It Doesn’t Have to be a Crime to Get Headlines

by Jack

RAVENNA, Ohio -  A local man, Darren Cooper, arrived at the office complex 15 minutes early for a training meeting. So, he signed in and went back to his car, drinking tea and talking on his cell phone. When the cops pulled into the parking lot, he said he initially didn’t think anything of it. Summit County has police officers at the building he works in, he said, so he didn’t think anything was wrong until the fourth officer rolled in.  What followed was a near perfect example of how police should handle a “man with gun” call.  It is also a great example of the alleged man with gun to respect the officers and not do anything stupid.  It is ended as just another routine call and yet the media still hyped it!?    

As the news story account goes, that’s also when the police came up to his car, yelling, “Put your hands up!” A woman had called the Ravenna Police Department from a dentist’s office across the street and said a man was sitting in a black Mustang with a gun. Officers initiated a high degree of control for safety that included ordering the suspect out of his vehicle, but guns were not pointed at him. After the suspect was secured a cursory search followed and they did not find any weapons. Officers then quickly left the scene, but not until they apologized to Cooper.  Yeah, they apologized – not that they did anything, but they said it anyway on behalf of the person that reported he had a gun.  

Cooper, was understandably angry after the incident and he felt angry still after watching the videos of the incident released to him by the Police Department. Cooper said, “I am happy to be able to share this story because my wife almost lost a husband, and my kids almost lost their father, over someone who thought I had a gun, but it was my iPhone, and the person did not have the correct color of my car. When someone’s life is on the line, as mine clearly was, attention to detail is of the utmost importance.” This might have been a little bit of an overreaction, but forgivable considering the fear put in black people by the news and BLM.  

911 call:  “I really believe he was holding a pistol,” she said at one point in the call, and later said, “I’m pretty darn sure it’s a pistol.”   

The police officers who responded to the call had at least two guns unholstered. The Chief of Police reviewed the incident and felt his officers acted properly. But, in this highly politicized and racially charged environment this event is headline news.  It fits the prevailing false narrative about racist cops with a double standard towards black males. And it fits with the false narrative about white people being more likely to call the police to investigate a “black man.”  .

In this case the police were naturally obliged to check it out. That’s just way it works, no matter what the race of the suspect or the caller.  It must be investigated.

If these were normal times most of us would not envision this incident as rating national news; right?  It was just cops doing their every day job. They handled it fine and nobody got hurt. Tough luck for BLM.

As for the caller, we hope she was acting prudently and just made a mistake.  People are bound to make mistakes and we can’t say she was being racist, her call to police did not identify Mr. Cooper by race.   She only described the suspect as a “man” with what she thought was a pistol. She gave the location and the general color of vehicle, (it was dark gray and she called it black).   

“But if you don’t know the exact color of my vehicle, how do you know I had a gun?” Cooper questioned. She didn’t know, she said she [suspected] he had a gun and in hindsight it most likely was his cell phone. That’s happened many times before because people aren’t perfect. Case in point: In Sacramento, California, that mis-identification during a foot pursuit led to a fatal shooting and a huge police backlash. Hint… police are required to make a split second decision at times and they can make a mistake, not often, but it is inevitable.  

Politicians now talk about reforming the police, but exactly what does that mean? Police are not ever going to assume that the report of a man with a handgun is probably just a cell phone.  Nobody else would either.   Police train for and prepare for the worst case scenario.  And until it’s ascertained not to be a threat, they are going to be extra cautious. Liberals want to reform that???  How???

We know a certain number of accident every year are because people put themselves at risk when they become [uncooperative] with police and don’t follow orders, especially during a high risk situation.  How can that be reformed?  It’s impossible.   

However, it’s safe to [assume] that in the event something goes wrong, the police will always be pronounced [guilty] by BLM and the usual crowd, until proven innocent. And even then, they will not escape blame.  I wish we could legislate that away, but the Constitution says people are allowed to say stupid things.   However, maybe a little peer pressure could help muzzle those knee jerk critics of law enforcement?   

Liberal politicians are prone to exploit a crisis, if it didn’t work for them they wouldn’t do it.  It made me ill to see Biden and Harris pander to Jacob Blake family.  Harris even visited this accused rapist in the hospital and said she was proud of him.  HUH?  She proud of him for what?  He has a long criminal history, he is not supporting his family and he got his dumb ass shot by cops. 

I think politicians are a lot like the liberal news media, they both pander for  ratings. Lately, the best ratings go to those supporting the popular, but not necessarily the right narrative. But, like so many other liberals, Biden and Harris care more about their popularity than supporting what is right.  That makes the job of being a police officer far harder than it should be today and it makes the public a little less safe too.

Right now, the popular narrative is to villanized police. The media can’t wait to run a negative story generated by liberal politicians, race profiteers or large groups like Black Lives Matters and ANTIFA.

This has to end now, before the mob thinks they have the support of the public and they really do us serious and long lasting damage.  It must end now before the police think they are not wanted or appreciated – because they are by every normal person in America.