There are bad cops and there are just plain bad people. Showing partiality in apprehending accused murderers is unprofessional and leads to tragic outcomes. There are many shootings in our culture of violence, but how many involve a “shoot to kill” order?
Such is the case involving the massive manhunt for Christopher Jordan Dorner, a 6-foot 270 pound black man with a military and police background in weapons and tactics. He appears to be articulate but psychologically damaged with a axe to grind against perceived racism against the Los Angeles Police Department.
Dorner left a rambling message justifying his ambush and murder of a couple this last week end, one innocent victim being the daughter of a LAPD police chief. He later shot three Riverside Police Officers killing one. Dorner’s actions has made him a menace to law enforcement personnel and their families in the entire Southern California area.
In Dorner’s twisted hatred and inane logic, these shootings were revenge for losing his job as a police office and hitting back at the establishment he sees guilty of racism. Multiple killings are not a new subject, but this one appears a little different.
However in spite of the need to clearly bring Dorner to justice, the shooting of two Hispanic females in Torrance seems to validate the contention of a double standard regarding police action when the accused is a black man. How does one mistake two female Hispanics for a black man who is no where near the description of the perpetrator? How often is a shoot to kill on sight given in other police actions?http://sandrarose.com/2013/02/no-warning-as-lapd-shoot-2-women-in-manhunt-for-cop-killer/
There have been many shootings involving police officers and members of the public, some just as deadly as the killings attributed to Dorner. One begins to wonder the reason of the shoot first and ask questions later regarding the police action against Dorner.
Police shooting victims Emma Hernandez, 71 and her daughter Maggie Carranza, 47 were delivering papers on their newspaper route during the early morning around 5:15AM when the truck they were riding began being riddled with bullets without warning. Fortunately both females survived the attack but both were seriously wounded with gunshot wounds to the back.
This shooting puts a perspective on why there have been so many Afro-Americans mistakenly gunned down by police action when they had the wrong person of interest. If professional officers can’t tell the difference between a black man of muscular built and a 71-year old Hispanic female, something is clearly a foul.
Law abiding black citizens are collectively dismayed when crime involves a member of the black community, however that dismay is tempered with the track record of undeserved harassment and errors made by law enforcement’s attempts to arrest black suspects in the past, that is if they are really attempting to arrest them.
There’s a distinct difference between attempting to arrest and execution and the circumstances of this case point to the latter. Naturally no police officer should have to put themselves in jeopardy to arrest Dorner, but there were two individuals in that truck in Torrance. The recklessness demonstrated by the shooting of these two women is reprehensible.
Proper police action should be applauded and honored, however there are times when using a cowboy mentality is totally unacceptable. The shooting of the two women in Torrance during the Dorner manhunt is without excuse.
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