Saturday, March 25, 2006

We're the Only Ones Mechanical Enough...

Yet another of the "Only Ones" accidentally shot and killed a fellow officer--or was it an accident?

This week we learned new details about the shooting of Easton officer Jesse Sollman. But serious questions remain -- and some focus on the mechanics of the fatal weapon...

"Single action is a mode of fire for a semiautomatic handgun where pulling the trigger does one action -- and that is release the hammer"...

"Double action" mode on the other hand requires about twice the amount of force to pull the trigger...

This reminds me of nothing so much as Groucho Marx playing shyster Otis B. Driftwood in "A Night at the Opera":

Driftwood: All right. It says the, uh, "The first part of the party of the first part shall be known in this contract as the first part of the party of the first part shall be known in this contract" - Look, why should we quarrel about a thing like this? We'll take it right out, eh?
Fiorello: Yeah, ha, it's-a too long, anyhow. (They both tear off the tops of their contracts.) Now, what do we got left?
Driftwood: Well, I got about a foot and a half. Now, it says, uh, "The party of the second part shall be known in this contract as the party of the second part."
Fiorello: Well, I don't know about that...
Driftwood: Now what's the matter?
Fiorello: I no like-a the second party, either.
Driftwood: Well, you shoulda come to the first party. We didn't get home 'til around four in the morning...I was blind for three days!
Ultimately, here's the important part to remember about this story:
[Easton police officer Matthew Renninger's]been called negligent by the grand jury, but he will not be charged with a crime.
No. No, of course he won't be.

And it goes without saying the same deference would be afforded to you and me.

I'm going back to the first party.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

But David, the poor prosecutor can never be governor if he can't keep getting convictions. Hell, he might not even be reelected to his current office. Horrors! He might have to get honest work.

He can't keep getting convictions if the cops won't work with him. He can't secure their cooperation if he holds them to the law, just as though they were real American citizens and not mini-lords. My God,man! That's the first rule of any gang. Protect your fellow gang members against everybody and terrorize anyone that doesn't show the proper worship.

Bribe the rest. Prosecutors are in the bribe taking business. Every time they let a criminal cop skate, they have been bribed by the other gangmembers promised future cooperation.

Their conviction record continues to grow, the cops continue to prey on the citizenry at will and no consequence, and the only losers are the country, the citizen, and the actually good cop, who may die because he has lost the trust of otherwise law-abiding citizens who may resist him violently because he just can't see past his gang colors anymore.