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For Police Officers Today, 'Things Go Wrong Sometimes'

Ruben Navarrett Jr. on

SAN DIEGO -- I recently asked a newly retired cop friend, who spent 25 years on the job, what's the one thing that policemen want people to know. He said: "That things go wrong sometimes."

Things went very wrong recently when 40-year-old Terence Crutcher -- an unarmed African-American and father of four -- was fatally shot by Tulsa police officer Betty Shelby. There were several other officers on the scene, and one of them attempted to subdue Crutcher with a Taser gun.

Crutcher's death is a tragedy that should never have happened. It appears that Officer Shelby lost her cool and made a terrible mistake.

Yet, it's hard to see what good, if any, will come from the decision by Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler to charge Shelby with first-degree manslaughter. If convicted, she would spend at least four years in prison -- which, for an ex-cop, could be a death sentence.

To be sure, rogue cops belong in prison -- i.e., those who plant evidence, use excessive force, take bribes, perjure themselves or use their power to hurt people. I'm just not sure Shelby fits into one of those categories. Apparently, her sin wasn't corruption or malice, but incompetence.

According to the arrest affidavit, Shelby "acted unreasonably by escalating the situation" and "became emotionally involved to the point that she overreacted."

 

No matter what happens, Shelby will not get off easy. Her career in law enforcement is finished. She'll lose her job, maybe her pension. She'll have to find a new line of work, leave town, relocate her family. She may even have to spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder, since there are people out there who might want to exact street justice.

Certainly no one is above the law, and police officers have to be held accountable.

Still, think for a moment about the age in which we're living. It has never been harder to be a cop. It used to be that killing a police officer was as unthinkable as assassinating the president. Today, some criminals see it as another cost of doing business.

Naturally, police are skittish. And so those who we entrust with the thankless and increasingly impossible job of enforcing the law, and keeping us safe, must be given more latitude than average citizens as they go about protecting and serving.

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