A Tale Of 4 Cops

WTXF Fox Philadelphia

Four policemen have been fired in relationship to a televised beating of three black suspects a few weeks ago. I was certainly surprised! Usually, nothing happens when this type of thing occurs. The judge or D.A. always rules that the police acted properly and that's that. So, I had to sit up and take notice when I saw today's newspaper.

If anyone read yesterday's post, "Death Takes A Holiday", I mentioned that two Saturday's ago, a policeman was murdered in the line of duty by three Black men who were fleeing from a bank robbery they had just committed. The cop never had a chance to get out of his patrol car. One of the robbers mowed him down with a military assault weapon. The shooter was shot to death later that day by another cop. The other two culprits were captured and are in custody.

In order to comprehend what happened next, you have to understand how cops feel when one of their own is killed. I am not making light of the situation... it is a tragedy when any human life is senselessly taken. I feel bad for this policeman and his family. He was just doing his job and he wanted to come home at the end of the day the same way I do and anyone else who has a job. Emotions were running high. Then, there was a triple shooting a few days later and a high speed chase... 18 officers converged on one car and pulled three black male suspects out and, in their words, "attempted an arrest." They beat the cowboy crap out of all three men who had ceased resisting arrest by this time.

I understand that a lot of cops were upset about the then day old murder of one of their own but, my mother taught me years ago that two wrongs never equal one right. The media falsely reported that these guys were linked to the bank robbery and killing of the police officer and they weren't. The police said that you had to "look past the video, that the film didn't show everything that was happening." Well, if it didn't, these guys were doing a pretty good job of doing something that wasn't being seen because all I (and the entire nation) could see was an ass kicking.

I stopped reading about it because, except for one of the three men, these guys had extensive police records which could be used to justify the beat down. So, I didn't expect anything to happen. Well, they have fired the four officers who I suppose did the most ass kicking and they intend to investigate every officer that was on the scene. This will go a long way to restoring some faith to some of the citizens in this city that Mayor Michael Nutter is serious about it being a new day in Philly.

Some folks will say that this is not enough but, both Michael Nutter (who is a year older than myself) and I grew up in a city where the police commissioner wore a night stick in the cumberbund of his tuxedo and it was unheard of to question the police or bring charges against them for anything they did to an African-American male. This goes a long way.

By the way, Philadelphia is a great city and it actually is the city that loves you back. We have our crime like any large metropolitan area but, we have great historical sites, a booming music scene, lots of great places to eat, (Hey Zack, I gotta take you to Dellasandros... they have one of the best cheese steaks you'll ever taste.) and some nice clubs, if that's your thing.