Some 25 years ago, while I was a deputy sheriff with the Union County, Ohio, Sheriff’s Office, I had an opportunity to assist a Newark, Ohio, police officer who was chasing what I later learned to be an armed robbery suspect. This encounter reinforced what I had been teaching my police cadets concerning off-duty encounters. And it provides a bit of insight into some of the dynamics involved in intervening in ongoing law enforcement situations as an off-duty law enforcement officer or a lawfully armed citizen.
I am not a police officer. I don’t trust the gun happy murderers walking around today not to shoot me for trying to help them. In spite of the very strong stricture against shooting someone running away from you by the Supreme Court, cops today get away with shooting unarmed and non threatening suspects. Blatantly illegal and virtually always supported as the only evidence is the word of the professional killers. I thought that he had a weapon. He reached and I assumed.
It is unsafe and stupid to involve yourself in the problems of today’s so-called Protect and Serve police. Deescalation and control of fire are anathema.
If the police officer ends up dead. Get license plate, etc. and be a good living witness. Police will assume and kill you. That is the way that they are trained. After emptying two or three magazines into, they will check to see if you have stopped moving.
Wow, Michael, that’s a pretty broad brush you’re swinging: “So-called Protect and Serve … shooting unarmed … suspects” .
As a former police officer, I must respectfully disagree with you, but I must also admit that there do seem to me to be many more psychotic law enforcement officers on the streets today than there were in my day. The pressures on these officers are also more; but, big influences on their behavior, I believe, are the TV shows and movies that portray “Hero cops” shooting and beating suspects and rarely ever making mistakes. Call it the Rambo mentality.
I have had my own experiences with two such modern day male police officers, both of whom forgot, or never learned, that their job is to protect and serve, not to bully. Neither was an encounter such as this story describes, but both were bad, and neither needed to be. Both involved insecure little boys wearing guns and badges. It’s sad but true that there are very many bad cops, but they are still in the minority … I believe.
When I’ve had need to call upon today’s police for assistance (they man our local ambulance), they have been prompt, professional, kind and courteous. I hope that in your next encounter with law enforcement you will experience the same kind and courteous service.