Ed Krayewski
Darien Wilson avoided
indictment, like many police officers involved in fatal shootings do, in large
part because he claimed to fear for his safety. Cops almost universally make
this claim after a shooting, and it almost always helps in avoiding any criminal
charges. This claim by cops that they fear for their safety has become such a
go-to claim it was even made by a 300 pound probation officer in Georgia who
shot a 12-pound Jack Russell terrier. That officer also insisted he gave the
dog "verbal commands" before shooting.
But officers in Colorado this
week may have provided the clearest example of how the claim of "officer
safety" is used to cover for police lack of thinking. The Daily Sentinel
reports that police arrested a man from Fruitvale, Colorado, for allegedly
pointing a banana in them as if it were a gun.
The deputies, Joshua Bunch and
Donald Love, said they feared for their safety when the man, 27-year-old Nathan
Rolf Channing, pointed a banana at them while crossing the 29 Road bridge on
foot, according to Channing's arrest affidavit.
Both deputies said they saw
that the "gun" was yellow, but feared for their lives nonetheless,
the affidavit says.
"I immediately ducked in
my patrol car and accelerated continuing northbound, fearing that it was a weapon,"
Bunch wrote in the affidavit, which lists Love and him as victims. "Based
on training and experience, I have seen handguns in many shapes and colors and
perceived this to be a handgun."
Channing was jailed for
"felony menacing." Time to start raising IQ standards perhaps. Happy
Thanksgiving.
