Before we begin, please take a moment to watch the NBC LA story about a couple that was killed by police officers recently. It’s only 2:30 seconds. Let’s compare notes when you are done….
Of course the title of this blog is being sarcastic and this obviously is not a laughing matter. Seven kids lost a parent. Three boys are now without a mother and four girls are without a father. Senseless.
Let’s look at a few aspects of this story. When police arrived, they found the couple sleep/unconscious and not responsive. The report is that the police saw a gun. Ok, not even going to go there on why you would have a gun in plain sight.
The mayor said the cops “retreated”. Sleeping people in a car warrants a retreat.
The officers then spent 45 minutes trying to wake the couple. If I was cynical, I would question the time the offices arrived and when the shots were fired. A cynical person would all but guarantee that it was less than 45 minutes. Even if it was, should 45 minutes been the cut off point when deciding to take someone’s life? In Oregon…. Never mind, let’s continue.
The part of the news report that utterly confused me was when the mayor said that the officers spent the 45 minutes trying to de-escalate the situation.
It is time for a recap here:
- Officers arrive to find a sleeping couple
- Officers see a gun in the vehicle and retreat
- Officers attempt to wake the couple for 45 minutes in an attempt to de-escalate the situation
What I need to wrap my head around is how did the couple ESCALATE the situation in the first place if they were sleep? What were the officers de-escalating?
Have you ever been walking down the street and a fire truck or police car fly by with their sirens blaring? I have, and I’m pretty sure if I was in a car sleeping, that would wake me up. What exactly did the offices try to do for 45 minutes to wake the couple?
Lastly, if you find two human beings in a locked car and they appear to be sleep and you cannot wake them after 45 minutes would your first thought be to fire a weapon into the car? Should your first thought be that the couple may not be sleeping and could possibly need medical attention? Drug overdose maybe? I am not saying this was the case, but should the officers have considered that at all?
The sad ending of the story is Kisha Michael, 31, is dead. Marquintan Sandlin, 32, is dead.
The victim blaming has already begun. In NBC LA’s article criminal past of the victims were discussed. The one thing I know for sure is neither was committing any crimes when they were killed, other than maybe a minor traffic offense at most. Seven kids are without a parent and it is likely that nobody will be held accountable for that.
Pragmatic Visions 