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?
You just can't break out of your emotionalism on this can you? Since when does the law sway to the feelings of the people? It doesn't matter what the people of D.C. feel either. I'm sure a lot of them are now wishing it were legal to be armed there but it's against the law. Sucks don't it?
As you posters say when something is funny - L.O.L.
That will be the story if that Sam76 guy reports the news.
The myth is already unraveling.
Not that I can see.
Not for sure, do you? The premise of the thread is that he was stopped for driving a white van and it might be possible, although no one knows, that the killer drives a white van. No arrests were made so he obviously wasn't the killer or any other wanted criminal.
And nothing did. Pretty good cops eh? Thank God.
On that note, I am going to bed. Thanks for keeping civil with me.... It's been a long day here on this thread!
Have you noticed that they keep accusing everyone else of being emotional while they are fabricating facts out of thin air?
Understandably so....
But we still need to watch what they do...and 'call' them on their 'mistakes'.
redrock
The police would be armed and ready to shoot, and since they're professionals, the residents have nothing to fear.
Putting aside the constitutional problems with such an idea, don't you think another major argument against doing this would be that it would needlessly put the lives and safety of very large numbers of innocent citizens at risk? That is my point. There are entirely too many innocent people in the class of "people driving white vans" to be pointing loaded firearms at all of them.
No, I don't. But I guess that's the difference between you and me. I assume there was a legitimate reason. You assume there wasn't. Because that is the case, we're never going to agree about any of this, I'm afraid.
I don't spin anything.
"Now they both ate dirt
Eating dirt is slang for being forced to the ground, as in pic #1, but it's not limited as to who does the forcing and how it's done.
"were held five hours. You just made that up!
The entire shutdown was around 5 hrs, who knows how long these 2 were held.
I'm not complaining that the shutdown was made, just how some folks were treated.
First point out the loaded firearms being pointed in either picture. Then document that all white van owners in the vicinity are being treated this way. Then you may have some basis for your "concerns".
Well, have a good night...time for me to turn in as well. Like I said, I'm not inclined to agree with either extreme on this, and yes, I do believe that there are people on both extremes in this thread. Yes, let the police do their job to the degree possible within constitutional boundaries, and make sure that the greater goal of protecting the public is not lost in the desire to catch the sniper(s).
As I said earlier, an urban myth in the making.
This is descending into absolute absurdity. I must assume (since you wouldn't elaborate) that you are referring to the terrorist alert issued last April. This killer hasn't shot at a lawmaker, a lawmaker's family member, a lawmaker's employee or even been near the capitol area unless I missed that somewhere. Just because our courageous CongressCritters would throw their own mothers in front of them to keep from being hurt doesn't make this killer of ordinary citizens a threat to them. Sheesh!
Don't you get it, Texasforever? The government hacked the website and removed the guns and the handcuffs from the pictures. It's a conspiracy!!!!
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.