Will you comment on one more aspect of the story I posted...why did the
police shoot within 4 minutes and 23 seconds of arriving? Gregg had been
in his room, depressed all evening. The parents did not dial 911 because
they felt threatened; they dialed 911 because they wanted professional
help. Police are regularly called to intervene in domestic disputes and
similar cases and are expected to difuse violence rather than escalate it.
More specifically, is it SOP to not ask for more information when arriving
on such a scene rather than to just enter with guns blazing?
My commentary:
I think this incident is a logical extension of Bush's Persian Gulf war--
the way to solve problems is to shoot first and then think about asking
questions.
This happened in the context of numerous unsolved deaths of Native Americans
in Lawrence, deaths that the police dept. seems to have no interest in solving.
The police here ARE racist, they make statements such as the only serial
killer involved in these deaths is as cereal killer (i.e. cereal malt, i.e.,
alcohol). Furthermore, the Lawrence Police Dept is uncertified (whatever
that means) and have a reputation for hiring people who can get jobs no
where else.
I, for one, will never again be able to dial 911 without thinking about
who they might shoot.
Marc Becker