Fatal mistakes
So, you’re a bunch of drug police. You get the idea to run around in plain clothes and armed in a state that has a fairly high number of lawful handgun carry permit holders? What could possibly go wrong? Oh, yeah: Adolf Grimes was shot 14 times, including 12 times in the back, according to Orleans Parish Coroner Frank Minyard.
A 22 year-old is dead. Tam wonders:
One can’t help but wonder how this would be playing out in the press if the vacationer that got shot up had been an off-duty Texas cop instead of a CCW permit holder.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:52 am
This is right behind no-knock entries on my police pet peeve list.
So many officers have died from this stupidity that it shocks me that they don’t teach against it everywhere. It also shocks me that anyone who isn’t undercover wouldn’t be wearing a uniform of some sort. The uniform is like a giant “don’t shoot me, I’m a good guy” sign. When you aren’t wearing it, you become a bullet magnet to every responding officer and good samaritan in the area.
Undercover officers look like scumbags. When they draw their guns, they look like really dangerous scumbags. If they yell “police” and flash a badge, they look like dangerous scumbags who are trying to trick you.
If you are chasing a perp, especially an unarmed perp, any police or civilians who see a scummy looking character with a gun chasing an unarmed man is going to immediately assume that you’re the criminal and you’re attempting to rob him. Even the most thuggish looking guy fades into the background when being chased by a robber with a gun. As has often been the case, you get shot instead of the perp.
This sucks. I hope there are harsh punishments for the officers to educate the rank and file and a big lawsuit against the city to educate the policy makers.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
I’m usually the last guy to cry racism, but I wonder if they would have been so quick to shoot if it had been a white guy.
January 13th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
The answer is yes they would have. He already belonged to an inferior race in their minds, he wasn’t one of them.
January 14th, 2009 at 8:09 am
Jim W,
Given were and when this occurred, a white guy would have either been given directions to Canal Street and a stern reminder about our crime rate, or have been put on a psych hold at Charity.