While on vacation the last week or so, I must admit I didn't follow the news very much, because, well...the real world sucks...and I was on vacation, and didn't want to be reminded that the world sucked.
On the way home, there were some sections of the road where we had NO choice in what we listened to on the radio, and the real world was unavoidable.
One of the stories that caught my interest was that of Police Officer Stephen Stem. According to the news reports we heard, Stephen Stem had just been fired from his job because of his involvement in the shooting death of a 93-year old woman in Texas. Because it was the radio, the story was lacking in details. They said that it appeared that the 93-year old woman failed a driving test, and began brandishing a gun outside her house. The officer responded to the 911 call, and shot her. The city council responded to the uproar this caused by firing him.
Hardly enough detail there for a serious minded fella to draw any real conclusion from.
Since getting home, I haven't been able to find much more detail than what was on the radio.
Yes, it appears that the 93-year kind of snapped after failing a driving test, and brandished a revolver. The police were called. A new piece of info not on the radio is that she fired two rounds off, into the ground, after the police arrived. The officer did then fire his gun, resulting in the death of the 93-year old lady.
The community did lose their mind, and the city council fired him.
With the paucity of details....I am not sure I blame the officer for taking the shots. The lady had a gun. She fired two rounds off after the police were there...and yes, they went into the ground, but dangit...she had a gun, and she had proven she had the finger strength to pull the trigger. That is a recipe for disaster. With those details...I feel he was justified in pulling the trigger. Could he have tried his Taser? I guess...but that causes muscle spasms...and I am not sure that is less dangerous to anyone.
I also don't blame the city council for doing what they did. Reading around the edges of the story...we have a young white police officer who has shot an elderly, African-American female. A riot was brewing. It is also buried in one of the stories that this is the 2nd shooting that this particular officer has been involved in since 2012.
Of course, details on that one are even tougher to find than this most recent one, so good luck trying to draw any kind of conclusion, other than this was a very unfortunate event.
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