Police mistake hairbrush for gun in Brooklyn.

Police Fatally Shoot Teen in Brooklyn

NEW YORK (AP) — A teenager in a dispute with his mother was shot and killed by police officers when he charged at them with what they thought was a gun but later turned out to be a hairbrush, authorities said.

As a police officer my heart stops when I read about an incident in which an unarmed individual is killed by armed police officers. Recall in the Bronx African immigrant Amodu Diallo who was shot numerous times by officers who shot him because they believed the cell phone he was carrying was a gun. A jury found the police officers not guilty as they sincerely but erroneously believed he had a weapon.

The facts are still coming in with respect to this domestic dispute in which a young man life is cut short. Neil Young said it best ” There’s one more kid that will never go to shool never get to fall in love and never get to be cool.”

In my tenure with the NYPD for over 20 years I have never had to discharge my gun. This year I chased armed individuals who fired a gun in my direction. In a split second I couldn’t clearly identify the shooter, I knew instinctively it was one of the two guys in a hallway facing me. We subsequently apprehended the men, one a drug dealer and the other wanted for attempted murder with a previous record for violent assaults.

The reason I add my personal experience is that police officers never know who they are dealing with, but they ( bad guys and gals) know who we are and the consequences of arrest and subsequent detention from an encounter with the police.

However, when police make mistakes they are often life altering, ceasing liberty the pursuit of life and happiness. And here the mistake is fatal and makes me cringe that we have failed in our ultimate obligation ” to protect” and “serve”.

The press, pundits, lawyers, politicians civic and religious leaders often taint these incidents confusing the incident facts with their own agenda. In the Diallo shooting the defense attorneys were able to change the venue for the proceedings from the Bronx to Albany New York. The First Department Appellate Court of New York permitted the change stating in essence ” a circus like environment surrounded the event” and ” even police officers are entitled to a fair and impartial trial. A community has the absolute right to judge misconduct of its police force. However, guilt, innocence, misconduct, mistake and or negligence should be judged fairly not in the circus maximus climate that so taints our jurisprudence today.

Police work continues to be a metaphysical task. God rest the soul of this young man and I pray the family will have strength to carry on.

Lets start a new federal agency to stop gay’s The BEA ” Bathroom Enforcement Agency”

In the aftermath of the Larry Craig toilet gate ” I’m not gay” I just get off in the men’s room incident it appears some police departments are now making copy cat arrests. For example in the N.Y.C. suburb county of Rockland police arrested 20 men including a priest ( shocking I know) the link is below. http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071030/NEWS03/710300364

More recently in a Florida bathroom mall local police arrested more men including a teacher. see http://www.wftv.com/news/14492089/detail.html for the details on this bathroom bust.

Now I don’t advocate public sex in public places. I strongly oppose conduct by individuals straight or gay in which they expose themselves in public especially in an area where children will be exposed . Adult sexual behavior ought to take place between consulting adults in a private location.

Police must act on the complaints made by citizens and if complaints are received by officials indicating lewd behavior by adults they must investigate the allegations. However, what disturbs me is that this enforcement and subsequent public press releases by police agencies seems to be increasing after the Craig footsie conduct at a public airport.

Do you ever see announcements such as i.e. ” Police bust Lovers Lane” 25 young couples some underage arrested for lewd behavior in town park”. Of course not and what that opens the door to is to deduce that ” selective enforcement” is being utilized.

As such gay men are being singled out for having sex in public places while heterosexuals who are also having sex in public places are not arrested. Again, I am not supporting public sex for the aforementioned reasons. But when law enforcement agencies target gay men only it reflects bias in enforcing laws. It causes disparate negative impact on gay men. Not only are the arestees publicly outed, they are shamed ( as perverts ) and vilified in the press, incur legal expenses, and the economic impact including the distinct possibility of losing a job will certainly be life altering. I recall that the singer George Michael was arrested on a similar public lewdness charge in Beverly Hills. I recall that the press also made had a field day ridiculing him.

While police agencies like the one I work for are always classifying crime data. Police respond quickly to crime trends and patterns. If the community is complaining about lewd behavior and children are being exposed to adult sex in public places the law mandates an arrest. But, do you seriously think anyone is complaining about the local lovers lanes? As such it gives police officials a neutral reason for the selective enforcement at gay public sex as opposed to heterosexual public sex.

Perhaps it is time for the gay community to conduct a study of the facts surrounding arrests for lewd behavior. I believe that the facts might suggest a disproportionate amount of lewd conduct arrests are of gay men. If that is the case it suggests selective enforcement which is discriminatory, in that gay men having sex or attempting to have sex, or meeting to have sex in public places are being arrested. In contrast to the heterosexual community who are told simply to ” move along” ” beat it” find another spot.

Trust me even Barney Frank wont’ run to the microphone to defend public lewdness. So take a leak and take a walk public bathrooms are not bathhouse’s! And speaking of bathouse’s ” The Ritz” starring Rosie Perez is a must see. So get out of the bathroom and go to broadway!

Breaking my blog cherry.

I’m the type of guy that only buys lotto tickets when jackpot hits some new all time record. By than the lines are long, and the odds of winning worse than ever. So here we go into the wild wild web.

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