The Police are People Too... I Guess

So.... I was reading the Miami Herald this morning and found the funniest/most serious article about some good old South Beach Shenanigans:

"A Miami Beach police officer involved in a dangerous ATV crash on South Beach that seriously injured two people surrendered to authorities Tuesday to face DUI and reckless driving charges related to the on-duty crash.
Officer Derick Kuilan, 30, was allegedly partying and drinking with women at a bachelorette party while on duty in July, just before he crashed his ATV with a woman he had met at the party.
Kuilan was released from Miami-Dade jail after posting $30,000 bail Tuesday. He refused to comment.
State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle released a photo of Kuilan and his partner, Officer Rolando Gutierrez, posing with women from a bachelorette party, allegedly taken July 2." -(from NBC News Miami)

I have some serious mixed emotions about cops..... Readers I give you my 2nd Blog Post...

Lets Play at little.......

"Good Cop, Bad Cop"

Bad Cop

May 2008

Me and a buddy of mine were at a Tallahassee Bar near Florida State University.

In order to understand the scenery of where we were you would have to have a knowledge of the schematics of Tallahassee. Please excuse me as I digress. The city of Tallahassee hosts 2 major Universities. One of which is Florida A&M University (FAMU) (go Rattlers) and the other is Florida State University (FSU) (Go Canes!!... Let me stop). FAMU and FSU are geographically separated by a railroad, in addition FAMU sits on the highest of all hills in Tallahassee looking down upon and further separating the two schools. What really brings the geographical separation into relevance in this story is that FAMU is a "Historically Black College/University" or an "HSBCU", while FSU....well....is not.

Back to the Story.....

What this really means is that me and my friend (whom were Black-American)...sort of stood out like sore thumbs (This was not abnormal considering we rather frequently attended this bar). After the bar closed normally there was a gathering just outside of the bar known as the "Let Out". This was where the fun began.

My friend was approached by a drunk Caucasian male (there were a lot of them there, while my friend and I were the only drunk Black Americans there), the Caucasian approached my friend and said; "Whats up my Nigga!!"

Sigh....why? (I will address the N-Word in my Next Post)

My friend responds; "Hey, whats good man, but don't call me that man....don't use that word"

Drunk Guy Says; "Chill Out Nigga!!!, Whats the problem?"

My friend says; 'Seriously man put that word down"

Drunk guy then begins to get uncomfortably close to my friend and says;

"Nigga Please!!" (In hindsight this is a little funny)

Drunk guy then "accidentally" bumps into my friend... my friend then responds with a single push off of the drunk guy.....

OUT OF ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE.... Two cops jump on top of my friend, slams him on the concrete and puts his face in the dirt. One of the cops screams; "Don't move boy!!!!"

At that moment my friend and I said in unison; "WHAT THE FUCK!?!?"

The drunk white guy standing there watching the whole commotion takes two slow paces backward and then walks the fuck away!!!!

WOW!!!!

GOOD COP

...... I cant think of one personal situation involving a good cop... but, I do acknowledge they are out there....!! lol

These South Beach Cops seemed pretty cool before the whole.... Hitting people with an ATV while Seriously Intoxicated leading to them being seriously injured thing.

I think that what we forget to consider is that cops are just regular people. When I was 18 all I ever thought about was how crooked cops were, and how all they ever wanted to do was take down the "black man" one dope dealer at a time (P.S now that I'm grown I fully understand that law breakers should go to jail).

Now that I'm older I realize what I was doing can be defined with a term I like to call "Police Profiling"; which is no better than "Racial Profiling". Me assuming all cops are assholes due to police stereotype is no better than cops thinking I'm some sort of gang member due to black stereotype.

My first college roommate (of whom I am still friends with) is now a cop in North Florida. Me and him did a lot of crazy shit our freshman year... everything ranging from public intoxication to narcotic use. So now that he's a cop does this mean he's a different person? Shit no!!! Just a guy with a job getting a paycheck in a recession. He still likes to hang out, talk shit and drink!!! (Just like these jackasses in the above pic!, but he's smart enough not to do this on duty)

During memorial day weekend a bunch of cops opened fire on a car (that happened to have a black man inside), killing a man whom was seemingly defenseless in the driver side. I've heard that as many as over 50 bullets were fired at the vehicle. This stand off was caught on camera and became a viral hit thus creating the debate of police excessive force.

Link below to the video: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDs-Wp_TN2c)

Honestly, I can see by watching this video how people can scream in outrage about excessive force; In addition, I feel for the family and friends of the person whom was killed in the vehicle because it is absolutely a tragedy to lose young people over such bullshit, but has anyone ever taken into consideration the point of view of the police men.

The cops are approaching the vehicle following a Grand Theft Auto-like shootout that looked like it was straight out of an M -Rated video game. Honestly I may have approached the vehicle a little on edge myself.

What if my friend was one of those police men? What if the guy in the car had a gun (I don't know if he did or didn't)?

Truth is that the cops where at a disadvantage because they were in the dark as to what the hell was going on.

Was this excessive force? or Was it excessive precaution?

The cops whom opened fire on that vehicle probably went home hugged their loved ones and thanked the lord for getting them through safely.

So, despite my bad experience with cops. They live regular lives. They have kids, parents, friends.

At the end of the day, whether or not they get drunk on duty, racial profile, or become too trigger happy in a tense situation.... The Police are just people too....I guess

Now run and tell you friends how much you love or hate me!

SaneBlog...DarkSide....One Love....Peace!