On February 7, an Orange County deputy, in San Clemente, still unnamed, fatally shot an unarmed former Marine Sergeant named Manuel Loggins, in front of the latter’s children while all three of them sat in the Marine’s car, according to Reason.
I am sure that the case will be made that the deputy had no choice, but why do we allow our police officers to resort to lethal force, against unarmed Americans – including those who appear to be in mental distress?
And why after all these years hasn’t law enforcement figured out a way to defuse such situations non-violently?
According to Reason, the argument is being made that the deputy shot the former Marine because his children were in jeopardy. But imagine what this man’s children are going through – watching their beloved father get blown away in front of them. A lifetime of therapy won’t cure this mess.
We don’t know much yet about this latest case, and perhaps there will be some new wrinkles that will partially exonerate the deputy, but nothing will bring back this latest victim of police violence in Orange County – and O.C. Sheriff Sandra Hutchens has some explaining to do.
It just isn’t right. I guess our police officers learned nothing at all from the murder of Kelly Thomas by the Fullerton police.
I am sure that I will lambasted for daring to comment – if police had the chance to save Mr. Powell’s children in Utah before hit them with an ax and then blew up their house, would that have justified the use of lethal force?
I think the issue in the Powell case was that a police dispatcher blew off the social worker’s 911 call. But Powell killed himself and his children so quickly that I don’t think a police response would have helped. And Powell was a suspect in the disappearance of is wife while the former Marine killed in San Clemente was by all accounts a good man.
My point is that police have a very small window of time to make decisions that have life changing consequences. While I believe that police do sometimes abuse their power, I think people all too frequently assume that every use of lethal force is an abuse of power before the facts are revealed.
The problem is that cops are trained to kill and the rules of engagement in these scenarios leave much to be desired. It shouldn’t be this easy to kill the people you are supposed to be serving.