This has been a big month for police misconduct in America. I normally scan the news looking for a story to cover and I found one which I covered yesterday. Many of you already know about the slaying of Sgt. Loggins at the hands of an unnamed deputy. For those of you who don’t please see my article The real O.C..
Since I wrote that article two other stories involving police abuse have been brought to my attention.
There has been yet another fatal police shooting. On February 9th a Culpepper, Virginia police officer shot unarmed 54 year old Patricia Cook to death. The officer is claiming that he had his arm stuck in her car window and that she started to speed off so he shot her to defend himself.
Eyewitness, Kris Buchele tells another story altogether. According to Buchele “His left hand was on the door handle and his right hand was on his gun, they were close together, you know.”
A Culpepper town spokesperson said “The officer’s cruiser did have a video camera, but that it was not working.” For the second time this week I’m going to have to call bullshit. If my car doesn’t have everything working properly I get a moving violation and the police are all over it. I find it hard to beleive that a municipal police force would willingly and knowingly allow a cruiser on the streets with a broken video camera.
Please see the video posted below for 9 News Now‘s coverage of the shooting.
This next story doesn’t involve a citizen being killed, however it is just as disturbing.
This is just sad. Unfortunately the police are allowed to lie to suspects so this cop could always claim he never really intended to make stuff up and that he was just working the suspect. I hope that the Seattle IAB can dig up some dirt on this officer and prosecute him for something. I don’t know about you but I don’t want this type of cop on the streets.
These recent stories are nothing new. When I started this blog there was a rash of Police misconduct across the nation. Please see my articles Rampant Police Misconduct, Police gone wild, New York cops behaving badly, Say Cheese, and NYPD Public Enemy #1 for more information.
Have any of you had any close encounters of the worst kind involving the police? The Blue Scholar Blog wants to know. Please feel free to leave a comment. we are eager to share your stories and opinions.
Blue Scholar Blog 