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| Just Another Day In South Central L.A. |
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| Whatever happened to a little thing called personal responsibility? It used to be that when a person did something stupid or life threatening to others, people wouldn't immediately point the finger and pull the race card on the police or other law enforcement that tried to stop the person doing the stupid act. Nowadays, this is all too common, as was demonstrated recently in the killing of a 13-year-old kid by cops in South Central Los Angeles. Why, in today's modern age, must personal responsibility take a backseat to cries of racism and foul play? |
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| In the early morning hours of Sunday, Feb. 6, 13-year-old Devin Brown should have been sleeping, but instead he was joyriding in a stolen car with a 14-year-old friend. The car, which was being driven erratically and wouldn't pull over after repeated requests by the police that were chasing it, finally backed into a police cruiser, prompting the police to use lethal force. Officer Steve Garcia fired 10 shots into the car, killing Brown, who was unarmed. It seems that the simple fact that it was a kid that the cop killed is the only thing that the community, which is now up in arms, is seeing. |
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| Before demonizing the cop who was just doing his job, allow me to break down the situation, as seen through the eyes of an LAPD officer at almost four in the morning. It's late, and Garcia was cruising through a generally dangerous area under any circumstances, but even more dangerous in his line of work. Suddenly he finds himself in a chase with a car that is stolen and weaving all over the road, presumably being driven by someone who is drunk and possibly armed. When the car finally backs into a police cruiser, the cop is abruptly placed in a situation where he has to make a split-second decision, and he made that decision - pull the trigger and stop the threat. |
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| People don't seem to realize that cops are paid to make decisions such as the one that ended Brown's life and for anyone to think that a cop easily made that choice to pull that trigger is ridiculous. Cries of foul play and racism, however, are already widespread regarding this situation. |
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| Extremely liberal Web site Indymedia.org, for example, has already run several articles and reader submissions lambasting and vilifying police officers. One piece, called "Devin was 13...and the Police Killed Him," proclaims that "Devin Brown's life was stolen by the police without a moment's hesitation. It was almost commonplace, routine: chase, stop, shoot." This kind of disregard for the work that police officers do is sickening to me. Rev. Andrew Robinson-Gaither of Faith United Methodist Church was quoted in the article: "Another senseless killing by the police," he said. "They just like to take out young people's lives. They don't value us." What kind of an idiot actually believes that the police like to kill young people? This is exactly the kind of ignorance that breeds the "we-are-victims-of-the-big-bad-cops" mentality. |
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| When are people going to look at things in context and stop pulling the tired race card? Police are paid to protect the citizens and Garcia was doing his job. Sure, it's sad that a kid got killed, but why the hell was an 8th grader out that late, and driving a car, no less? Maybe people should start asking themselves that and hold the community responsible, rather than blaming the police for what could have been prevented. |
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Copyright Gerry Wachovsky, 2005, and Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. |
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Letters To The Editor Regarding This Article: |
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Devin Brown Apologist |
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(from February 28, 2005) |
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