Topics

Blog (18) Events (14) NonFiction (14) Poetry (14) PAST POST (13) Exploits (11) Fiction (11) China (9) Video (8) DREAM (7) Dragon's Bane (6) Merchandise (5) Meme (2) Rest In Peace (2)

Monday, July 1, 2013

Water = Jail Time

I'm a fan of good police work. I respect police who do their job for the continued safety of our communities. But there are some real morons carrying badges and shouting commands at innocent people. For example: a sorority girl at the University of Virginia went to her local convenience store and bought some cookie dough, ice cream and La Croix water. She made her way to her car and suddenly she is accosted by a number of unidentified persons waving guns and badges at her.

These persons were supposed police officers. In their infinite wisdom they jumped on the hood of her car, tried to break her windows and yelled at her to stop the car and get out. 

Without proper identification, in presumably a poorly lit parking lot, the girl did exactly what she should have. She tried to get out of there. She grazed a couple of the "cops" on her way out and immediately called 911 to report the incident. She was soon pulled over and arrested for three felonies.

Thankfully when she explained her story to the prosecutors the charges were dropped. The girl had just come from a "Take Back the Night" vigil so she was probably a bit more jumpy than she might normally have been, but that does not excuse the police officers for doing what they did, when they did it.

Police officers should NEVER draw guns on anyone who has not shown a proclivity of violence. Most law abiding citizens will abide the law if it is shown to them properly in a calm manner. If they had approached her just outside the store (identified themselves by badge number and name) calmly asking to see the contents of her bag, she probably would have complied, even though she is under no legal obligation to do so.

There are suggestions of a "Cop College" where proper instruction can be given and a finer toothed comb can be run through the police academy process. Police officers should be strong. If that person was carrying nuclear weapons they should be toss to the ground and handcuffed and be scared witless. But this is alcohol purchased by a minor at most offensive. Give the girl a ticket if she has alcohol and make her call someone else to drive and make the store refund her money. Then prosecute the store for not checking her ID.

THAT'S IT! 

This is NOT a violent offense. The girl was defending herself against potential attackers and in this world where the rape statistics are not going down, no one can blame the victim here.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What do you think? Did she do the right thing? Should she have handled it better? Discuss!