In Praise of Police Restraint and Pepper Spray
Credit: Randy L. Rasmussen, The Oregonian
By now, you’ve probably seen what the MSM will ensure becomes an iconic photograph from an Occupy Whatever protest in Portland, OR this weekend. A young woman, screaming defiance at the “banksters” and their greedy overlords, gets a full blast of pepper spray from a fascist police officer who overreacted to the “mostly peaceful” protest. In fact, the notion that the Occupy Whatever protests have been “mostly peaceful” (see reports on Occupy Oakland, Occupy Columbia, Occupy St. Louis, Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Portland (Maine), Occupy Denver, and Occupy Berkeley), has been reported in so many media reports that it is now accepted as fact, despite mountains of evidence to the contrary.
Take a look at this rap sheet compilation by John at Verum Serum, grouped by type of crime committed, Big Journalism’s more complete list of crimes committed by Occupiers, or reports of assaults (sexual and otherwise, including assaults on police officers) from some of those same Occupies locations and you’ll see the same thing that most of America has seen over the past month: the Occupy Whatever movement does not represent the American people and it never has.
With the “mostly peaceful” lie in mind, let’s take another look at that picture but this time, let’s take a few steps back. Thanks to a couple of hard-working Portland bloggers, Oregon Media Watch and Victoria Taft, we can. Let’s look at a screenshot taken from local news coverage of the crowd not long before the police pulled out the pepper spray (thank you, Victoria!).
I know it’s hard to make out details, but the police are in the lower right half of the screen and the protesters are pushing hard against them from the top and left. Behind the police is the Chase Bank the officers had been trying to clear of protesters who were there illegally.
Now, here’s the question I want you to ponder: where are the police supposed to go from here? They are pinned between a hostile crowd and a wall. Their ground is shrinking rapidly and if they don’t hold what they have, they’re going to be overrun. Remember, these protesters have been pushing them all day long. They’ve given ground for hours and, at this point in the day, they have no more to give.
What, exactly, are they supposed to do? Really, they only have two choices: break out the pepper-spray or use the batons of, God forbid, their guns. The options are lethal and non-lethal. They can not retreat any farther. They can not let the protesters in among them because that’s when officers get hurt, as they’ve been hurt in several other cities. Yet the MSM and their progressive buddies would rather the police….
…well, what would they rather the police do? Seriously, folks, what were the police supposed to do? Leave entirely and let the protesters trash the private property of the people they are paid to protect? Break out the batons and break some arms, legs, and heads? Get hurt themselves? I’m at a loss here. The truth is that when the police officers hit that girl flush in the face with pepper spray, they were using the lightest of all the tools at their disposal that would let them do their jobs and get home safely to their own families. I am absolutely sure none of those officers wanted to be in a situation where they had to pepper spray a young woman to do their job. Stereotypes aside, no police officer suits up for the day and bounces out the door, eager to beat down a few hippies. Instead, they’re focused on catching a couple real criminals — rapists, robbers, killers — and going home safely to their families when their shift is over. They sure as heck don’t relish spending the day babysitting a bunch of spoiled brats whose idea of political protest is to goad the police or to pile up 200 pounds of human feces near a city building that memorializes military veterans (via Instapundit).
Yet, there they were, pinned between a crowd of unruly and dangerous people and a wall. Given the choices, the police did exactly what they should have done. The woman in that picture could have taken a few baton blows in the ribs, knees, or head. She could have been trampled by panicked friends as the police dropped a couple protesters to protect themselves. Instead, she got swollen eyes and an extremely runny nose, and no lasting effects (see her mug shot here). Of course, the MSM won’t ever tell the story of what could have happened, but they should. Because it’s the truth.
Other Posts of Interest:
- Hey Hey! Ho Ho! Let’s Push An Old Woman Down Some Stairs!
- What the Over-Militarization of Our Police Departments Have Wrought
- At Least We Know What His Autograph is Worth
Category: Law and Order
Thank you, Jimmie, for this informative article.
If only these so-called “protestors” would realize that they are merely tools of the ideological descendants of the vicious propaganda artists who consider them “useful idiots.”
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