Sunday, May 03, 2015

A TERRIBLE SHOOTING -- BUT OUR SOCIETY ALREADY AGREES THAT OFFICER MOORE'S LIFE MATTERS

Whatever I may say about cops who abuse their authority is not meant to suggest that I'm happy when something like this happens:
A plainclothes city cop was shot in the face in Queens Saturday when the ex-con cousin of a former New York Giant opened fire into his unmarked patrol car, authorities said.

Officer Brian Moore and his partner were driving through Queens Village when they spotted the suspect “adjusting an object in his waistband” near the corner of 212th St. and 104th Road about 6:15 p.m, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said.

The officers pulled up behind the suspicious man -- identified as Demetrius Blackwell, the younger cousin of former Giants cornerback Kory Blackwell -- and tried to question him.

Without warning, Blackwell whipped out a gun and squeezed off at least two rounds into Moore’s car, Bratton said.
Moore is in critical condition. Things don't look good for him. I hope he pulls through.

There's no evidence that this has anything to do with recent political events, but of course it's being politicized:











I'm going to make obvious points, but they seem to need making.

Society cared about this shooting. A lot of resources were mobilized to locate the suspect, and he was in custody within hours of the shooting:
Law enforcement flooded the Queens Village neighborhood following the shooting -- police helicopters flew overhead, officers searched house by house and some could be seen walking on roofs. About 90 minutes later, police arrested Demetrius Blackwell, 35, near the crime scene in a house on the block where he lives, officials said.
Freddie Gray died on April 19. It took twelve days and a huge amount of public outrage before suspects in his death were charged, and that was considered an extraordinarily swift process of bringing charges. No one's been charged in the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and many other blacks killed or wounded after interactions with the police.

And no one is suggesting that Officer Moore had it coming. No one is leaking damning information about him to the press, or exculpatory information about the suspect. In fact, it's just the opposite:
Moore’s father and uncle are both retired NYPD sergeants.

One of Moore’s Massapequa neighbors, who said she has known the wounded cop his entire life, described him as “an all-around good kid.”

“My daughter went to the prom with him,” said Joan Olton, 56.

“My son is just distraught,” Olton added. “They were supposed to watch the (Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao) fight together.”

... Blackwell served several years in prison on attempted murder charges for firing into a person’s car in August 2001 during an attempted robbery, officials said. He was eventually released from the Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate Dannemora in June 2008.

In prison, Blackwell was found to have “poor institutional adjustment problems,” said a state Department of Corrections spokeswoman.

At the time of Saturday’s shooting, he was wanted by police on a criminal mischief charge stemming from an incident last November, sources said.
What we're seeing is how law enforcement and the media react when there's a murder attempt on someone whose life matters.

You may not like the fact that I'm making the analogy I'm making. But to the friends, neighbors, and relatives of those who are killed or assaulted by cops, the essential humanity of the dead and wounded is routinely disregarded, and the system doesn't seem to want to know whether wrongdoing occurred.

The suspect in the shooting of Officer Moore is in custody. That's good. But the life of everyone who dies as a result of criminal behavior ought to matter.
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4 comments:

  1. J5:20 PM

    Everything you say is true. I'd add that the point of a protest, as opposed to a memorial which I am sure will happen, would be to influence the authorities, or the public to whom the authorities are answerable, by calling their attention to an injustice, something that they can and should set right. A protest against lax gun laws inspired by officer Moore's shooting would make sense. If the police had failed to pursue his would-be killer, or done so in a wrongheaded way, that might be a reason for protesting, but neither of those things seem to be true. What do the RW nuts think the point of a protest would be in this case?

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  2. J5:21 PM

    Sorry, I very much hope there is no need for a memorial.

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  3. Yastreblyansky7:56 PM

    The RW nuts seem to have no clue what protest is about. We could have a march to thank the police for handling the case so well and so swiftly, but it would sound like a snarky reproach for not usually doing it so well. J's idea of a gun control march is good, though.

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  4. Victor9:56 AM

    Gun control?
    Pish-posh!

    Every loon ought to have a gun handy.
    Even for shooting cops.
    It's their RIGHT!!!

    Just ask the NRA idiot's.

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