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JD Mullane: Police Reform Can Cut Down on Use of Lethal Force

JD Mullane: Police Reform Can Cut Down on Use of Lethal Force | Newtown News of Interest | Scoop.it

When an arrest results in a cop using lethal force, and the nation convulses because it was unnecessary, the thing I hear most is, “If the guy hadn’t resisted arrest” or “He should have done what the cops told him."

 

It’s common sense. Cops don’t want to kill you. And if you’ve done nothing wrong, why squirm, resist or run?

 

If you’ve heard this or have said it, it’s likely because you’ve never had the rough experience of being detained by the police. I have. Twice. These changed how I see the cases when an ordinary stop turns deadly.

 

Like most of you, I like and support cops. They have a tough job, made tougher by people who are drunk, on drugs or suffering from mental illness.

 

People like that can go berserk, and an officer needs force to stop it. We expect a lot from our police, probably too much. There are a lot of crazy people out there.

 

[years ago], as a reporter, I was covering the case of teenage boy from Fairless Hills who was left in a coma after a fight at a dance at a place called Club Fizz in Falls. Two groups of boys exchanged words, one from Lower Bucks, and a competing “posse” led by a guy from Trenton.

 

It was a big local story, and photographer Bill Johnson and I went to Trenton to find the posse leader. It was the tough-on-crime 1990s, and we were in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the city.

 

I had the guy’s street, but not his house number. I worked the block, knocking on doors. As I turned from one, a Trenton police car was in the street, and a plainclothes officer holding out his badge was closing in fast.

 

I reached into my shirt pocket to get my press credentials, and the plainclothes cop and a uniformed officer behind him reacted as if I was extracting a deadly vial of nitro glycerin. They screamed for me to stop and “Hands up!” I was grabbed and shoved hard into a brick wall, chest first.

 

I was searched, and my wallet taken. Bill attempted to get out of his car, and another cop shoved the door closed on him. I was ordered not to make another move. I felt helpless and something similar to claustrophobic, like I had to get out of there. My heart raced. Adrenalin pumped.

 

I know why “stop and frisk” is so loathed by men in the cities. Its liberal use would definitely stoke resentment in me. I can’t imagine how I’d react if I was subjected to it three or four or five times.

 

The Trenton cops said they stopped us because they assumed we were looking to buy drugs. (Bill and I were long hairs back then.)

 

An otherwise sound or harmless person may do something dumb, like squirm or run or fight the cuffs. Things escalate. The gun comes out.

 

What to do in these circumstances needs to be determined through police reform, probably the most bipartisan issue in the country right now.

 

It can’t be swept away with, “He shoulda just done what the cop told him.”

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Newtown News of Interest
These Scoops are excerpts from articles published in local newspapers and other sources that may be of interest to Newtown area residents. Please click on the "From" link to access the full original article. Any opinions and "insights" appended to these article summaries are solely those of John Mack and do not represent the opinions of any other person or entity.
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