March 3, 2013

• Scenes From The Old Western Movies

  I am aware that all police persons are not golden boys and girls.  One night after working at Hospice for a double shift on a New Years Eve, I was driving home on a dark and icy night, and I realized my vision was impaired, and you may not get this, but I was so exhausted, I did not get that it was a policeman following me, and instead of driving slowly on to the next lighted and public place, I stopped for his flashing light, and I had never been pulled over by a policeman before — Never!  In Ohio, we are supposed to be able to pull in to a public place if we feel our safety may be in jeoporady, but the good nurse obeys law enforcement.

   

  I asked him when he got to the car what on earth had I done, for I was tired and extra cautious, and then he, a young and pompous little jerk, without one polite word asked me why I was driving with a brake light out, to which I vowed and meant that I had no idea one of my brake lights was out, and promised that I would have my husband take care of it when I got home, about fifteen more minutes through neighborhood streets.  He, before I knew what was happening, reached his arm in my car unable to avoid touching my chest — shall I say, and he turned on my warning signal and told me to drive the rest of the way home like that, and by then I was afraid of him.  It was before two of my sons had graduated from law school, and I knew that if you piss off one police person, then you are apt to get stopped by his buddies, especially in a small neighborhood force like the one he was out of.

  Do not get me wrong, for most of the people are putting their lives on the line day in and day out, and most are well intentioned.  Your best police are not apt to be doing traffic on a residential street with a few businesses and hastleing nurses at 3AM.  He needed to be reigned in, but I mean that I feared future nights.  He said he had followed me for a half mile, and, “Why did I not stop,” and I always tell the  truth, that I thought someone was tail gating me, and the lights were blinding me, and that is how it is on icy cold and misty nights in Ohio, but Mr. Big Man, had I had a camera phone could have gotten himself filmed for battery.  He could have told me to turn my emergency light on.

   

  In the San Francisco Bay area recently, we are noticing more and more of these police chase events where a perpetrator is being pulled over, and the next thing they know, a police chase ensues, bullets wind up flying in both directions, and it actually places the lives of other citizens in danger.  Today there was a 23 police car chase of one criminal, and he was killed, and certainly — He started the chase, but these are beginning to happen far too often out here, and all I can picture are Roy Rogers and Dale Evans chasing the bad guys, guns flashing, and they either wipe out a crew of cow thieving, town harassing good for nothing whippersnappers who aren’t worth a cold grave. 

  I am not kidding that within the past two weeks there have been about three car chases, and one or two people killed in the process, so I am wondering how these people who are on the run do not deserve a day in court.  I am the first to say that, by all means, police must be able to use deadly force, though I wish that were not the case, but if citizens are going to be blasting with assault weapons, then police persons must have a fighting  chance.  We had two officers in Santa Cruz killed by a man with a history of violence, but in listening to the list, this guy was mentally ill, and we have succeeded in closing our mental hospitals, so instead we have gravely mentally ill people killing police who have come to their door, for they are trying to be humane.  I am convinced that your average murderer is not an upstanding citizen just driven to bad acts, and usually you are going to learn from the neighbors that the whole darned community knew to be afraid of them; Thus I, personally, fall on the side of non violence, but we cannot count on the sanity of all individuals.

  Does that mean that the Scot Pedersen’s of the world should be let go as psychopaths, and the answer is easy, “Not on your life,” for their ability to murder is validated by them as the justification that they are above all societal norms, so keep them locked away forever,  No one recognizes a psychopath, and it may seem that I have a fixation on these people, and to a degree — I do, for what happens when it can be determined by brain scan that a person has such tendency.  The day is coming when that is going to be possible, and I do not doubt that common gene patterns will be found to run through these clever, brilliant, bright, and attractive people who turn in to murderers, so those police persons in Santa Cruz died at the hands of someone who, in all probability had fallen through the cracks, so I feel mercy toward police officers, and I shadow all of those who endeavor to protect us with prayers of well being.

  What is with the car chases though, for it would seem more applicable to get the helicopters in the air, and to keep that car in sight;  But it just appears to me that even our justice system is adding to the violence.  The danger of car chases must have more caution and more limits, for police person’s are getting shot, the people who are on the run are winding up dead, and it spreads fear in the hearts of many of us who have experienced an aggressive act by a police force.  No, murderers should not get away, but even the crazy Manifesto writing cops gone rogue did not need to be burned at the stake, and we will always hear those tender screams, even after he had most probably shot himself, “Burn the fucking place down.”  That seems to have begun what has been a serious two weeks of violence out here, the law enforcement policeman who was out to get even.  A wise person well versed in psychology though shed light on that case by saying that when people come to the point of writing Manifestos, nothing is going to end well.  He was a lunatic cop killer, and he was trapped, but are we so uncivil that we cannot give the relatives a body to bury and to grieve over.

  We fear when our militia seems to be handing out death sentences, and if one has ever been made to fear a police person, then I can understand the need to run, though I know these are not choir boys and nurses getting shot.  I would just like to hear that wild west chases which end with dead offendors adds to a younger person’s doubts that their best interest is served if they ask for help from law enforcement.  I want to keep advocating that the count of dead due to criminal activity as well as the number of persons who die each week in America should be counted and published every week taking in to account 50 states, and let us get a larger picture of how violent we have become, for the little children growing up today will hear, and they will see, and violence can become what seems the only answer for them, so when can we hear it?  It would be easy to compile weekly reports of how many people die in America from all forms of killing, sanctioned or otherwise.  CNN, will you lead, or will Fox?  But who will tell the truth, the weekly toll of killing in America.

  God help us, and, “Happy Trails,” But make certain you do not stop in a dark place.  I was terrified, and recall it like yesterday over twelve years later.

  Barbara Everett Heintz, Author of “Pinkhoneysuckle,” Story of Mid-Century Diaspora of Appalachian Families With Extremely Important Story of Children and Women Left To Carry On — A Hidden American Tradgedy

   

   

  • 5:19 am
  • 2 Comments