anywhere but I do assume the picture showing the female officer behind the car door had a gun drawn, but I cannot make one out.
Thanks
Oh my! The horror of being pushed to such action.
I'm doing great - had the surgical procedure last Monday and I'll get a checkup tomorrow!
And I'm all in favor of slippers!
How do we know that? You presume that you know what law enforcement knows. Wrong. Also, you presume that law enforcement had no basis to dro that dragnet and profile those specific types of vans. Why on earth would they do that if they were not satisfied they had enough credible evidence to put the men and resources into that overwhelming task! I presume they are acting on some level of verifiable information. (They debunked several witnesses, so we know they are working hard to make sure the info they use is credible.)
If its credible information, and probable cause exists, than it is absolutely related to catching this sniper. Of the 1000 LE officials now on the Job, do you think that any off them might have some idea of how to employ resources based on the hard evidence they have and we don't. Get real.
This is all about catching the sniper, and making sure that in doing so, the rights of average americans , under the Constitution, are not abridged. as I said before, bring me one person whose rights were wrongly trampled in a dragnet, and I will evaluate their case for free, and if meritorious, I will file it for free.
I'll bet you are a real stud with the crack whores.
If however, these two men were, as I suspect, pulled out of the vans at gunpoint simply because they happened to be driving white vans down I-95 last night, then these tactics are just plain wrong and un-American.
I know that we all want to catch the snipers. Personally, I want to see them strung up by their balls and made to die a horrible death (after a fair and speedy trial, of course) for what they have done.
But we cannot subject our good citizens to the kind of treatment shown in those photographs that I posted at the top of this thread. This is not the America I know. This is not the America I dedicated four years of my life to defending. We are better than that.
Enough said. Over and out.
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