According to the press, a judge has rendered a not guilty verdict in the case of a white police officer who killed a black suspect. Officers in St Louis observed what appeared to be a drug transaction. When they moved in to investigate the soon to be deceased fled the scene, triggering a high speed chase. During the chase, the accused officer stated he was going to kill the suspect. After the police vehicle and suspect vehicle collided, the officer did, indeed, kill the suspect. A gun was found in the car. The suspect had previous arrests for dealing heroin. Questions-gun-planting-outburst-key-officers-verdict. 

As usual with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) crowd, dope dealing, evading arrest, being an armed convicted felon who displayed a weapon are all immaterial and only serve to cloud the issue. Everything that happened to Smith was totally outside of his control.

Court records show Anthony Lamar Smith had a criminal record that included convictions for unlawful possession of a firearm and drug distribution. At the time of the shooting, he was on probation for a theft charge related to a 2010 crime in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson.

What matters is that the officer was not nice and said bad things and then had the bad grace to shoot Smith when Smith pointed a gun at him. I admire the officer’s restraint. During high speed pursuits that I have been in, I have threatened the suspect, his mama, daddy, siblings, cousins, and the family dog. I have even fired repeatedly at the driver. I didn’t hit him, his extended family, or the dog, shit happens.

Two things that happen during high speed chases, 1. Every cop who thinks he can get away with it joins the pursuit. I had one Texas Highway Patrol trooper travel forty miles to join a chase. The pursuit lasted long enough that he was the third car on the scene as the dust settled. 2. Even though the chase is over cops keep coming. It is not unusual to have twenty or thirty patrol cars representing every agency in the area to show up. Roadkill surrounded by vultures have better odds. Is there a need for that many officers? Yes and no.

There are only two or three officers that have something to do, with a shooting, bump it to eight or ten. But remember the guys charged with the shooting investigation may not know about the shooting, so they haven’t left the station yet. For all the other officers that show up, it is a time to catch up with old friends, compare patrol cars, brag about how they almost caught ’em and get a front-row seat.

While all the cops are standing round in the aftermath, something else should become obvious. I am not giving away secrets, watch the news tonight, every newscast; every night features a high speed chase. Count the patrol cars, note the different color schemes ( an indication of different agencies) count the cops and note how many seem to be doing something, while the majority stand around. Now note the cars caught in the traffic jam, the bystanders on the curb and ask yourself who has the best view?

The badge guarantees free entry and a premium view of the best show on earth. Ever driven by an accident, or crime scene and asked a police officer, “What happened?”

The answer is universal, with thumbs hooked in his gunbelt, the cop replies,”Oh, nothing, move along now nothing to see.” Unspoken and unobserved behind that stern facade, it’s a different story. “I know what happened and you don’t, nanny, nanny, boo-boo, I’ve got a secret, and you can’t see!” You can see it in the body language when the shooting team arrives, pushes their way through the great unwashed crowd, and is met and escorted to the ultimate scene. No maitre d’ has ever been as solicitous as the Sergeant leading the procession.

It is true that the blue line has a certain amount of flex built into it. Flex does not mean unbreakable. To buy off on the BLM contention that the St Louis officer murdered Smith the syncopants must first ignore the fact that Smith was engaged in multiple felonies at the time of his death. Multiple police officers from a variety of agencies were witness to the shooting and immediate aftermath of the shooting. According to BLM, every single officer either lied or was looking someplace other than the focal point when the officer planted the gun. Assorted police and news helicopters circling overhead, plus all of the bystanders armed with camera phones failed to capture the officer carrying a throw down gun to the car. Planting a gun on a dead suspect is not typically a group endeavor. When the list of witnesses begins to resemble a small telephone directory, the chances of successfully planting a gun go down significantly. The judge had the final word when he pointed out that Smith dealing heroin while unarmed was practically unheard of in dope dealing circles.

There is one more misdirection play that BLM employs each time they trot out a poor felon who ends up DRT (Dead Right There). Society authorizes police to investigate suspicious circumstances. It allows the good citizen to protect his home and family. There is no similar authorization available to robbers to rob, burglars to steal, or rapists to rape. The police officer or citizen is authorized to arrest person(s) engaged in such behavior. There is no authorization for lawbreakers to resist. In the gravest extreme, when no other viable option exists, the police and the citizen may use deadly force to stop the crime and the offender. Viable in this instance means within one’s ability. Jackie Chan can use karate. I don’t know karate. I know Glock. Shooting a suspect may not be a perfect solution, but may be considered reasonable within the law.

It’s not like this story didn’t have a happy ending. The family and baby’s mama no longer have to put up with Smith’s crap. The family hit the ghetto lottery for $900K.