For many reasons, so there’s no single answer. In today’s case study, the shooter was drunk, and acted spontaneously. It started when a neighbor of Joel Berck Young (photo, left), 63, of Maple Falls, Washington, burned trash and the smoke went into Young’s home. Enraged, Young conf[...]
Posts Tagged ‘Police’
News too dumb to print
The Daily Mail, a U.K.-based tabloid, has been bashing the FBI over the Trump assassination attempt. You may recall that Trump held a rally in an open field, a short-staffed Secret Service detail partnered with local cops to provide protection, and errors by law enforcement allowed the shooter to fi[...]
GOP legislator demands speeding privileges
Justine Wadsack (photo, left) was pulled over by a Tucson cop for driving 71 mph in a 35 mph zone on March 15, 2024. She wasn’t immediately cited because she’s a state senator, and Arizona legislators enjoy immunity from arrest while in session, but they can be prosecuted after the legis[...]
June 19th, 2024 - 6:01 pm § in Law and Courts
Why cops shoot suspects in vehicles
There are many examples of police opening fire on vehicles when a suspect tries to flee. It’s not to keep the suspect from escaping. Behind these shootings is the fact cops consider a moving car a deadly weapon. They’ll shoot the driver if a cop is being dragged or threatened with being [...]
May 18th, 2024 - 5:46 pm § in Politics, Republicans
Call 911, send money
A terrified Chicago victim of a home invasion called 911, but instead of sending cops, the dispatcher exhorted her to call her alderman and “request more police funding.” (Story here.) Police are stretched thin in many cities, but generally not for budget reasons. “Defunding the po[...]
May 14th, 2024 - 11:24 pm § in Misc.
Seattle police entry pay hits six figures
The Seattle City Council approved a contract with the Seattle police union on May 14, 2024, that bumps starting pay from $83,000 to $103,000, with a raise to $110,000 after six months, the Seattle Times reported (story here). Existing officers will get retroactive raises for 2021-23 as a lump sum pa[...]
May 11th, 2024 - 1:39 am § in Law and Courts
Sheriff who harassed black newspaper carrier won’t seek re-election
Ed Troyer (photo, left), the elected sheriff of Pierce County, Washington who was acquitted of misdemeanor charges stemming from his encounter with a black newspaper carrier (details here), won’t seek re-election (see story here). The case of “delivering newspapers while black” rec[...]
As usual, officials are lying about the protests
This time Mother Jones is calling out NYC Mayor Eric Adams (see story here). Days after city cops stormed the Columbia University campus, Hizzoner held a press conference. He used it to condemn “outside agitators,” naming a retired teacher Mother Jones says “was not on Columbia’s[...]
May 23rd, 2023 - 2:11 pm § in Law and Courts
Killer cop costs Colorado taxpayers $19 million
“The family of a Colorado man who was fatally shot last year by a deputy … after calling 911 for help when his SUV got stuck … will receive a $19 million settlement” from the state and local municipalities, NBC News reported on Tuesday, May 23, 2022 (read story here). Two dep[...]
April 23rd, 2023 - 11:17 pm § in Misc.
Kentucky sheriff hires Breonna Taylor’s killer
Myles Cosgrove, the ex-Louisville cop who fired 16 bullets into Breonna Taylor’s apartment, one of which the FBI said was the bullet that killed her, is a police officer again. The sheriff of Carroll County, Kentucky, a rural enclave of about 11,000 residents across the Ohio River from the sou[...]