(CNN) Ex-FBI agent breaks down Minnesota shooting video
What actually happened? When an action is described by contradictory witnesses, the truth can be unknowable. Did Renee Good intend to strike an ICE officer, or was she simply maneuvering around the open door of another vehicle? This is the Rashomon effect. Quoting Wikipedia,
The Rashomon effect describes how parties describe an event in a different and contradictory manner, which reflects their subjective interpretation and self-interested advocacy, rather than an objective truth. The Rashomon effect is evident when the event is the outcome of litigation. One should not be surprised when both parties claim to have won the case.
Since Renee Good was shot, viewers with the luxury of time have been replaying the videos. It should come as no surprise if the officer who fired did not, in real time of 7 seconds, understand what was happening. Instinct, combined with lack of time, is a bad combination.
The third, final head shot through the driver’s window is the shocker, since the car was no longer in a position where it could strike the officer. The officer’s actions are probably allowed by qualified immunity. Nevertheless, if we put the whole tragedy in a box, situation, offender, and officers, possible discretionary actions and restraints could have prevented the fatal outcome. The officer struck by the vehicle could have re-positioned to his right. If Good’s intentions were to run the officer over, her front wheels would have turned left, but they did not. Per Rashomon, witnesses have different conclusions about both action and intent.
While an adult citizen should comply with a lawful command of an LEO, many do not, resisting even though they may have committed no crime, or a minor one. Though Renee Good may have committed obstruction, she was not, at the time her car blocked the street, a criminal in the social sense, or deserving of capital punishment.
(YouTube) Sergeant Curtis is a working police officer unafraid to critique botched police work. Officer Kills Innocent Man After He Calls 911 is a teaching example. Quoting,
On June 10, 2022, 22-Year-Old Christian Glass called 911 claiming his vehicle had gotten stuck on the side of the road, and he needed help. In his 25 minute call with dispatchers, he mentioned that he was recovering from a depression, and that he was scared of being hunted by “skinwalkers” if left alone.
Glass failed to comply with lawful orders and possessed a knife which he would not surrender. The responding officers, losing focus, became committed to removing him from the vehicle, which resulted in gunshots fatal to Glass. Quoting Curtis, “The officer who fired the fatal round is in prison.”
If you watch enough Youtube crime videos, you may reach the conclusion that there are three types of police work: right, wrong, and ethical. There was no ethical reason for the third, final shot. There may have been an excuse. You decide.
Politics has surrendered to extremes:
- Whoever died at the hands of law enforcement deserved to die.
or
- Law enforcement is no more than a tool of political repression.
The third alternative, ethical police work, is kept alive by officers like Sergeant Curtis.
For Republicans. Now let’s abandon any pretense of morality, and talk identity politics. The killing of an unarmed white woman with no criminal record is an extraordinary event. ICE, by causing the death of a white woman, has created a martyr. Renee Good was not simply white. Except for her strong feelings about ICE, she probably lived a normal, centered life that many Americans identify with. In a few years, demographers may supersede “white” with “centrist” as a more meaningful term for the people you know and live nearby. Republicans can probably live down one mistake like this. Three becomes iffy, ten impossible. Martyrs could swing the midterms.
What is the chance of more martyrs? The planned surge of ICE recruitment will inevitably pull in individuals lacking fine judgment, of when to use lethal force, and when to get out of the way. The police of our communities are not cowboy gunslingers. Excepting the rarest occasions, they don’t shoot first and ask questions later. They retreat, regroup, strategize, and execute.
Quoting Note to President Trump re Guard and Marine ,
A policeman is not trained to storm an objective requiring lethal force from the get-go. The training of a cop involves a very careful sequence of escalation: request, demand, compel. Execution of this template, switching almost instantaneously to deadly force according to the regulations of a department, is the hallmark of superior training and ability. The ability to persuade a suspect to comply with minimum force, or any force at all, is far more complex than the use of deadly force. This is what makes the career of law enforcement rewarding. It maintains the consent of the governed, without which civil government loses all meaning. A cop practices his skills every day.
Recommendation. You don’t have to go slow, just add some care, and let up on the pedal a little bit.