Young and Deadly

In 1996 I was about to move from Pittsburgh after living there for one year when a horrific tale unfolded one night between a police officer and a couple of car thieves. I remember most of the details as follows. It was of course about 3 - 4 a.m. and someone noticed a suspicious car and notified the police. A policeman approached the car and had a confrontation with the occupants (they were in the front and back seat). Some sort of altercation occurred with the occupants of the car, then somehow the policeman's arm became intentionally trapped in the back door. The car then started speeding down the road and scraping the officer along the roadway side-wall with the officers arm trapped. With his free arm he was able to finally reach his pistol and began shooting to get them to stop. I believe the driver was killed. This officer was severely wounded. He had massive road burn on his body and when we left, it was still unsure whether or not he would lose one or both of his legs. Rumor had it that he was most upset when he found out one of those kids died that night.

What happened next was the usual. Cop was white, kids were black....must be rascism, right? Never mind the time of day, stolen car, previous criminal records, etc... The activist leaders began instantly with their charges, and of course the grieving mother was instantly on T.V. The mayor, obviously a brave man, spoke out with logic you rarely hear spoken into a microphone. I paraphrase from memory: "The time to have cried for these kids was when they stole their first car. Where were these people crying the first time these kids were arrested?"

He was absolutely correct. We were literally days from moving from the city and I do not know how the case ended.

Today PoliPundit has a similar story out of L.A. about a 13 year old attempting to run down a cop and then the zoo that has followed. Go read how ridiculous the policies governing police officers are becoming. I must say, I can not imagine why anyone would want to become a police officer when communities won't stand up for them and demand they be allowed to enforce laws and be able to protect themselves.

File under "The Decline of Western Civilization".