Police said officer C.E. Hightower and another off-duty officer were working an extra job directing traffic in the parking lot of the El Chaparral club about 2:15 a.m. when they saw a group of men get into a confrontation outside a nearby gas station.
Some lack of situational awareness?
The officers went to the station at 4401 W. 18th near the 610 West Loop and intervened. They pulled one of the men away, but he went to his vehicle, grabbed a knife and began stabbing another man he had been fighting.
Hightower saw the assault and ordered the man several times to drop the knife. The man ignored the commands and continued to stab the other man
Knife vs. gun
Hightower, fearing for the victim's safety and the safety of others nearby, fired several shots, hitting the knife-wielding man, HPD officials said. The man got up after he was shot, climbed into his vehicle and drove a short distance, plowing through several bushes and striking a few cars in the bar's parking lot before he stopped."fearing for the victim's safety and the safety of others nearby" Johnny on the spot that officer was.
Not only that, he had a high degree of confidence in his aim, considering the the proximity of the "perp" to the victim and "others nearby". And yet, the "perp" managed to get up, get into his car and drive a short distance before he passed out from blood loss (and apparently bled out).
Don't get me wrong. I support the police. They have really dicey job. But this situation was completely FUBAR on their part. They managed to let one of the combatants walk away from them, to his car, grab a knife, walk back and stab the other combatant to death. Then the officer finally shot him.
The sad state of affairs is that the police are crime janitors.
Keep your powder dry.
The World is not Minority Report. The Constabulary is rarely on scene during the crime (insert Gunwalker joke here).
ReplyDeleteThis is why, as you suggest, we should all Keep Our Powder Dry!
1. Civilians have a more free reign of when and how to use their firearms than most city cops do--especially in the larger cesspools, er, I mean cities.
ReplyDelete2. Most civilians are better shots than cops. The gun is just one more, of many, tools the cop has to deal with. You won't find very many "gun nuts" in law enforcement--especially in the larger cesspools, er, agencies and cities.
3. I've shot drunks and stoners before. They're like freaking zombies. They will not die. Reason? They're stoned/drunk and don't KNOW they've been shot and are supposed to be in pain and agony and fear. It's not until the blood quits carrying O2 to their puny little gravel nub between their ears do they finally get it.
4. Keep in mind what you're reading was written by a reporter--a member of the media. Therefore, facts may be (semi) correct, but nothing says the chronology has to be. Combatant leaves the area of the fight, ostensibly to go to his car, no problem. Sounds like wetbacks to me, so with Houston being a sanctuary city, not much could be done other than booking for A&B, of which they'd be out before the ink was dry on their fingerprint pads.
I'm for citizen's patrolling and taking care of crime in their neighborhoods.
Vigilantes? Yep. It's OUR neighborhood, OUR town, OUR state, OUR country.
Obviously the effing gov't can't handle the job, in spite of the billions we pay them each year.
Time for us to start doing it.
That is, if we want to survive.
--AOA
Indeed. Most shooting civilians are better shots than LEO. During our charity event at the range the top civilian beat the top LEO by 3 seconds. I saw MUCH worse by LEO during this event. That fact was printed in our Newspaper Sunday. Should be interesting to watch the fallout!
ReplyDeleteAOA, I had that exact thought in my nub regarding the story being written by a jurnulist, but it fell out my ear before it made it to the post.
ReplyDeleteYou highlighted precisely my point about the fact that the guy got up and walked back to his car. My opinion is that the officer failed to double, or triple tap the perp in a preferably spread pattern.