A question was brought up about “police brutality” recently, and I related a story about how I chased a guy down in an apartment complex parking lot off of East Brainerd Road and took him down between two rows of cars; neighbors had called in on him for trying to get into cars and acting “erratic”.
He was the first person to ever go for my gun; I kept hands planted on it and kneed the shit out of him, but that doesn’t work well despite how powerful it looks. Hurting a guy’s thighs just isn’t effective at deterring his hands from my gun, it turned out.
More cops showed up; four more, actually, and they dove in and we all held him down, one on each limb while I continued to try to get his hands out from under his chest where he’d locked his hands together to keep from being cuffed. It turns out, you see, not everyone “quits” once the game is over. Some play their role to the hilt, and actually don’t do as told, then ordered, then yelled. (Any parents or jail officials nodding their heads here?)
I got him cuffed after using my expendable baton as a pry-bar, and do you know what happened? The same neighbors that called this in called in an Excessive Use of Force Complaint because there were so many officers “on him”.
I went to IAD. I was exonerated soon after, but it was still a pain and here’s why:
If a cop deals with a guy that doesn’t want to comply one-on-one, do you know what happens? It’s a fistfight. If the other four cops hadn’t shown up while I was fighting for my gun, you know how I would have ended it? Getting to that gun first (or the backup revolver inside my vest, or a lock-blade knife placed elsewhere) and KILLING that son of a bitch if I’d had to.
Are some of you thinking about covering your mouths in horror that I would write that? THAT would have been the result of your compassionate, rose-tinted “Fair Fight”. Instead, he was overpowered and taken to jail, unaware of what he’d done (due to a blackout) until I testified in court.
You want a fair fight? OK. That’s how it was with me in the parking lot, and I was about to ensure I went home if given the choice when he made it “me or him”.
Or, you can consider the possibility that three or four cops holding one person down may actually SAVE the dumb bastard’s life, even if one has to prod, poke, beat, or Taze the guy until he complies. Life isn’t pretty, folks; watch the Discovery Channel.
As a veteran officer, I am not allowed to care if I’m complained about for using more than one (or five) guys to get the job done, because I know the critics usually only share the commonality of NOT knowing what they are judging, So why hate them?
I will point out the difference, though. Judge on, and take your time.
(I’ll be here, still alive and enjoying it.)
P.S.: Several weeks ago, I lambasted Chief Magistrate Larry Ables over a decision by the local magistrate’s office to release a man from jail with no bond and to refuse felony charges against him after having intentionally gouged a cop’s eye and wrestled over his gun at Track 29. (That is why, for you offended onlookers who complained to I.A., the gentlemen had the proverbial “shit” beaten out of him. Attempted Murder occasionally results in such; try it if you don’t believe me.)
Prior to print I attempted to reach Mr. Ables to confirm this without success due to a pre-planned vacation with his family, and was left with the word and reports of others involved. As it turns out, Magistrate Ables only dealt with one of the two suspects involved in this case and not the one that was released. While I (fortunately) do not have the name of the magistrate who DID, I hereby openly and unequivocally apologize to Mr. Ables for my absolutely incorrect assessment of his judgment.
I am opinionated and passionate, but I am not incapable of admitting when I’m wrong. I had recently defended Mr. Ables for looking out for the welfare of the underpaid and overworked corrections folk that surround him and continue to support him after his recent re-appointment and resolution of this issue.
(I stand by my original assessment, however, of the magistrate that did refuse to admit felony charges against Mr. “Lucky To Be Alive”. Unbelievable.)