The Sean Bell Verdict and Al Sharpton’s Culture of Grievance
I think SPQR is right, based on what I’ve heard from people who know cops. (If I’m misrepresenting facts by making the following statement, I apologize.)
What I’ve heard is that the decision too fire is not made easily, but once the decision is made that lethal force is required, they are trained to take the person down. Thus one bullet vs 100 doesn’t matter. What matters is why the FIRST bullet was deemed necessary. I don’t know why the decision to use lethal force was made, so I will refrain from passing judgment on it.
That this mistake was made is indeed unsettling (to say the least). When I read some of the details of the case, that an undercover cop approached the car with his gun drawn, it made me shudder. I thought to myself, in that situation if I didn’t know the guy was a cop, I too might try to run him down, and end up with bullets in my face. (I don’t know if Bell knew the man was a cop; if he did, then he made a tragically stupid decision to try to run him down.)
Scary. I don’t think it was racial, but it was tragic. And Sharpton is a clown who would be funny, if he wasn’t so damaging to race relations in this country.
