You know sports, I have heard similar response to this before and my answer to it is always the same. Police officers are not the only professionals that gave to make split second decisions and it's not even close to something they're confronted with every day. What you're alleging is not even remotely true. As a matter of fact, a young man named Cory Lane is on the force for fort worth and has been for a few years. He's the son of a good friend of mine. I asked him how many times he's been in a high pressure situation where he felt like he was in danger of bodily harm. His answer was never. When asked if people treat him with malice or disrespect, he said one time. It was a wealthy drunk white man. When asked if he had met anyone that has been in a firefight or discharged his weapon, his answer was no. So in reality, police officers are not all Jack Bauer. More like Barney Miller.
So we can see that officers are not faced with life and death situations everyday. They do not risk their lives everyday nearly to the extent of firemen or marines. They are not in a position where every decision they make has life and death implications such as a pilot, air traffic controller, trauma surgeon, ER nurse, astronaut, crab boat captains, race car drivers, and so on. They are extensively trained, however, to do exactly that. Police are expected to perform their job according to training regardless if a 14 year old girl isn't giving you the respect you think you deserve. Especially when you're the only one breaking the law. That's what happened sports. It's right there on video. He's no longer an officer because he failed at his job and his duties, miserably. Dismissing his unlawful actions and disregarding the crime of assault committed against a teen simply because "he's got a tough job and may have been under some stress because those kids weren't listening" is incredibly absurd to me. There is absolutely no way his actions would have gone unpunished if he were not a cop. Police are citizens first. They are never above the law and they are supposed to uphold the law, not break it at will. You may argue that point all you want, but the facts are the facts. There were 11 other cops there as well and he was the only one on the entire video breaking the law in any way, which is exactly why he is the only one being punished. Regardless of his aggravation level, not one single citizen can walk into court and say, "sorry judge I face planted a 14 year old non-threatening girl because when I was running around cursing and yelling trying to illegally detain some black only teenagers, this one d disrespected me by talking back. So I completely disregarded my one and only charge as a law enforcement officer and guardian of the civil liberties and rights of the nation's citizens to lawfully serve and protect the citizens, and body slammed the mouthy bitch", and neither can a cop. Period. There is no arguing that point. He broke the law and it wasn't because he just made a series of life and death decisions in a shootout that had clouded his judgement.
I honestly think you might be thinking in trying to indict all law enforcement. I am most definitely not. What I am saying is they aren't above the law. I don't have to comply with an irate officer that is screaming an unlawful order at me. If an officer asks me for ID, I don't just hand it over. I exercise my rights to deny it. Those are my rights and I'm sorry if some think that makes me some sort of rabble rouser, but I'm not ever going to readily surrender my rights just because others would. One thing I do know, you keep forfeiting your rights, sooner or later you'll lose them altogether.
