So a rookie cop airs out a 12 year old with a BB gun on a playground in Cleveland. What a horrible tragedy, all around. Simply horrible. The cops, the kid, the kid's family, everyone. Especially the kid's family. Simply unimaginable
Word is the fake 1911 pistol had had it's orange tip removed. Not having been there, I can't say for sure how contributory that was, but if true it certainly didn't help matters.
Ohio lawmakers are thinking of going full dayglo now on all BB guns and Airsoft and whatnot. I hear. RUMINT. I don't know what help that would be, they still make black Krylon. This goes both ways. Didn't some knucklehead OC an AK47 folder and had painted the tip of a real rifle orange?
WhenI was a kid, stories like this came up in the news. I was younger than 12 when it was made clear to me, with a picture from the Washington Post shoved in front of my face, to never ever fool around by pointing capgun or whatnot at a Policeman. I was impressed enough seeing the smiling face of a now-dead kid in the paper. So a 12 year old can exercise proper judgement if taught.
If what the officer said is true, that the kid reached for the gun, then this will just be a sad footnote to a screwed up world.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking the kid may have been thinking, "I'll just show them it's a BB gun." People just don't realize how thin a line they walk when a gun is pointed in their direction.
I'm sure the officer is devastated. They have just a split second to make a decision.
ReplyDeleteI remember my mom many times telling me not to point a cap gun at a cop.
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