Pontificating on Kendra James.....
Some things should beyond partisan punditry. Tragedies that shake communities and destroy families, for example, should be left untouched by hack columnists. That doesn't stop Dave from pontificating on Scott McCollister and the three-year old Kendra James shooting case.
So Scott McCollister was granted a reprieve from a state arbiter's office, his suspenstion expunged from his record and back pay ordered. That hardly merits a surprise. Yes, Kendra James posed a threat to herself and the community if she had sped off in her car that fateful evening. Yes, the shooting caused a political rancor from the black community, leading Mayor Katz to call for McCollister's head before a review had been conducted. Now- after that review has been completed by an objective, independent investigation- McCollister has been cleared of charges, as it appears that he acted properly and according to procedure.
As McCollister was found innocent by a grand jury, and cleared a $12 million civil lawsuit filed against him by Kendra James's family, the most recent developments are hardly anything for Dave to crow about. Indeed, they should have been expected.
What troubles me is the pattern I see in Dave's columns concerning the deaths of black people. Never in any columns does he refer to these deaths as a 'tragedy.' Never mind the fact that Kendra James was a mother of two children, who will have to learn to grow up without their mommy. Yes, Kendra James was a drug addict, but there have been plenty of examples of reformed addicts leading healthy, benefitial lives. If she had been allowed to live, and not have her life taken so needlessly, she may have eneded up as a role model for her children. We'll never know.
Couldn't less-than-lethal actions have been taken by Officer McCollister in dealing with this situation? Although there has been some debate whether his life was threatened or not- still, couldn't Officer McCollister have shot Kendra in the shoulder, or shot the wheels of the vehicle? Why do police so willingly jump to fire deadly shots- are they not trained to subdue threats in any other manner? If so, that speaks volumes as to the quality of training conducted by the Portland Police Department.
Dave paints Scott McCollister as the victim in this picture. As the latest findings have revealed, Office McCollister's character was unfairly maligned by the community. Still, Office McCollister is still alive, which is more than you can say for Kendra James....
One interesting thing to chew on: considering that Multnomah County voted 75% for John Kerry in the 2004 elections, and that both the International Brotherhood of Police Officers and the National Association of Police Organizations put their support behind Kerry, there is a very real possibility that Officer McCollister voted for Kerry, and may not support the views Reinhard typically shares in his column. Wouldn't that be ironic?
So Scott McCollister was granted a reprieve from a state arbiter's office, his suspenstion expunged from his record and back pay ordered. That hardly merits a surprise. Yes, Kendra James posed a threat to herself and the community if she had sped off in her car that fateful evening. Yes, the shooting caused a political rancor from the black community, leading Mayor Katz to call for McCollister's head before a review had been conducted. Now- after that review has been completed by an objective, independent investigation- McCollister has been cleared of charges, as it appears that he acted properly and according to procedure.
As McCollister was found innocent by a grand jury, and cleared a $12 million civil lawsuit filed against him by Kendra James's family, the most recent developments are hardly anything for Dave to crow about. Indeed, they should have been expected.
What troubles me is the pattern I see in Dave's columns concerning the deaths of black people. Never in any columns does he refer to these deaths as a 'tragedy.' Never mind the fact that Kendra James was a mother of two children, who will have to learn to grow up without their mommy. Yes, Kendra James was a drug addict, but there have been plenty of examples of reformed addicts leading healthy, benefitial lives. If she had been allowed to live, and not have her life taken so needlessly, she may have eneded up as a role model for her children. We'll never know.
Couldn't less-than-lethal actions have been taken by Officer McCollister in dealing with this situation? Although there has been some debate whether his life was threatened or not- still, couldn't Officer McCollister have shot Kendra in the shoulder, or shot the wheels of the vehicle? Why do police so willingly jump to fire deadly shots- are they not trained to subdue threats in any other manner? If so, that speaks volumes as to the quality of training conducted by the Portland Police Department.
Dave paints Scott McCollister as the victim in this picture. As the latest findings have revealed, Office McCollister's character was unfairly maligned by the community. Still, Office McCollister is still alive, which is more than you can say for Kendra James....
One interesting thing to chew on: considering that Multnomah County voted 75% for John Kerry in the 2004 elections, and that both the International Brotherhood of Police Officers and the National Association of Police Organizations put their support behind Kerry, there is a very real possibility that Officer McCollister voted for Kerry, and may not support the views Reinhard typically shares in his column. Wouldn't that be ironic?
posted by true_slicky at 7:58 PM
1 Comments:
A perfect example of Dave riding his tired old hobby horse one more time again. How many columns has he written on the Kendra James business anyway -- all of them making the very same point? Dave, OK, we get it!
Post a Comment
<< Home