A 29-year-old Indianapolis police officer was shot in the head and clinging to life late Thursday after a gunbattle on the Eastside that also wounded the suspect -- a man police believe killed a 69-year-old retiree earlier this week.
It's one thing to know you have a bunch of depraved bastards roaming the streets (nothing new under the sun, there) and it really outrages a person to find out that some that have been entrusted to protect the people from such people are out on the take. But when those that are not engaging in criminal activity are harmed in the line of duty, it really makes a person's blood boil.
A handful of miscreants can and often do create havoc on a community. In this case, one of them has ruined two lives forever, not to mention the lives of those that love(d) them.
Correction: The puke that shot the officer was not suspected of the murder of the good samaritan, but was suspected of brutally beating a 69 year old man in his own home. The one suspected of killing the man trying to help a friend is a 16 year old and has been arrested.
UPDATE: Here is a look at the bastard that shot the officer. Truly, from the sounds of things, he is worthless as mammary glands on a boar hog. The same goes for his worthless parents. Read the article to see what I mean.
5 comments:
what gets me are the range of victims, an officer serving a warrant, a mother in front of her children over another man and an elderly couple for example. Throw in the recently exposed corruption and Ballard's got a serious test here.
You're absolutely right Obob. This is quite a test for Ballard. But what can he realistically do about the murders, short of having patrol cars saturated in the areas where most of these killings have occurred? If that happens, the rest of the city goes without police presence.
It seems he is doing all he can about the police corruption. Weeding them out without fear of the police union is important and so far the union has not been too noisy about it. I expect that some more investigations will occur down the road. Either that or the ones misbehaving will get the message and stop.
I also think there is an issue with police training, LA. Even combat patrols are careful not to walk in to an ambush. What is needed is cooler heads in stressful situations ... what was the hurry in making an arrest? A good combat commander decides where to fight the battle, so with that as an analogy, the perp in this case might have gotten away initially, but he could have been arrested in due course and a fine patroman would still be alive.
Semper Fi
//what was the hurry in making an arrest? //
Not sure. Each officer has to assess the threat level at the moment in time, he or she is reacting. It sounds like they had a pretty good idea they had a guy that thought nothing of killing a complete stranger. Put that with the pressure to get some of the perps committing these acts off the streets and it could very well be this guy jumped the gun.
But in the grand scheme of things, there will come a time when you have to engage or the threat will become greater. Who's to say this guy would not have killed someone else after the officer backed off, not knowing he had backed off? He could have carjacked someone after shooting them, then the criticism and after action analysis would have turned a different corner.
Police officers catch bad guys, it's what they do. If the officer acted too impetuously, then some of the responsibility for the outcome can be assigned to him. But overall, the real responsibility lies with the scumbag that pulled the trigger. From the write-up, it sounds like he is lower than the lowest whale shit.
You are correct, my friend … but you may have missed my point. A well-trained police officer is a precious commodity, especially considering that most high population urban areas have one policeman for every 20,000 citizens. Sadly, there are more scumbags than there are police officers, so the point I was making is that quality, intensive police training is money well spent in saving the lives of a limited valuable resource. I am not attempting to second guess the officer or criticize his decision; only an observation that over-zealousness in deadly situations gives the advantage to the scumbag. In this case, the officer’s death did not seem to be a deciding factor in the scumbag’s eventual capture.
I know as well as anyone that training is the key to success in combat. Let us not kid ourselves: police officers are engaged in combat every day. I also know that operation plans and procedures go out the window when the bullets start flying. Nevertheless, Mr. Ballard should look into the quality of training afforded to IMPD officers. Whether these young men attend a state academy, or one set up by the city … Ballard’s first concern should be the quality of academy instructors. In spite of the fact that many (if not all) are likely seasoned veterans, they tend to view things from a classroom perspective. There is a ditty that goes like this: "Here lie the bones of Lieutenant Jones, a graduate of this institution; on the very first night, in his very first fight, he used the school solution."
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