She was dropping her son off as school. Her son was still in the car. She drove into the bus lane accidentally. The officer’s response was that he was “scared she was going to run someone over” … while her son who goes to the school is in the car. You could verify that in a 5 second radio call to the front office.
We need to re-think policing in general if cops are allowed to enforce their worst fears instead of seeing what’s actually happening.
I don’t believe for a second that that cop was actually afraid. This reads like he is a bully who grasps at every opportunity to pounce on someone who is in a weaker position than him. Classic bully behaviour that will continue as long as he gets away with it.
My read was that she was trying to bypass the line of cars dropping off kids, and he was trying to stop her so she wouldn’t run over a kid exiting a vehicle. If you’ve ever dropped off kids at school in the morning, you know this is a major nono. The problem is that, if you rush someone yelling “STOP” in that situation, you run the risk of making them panic and do something even more unexpected (like accidentally turn into the bus lane). It would have been better to flag her down calmly, and explain the problem. But this guy was so obsessed with enforcing The Rules that he got aggressive and created a much worse situation for everyone involved.
Without knowing the exact layout of the lanes, I couldn’t be sure, but I do think you’re correct. She did need to stop, but he only escalated the situation.
Considering she had PTSD from a previous police encounter, it sure seems like a regular crossing guard or traffic director without a gun on their hip would’ve prevented this from escalating in the first place.
You can point out that someone fucked up and incited the initial incident while still acknowledging that the response was overblown. If someone breaks into my house and I kill them thats one thing, if I instead lock them in a shed and torture them for a month they are still a victim while also initially putting themselves into the situation. Ones a fuck around find out scenario the other is disproportionate insanity.
She was dropping her son off as school. Her son was still in the car. She drove into the bus lane accidentally. The officer’s response was that he was “scared she was going to run someone over” … while her son who goes to the school is in the car. You could verify that in a 5 second radio call to the front office.
We need to re-think policing in general if cops are allowed to enforce their worst fears instead of seeing what’s actually happening.
I don’t believe for a second that that cop was actually afraid. This reads like he is a bully who grasps at every opportunity to pounce on someone who is in a weaker position than him. Classic bully behaviour that will continue as long as he gets away with it.
My read was that she was trying to bypass the line of cars dropping off kids, and he was trying to stop her so she wouldn’t run over a kid exiting a vehicle. If you’ve ever dropped off kids at school in the morning, you know this is a major nono. The problem is that, if you rush someone yelling “STOP” in that situation, you run the risk of making them panic and do something even more unexpected (like accidentally turn into the bus lane). It would have been better to flag her down calmly, and explain the problem. But this guy was so obsessed with enforcing The Rules that he got aggressive and created a much worse situation for everyone involved.
Without knowing the exact layout of the lanes, I couldn’t be sure, but I do think you’re correct. She did need to stop, but he only escalated the situation.
Considering she had PTSD from a previous police encounter, it sure seems like a regular crossing guard or traffic director without a gun on their hip would’ve prevented this from escalating in the first place.
shh we’re not allowed to victim blame here.
You can point out that someone fucked up and incited the initial incident while still acknowledging that the response was overblown. If someone breaks into my house and I kill them thats one thing, if I instead lock them in a shed and torture them for a month they are still a victim while also initially putting themselves into the situation. Ones a fuck around find out scenario the other is disproportionate insanity.