Sometimes I get in a mood and think we should pass anti-stupidity laws. One of the main intents of these laws would be to punish people not for actually being stupid but for using stupidity as a defense. So, for example, if you shoot and kill someone and then argue that you thought you were holding a spatula, remote control, or taser, then you would be automatically found guilty and given a lengthy mandatory sentence. If you committed this crime and offered this kind of defense while serving or pretending to serve in a law enforcement capacity, your sentence would be doubled as if you sold drugs to a minor in a school zone.
As Dean Vernon Wormer said, “Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.” Whatever his other faults, he was right about that. If you are paid to carry a gun, you shouldn’t be able to fire it and then claim that you thought you were shotgunning a beer.
Robert Bates, the reserve Tulsa County deputy who fatally shot a man who was in a physical altercation with another deputy last week, has donated thousands of dollars worth of items to the Sheriff’s Office since becoming a reserve deputy in 2008.
Bates, 73, accidentally shot Eric Harris on Thursday, according to Maj. Shannon Clark, after Harris — the subject of an undercover gun and ammunition buy by the Sheriff’s Office’s Violent Crimes Task Force — fled from arrest and then fought with a deputy who tackled him. Bates, Clark said, thought he was holding a stun gun when he pulled the trigger.
Bates is not an active member of the task force but donates his hours there as a highly regarded member of the Reserve Deputy Program, Clark said.
This guy was part of the “Reserve Deputy Program”?
In Dukes of Hazzard-speak, this puts him below Enos Strate and far beneath Roscoe P. Coltrane, may he rest in peace.
I joke, but this isn’t funny.
Credit where it’s due: at least he showed some human empathy and remorse, unlike his fellow cop who screamed at the man bleeding on the ground that it was own fault and he should shut the fuck up.
It’s a bad thing to give guns and badges to stupid and confused people, but it’s worse to give them outright sociopaths.
“Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.”
Didn’t he end up as a U. S. Senator? Sounds like proper credentials in today’s world.
No, Bluto became the Senator, not Flounder. Bluto, he of the zero. point. zero. grade point average.
If I had made that sort of mistake, my wife would have corrected me immediately. She considers the disciplinary hearing scene in “Animal House” one of the most memorable moments in movie history.
That’s the woman for me!
One thing I find frustrating is that there seems to be this widely held view that professionally trained law enforcement officers should somehow only be held to the same kinds of standards that you or I would be if we were found in the same sorts of situations. I can imagine a private citizen concealed carry holder imagining in their mind that a spatula in someone’s hand is a German Luger. Or maybe even that a bag of Skittles is a Smith & Wesson .38. But these guys are supposed to be highly trained individuals who have been judged by the citizenry, through virtue of rigorous training and certification, to have the fortitude and good judgment necessary to function in life threatening situations. Sure, they will make mistakes. And those often will be tragic. But it seems like these events are happening on a daily basis with law enforcement. Simply giving them a mulligan because we can imagine ourselves utilizing the same kinds of poor judgment is not the way this thing is supposed to work. We give them a lot of leeway, as we probably should. But it doesn’t give them license to simply assume they can get a pass when they obviously fuck up and kill someone.
It’s a tough call when it comes to the police. But it sure seems like things have unraveled in this country when it comes to the accountability of law enforcement.
I might hazard a guess that the qualifications test to join this “Reserve Deputies Program” are accomplished by delivering a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon and a bottle of Wild Turkey to the County Sheriff. Bates’ donations of thousands of dollars worth of items may have been more of the same.
You know- dues payments.
Well, I just read the linked story, other reportings on this, and the video from the camera placed on one of the arresting officers.
It was truly fascinating that the Tulsa newspaper story provided the video recording without reporting these detail from it, reported elsewhere:
“When Harris tells one of the officers “I’m losing my breath,” the officer responds, “fuck your breath.””
There was this as well:
“At the Friday press conference, Tulsa Police Sgt. Jim Clark said the Tulsa County Sheriffs Office’s investigation concluded that Bates did not commit a crime and no policy violations occurred.”
Now THAT’s a problem. Take a look at what’s on the video. If that’s not a crime or violation of policy, the law is an ass and the policies are meant to empower cops to murder citizens.
Sorry, but you can’t eliminate the stupid, Booman. They are part of the human genome. And…they are everywhere. Even here on this site. Bet on it.
AG
Good to know your claimed concern for minority communities is so sincere, AG. Did you even read the story and watch the video?
You come here to equate the stupidity of these law enforcement officials, representative of so many officials in 2015 and years and decades past, to Frog Pond congregants.
One group is wantonly murdering and maiming civilians. The other group irritates you. Seems a qualitative difference.
I repeat:
Thanks for the proof.
The problems with the idea of eliminating…or at least punishing…the stupid are myriad, but two stand out.
1-Who decides which of us is stupid enough to be prosecuted and/or eliminated?
and
2-Once that decision is made, what percentage of the human race is going to be punished and/or killed?
I refer you to the life of Adolph Hitler for further evidence of the built-in failure…need I add “stupidity?”…of such efforts. He believed that stupidity of a particular sort was genetically built into the genomes of certain races. All races other that the Northern European ones, actually, and he didn’t much like the Celts either. He believed that he had “scientific proof” of his theories, and he killed multiple millions in the doomed attempt to put them into practice.
Now we have another version of “scientific proof.” IQ tests, etc., which are really only acculturation tests. If you’re not smack in the middle of a given culture, you’re “stoopid.” Same with this guy. He probably shouldn’t be in the position that he occupied. Maybe most of the “official” cops we have in this system shouldn’t be there either, at least not in a perfect world. But this isn’t a perfect world. So it goes. As soon as someone chooses to eliminate the stupid…which presupposes that said person believes that he can differentiate the “stupid” from the “different”…travel on the road to disaster has already started. One thing that I admire about Booman is that he doesn’t eliminate those with whom he disagrees or people he otherwise dislikes on this site.
As above, so below.
Hopefully.
Later…
AG
Godwin is having tears of joy after reading AG’s response.
AG also fails to recognize the tone of BooMan’s response to this horrible incident in Tulsa. The close of Boo’s post lets us know what his real feelings are, but AG first insults the entire Frog Pond, and then responds as if Boo is making a serious policy proposal.
Arthur spares none of his breath in attacking, in great specifics, the immorality of our military policies, but he cares not a whit about this African-American pinned to the ground, dying from a bullet wound, while an Sheriff’s Deputy grinds the man’s face into the pavement with a knee to the back of his next and responds to the man’s last pleas with “Fuck your breath“.
I submi fat drunk and stupid seems like one of the more fun ways to go through life.
Animal House, a classic for all time. The best humor comes from observation and Animal House gave us a clear mirror.
From my reading of the link, sounds like the Reserve Deputy program is a kind of cost cutting program extension of the PD – the problem with these programs is they employ wannabees who aren’t really trained and there’s no real accountability [i.e. they can’t be fired or demoted because they aren’t really employed as police officers]
Yes, it’s another aspect of the intentionally starved gub’mint and the complete lack of concern for what it is supposed to accomplish. The lack of accountability makes the system perfect!
So OK has cop wannabes running around playing po-lice officer, great thinking. Yes, indeed, a 73 year old retired dude obviously is the perfect pick for a physically demanding job. I guess the idea is if there’s resistance by a citizen, the wannabe can just shoot ’em…
What I’m trying to say is if one wants a functioning police department it must be funded, must have standards for applicants, and officers must be trained and accountable [see my many rants about Mexico].
Police departments are functioning exactly the way most (white) people want them to.
NO stupid here. This is like some rich 73yr old white man pays big bucks to go on safari to kill some endangered rhino. This is so like the hunt Zimmerman went on based on his neighborhood watch affiliation.
yes, what my comment was about you express more picturesquely
NO stupid here. This is like some rich 73yr old white man pays big bucks to go on safari to kill some endangered rhino. This is so like the hunt Zimmerman went on based on his neighborhood watch affiliation.
Highly regarded.
I have to believe that we are close to some sort of tipping point on this. People are being murdered by the police; it’s as if their lives don’t count any more than a squirrel you might accidentally hit while you are driving your car. Worse than that, because I did hit a squirrel with my car once and the image of his body in death throes haunted me for a long time.
If we as a society can’t do something to change this then we are well and truly screwed.
Let’s see, the police can use instantaneous deadly force when:
-You resist arrest in any way.
-You make any move that, in a fraction of a second, could be interpreted as reaching for a gun.
-You are acting erratically according to anonymous witnesses
-Anonymous 911 callers falsely claim you have a gun and are aiming it at people.
-You appear to have a toy weapon of any kind.
-You are running away unarmed from them.
-Anytime they feel unsafe, angry, excited, confused (which I mean, if you’re a minority, is probably most of the time).
-They get confused because a taser is so much like a gun.
-You are a minority.
Does that about cover it?
Yep. You have successfully completed your course studies and are now fully qualified to be a full-time police officer, deployable anywhere in America.
Collect your diploma from Okie U, and congratulations! (Age/infirmity irrelevant)
Oops, I forgot walking down the street in front of your home or a relative’s home!
This just in: Deputy Bates has been charged with second-degree manslaughter:
http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/13/us/tulsa-police-shooting-eric-harris-deputy-charged/index.html
Of course he’ll probably be acquitted, but maybe this is some kind of progress.