We don’t expect police officers to kill children.
And they shouldn’t.
Which is why the story of 7-year-old Aiyana Jones, shot while sleeping on her couch by a blind bullet from a Detroit police officer irresponsibly shooting through the door, is horrifying, unacceptable and just another example of why it is so important to fight for the rights of everyday folks.
Although the motto of most police departments is “PROTECT AND SERVE,” why is it that when someone is killed at the hands of the police, they always seem to protect themselves. Well, they protect us many times, but in this case, they were protecting themselves.
I think being a cop is one of the hardest jobs in the world. But, when the police have an arrest warrant in hand…LOOK OUT! Because there go your rights flying out the window with the bath water.
An arrest warrant does not give an officer of the law the right to extend his power in a sweep of danger across the civilian landscape. It does not justify shooting in any direction just in case the pursued person might be lurking nearby.
Poor little Aiyana, serene in peaceful slumber, until the room filled with smoke and the life was taken from her faster than the blink of an eye. It happened that fast.
And the only reason it happened at all was that Detroit police officers were more concerned with creating a good show (did you know an A&E television crew was following them on this pursuit?). No concern for protecting the constitutional rights of those who cannot protect themselves – a child, asleep in her home, beside her grandmother. Trusting repose. Home sweet home.
Those protections we hold so dear disappear when a police officer holds a warrant in his hand. Wrapped in a blanket of freedoms, woven with the fabric of 230 years of Constitutional protections, we are still no match for a quick cop flash grenade and errant gun shot.
Remember this…if a police officer has an arrest warrant for you, you do not have to give up your life. You don’t have to lose a loved one because they’re on a power trip.
Go peacefully. Then stand as Captain America and throw your mighty Constitutional shield!
