129 Comments
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skinnercitycyclist's avatar

For cops responding to things like this, it's a "return carrying your shield or being carried on it" sort of thing. The huge respect that cops (mostly) receive from the public must be earned with putting their lives on the line. As a teacher, I have never had to face a school shooting (a serious threat, once), but if I walked out of a classroom from which they pulled ONE dead kid, I would not be able to face myself. And getting in the path of bullets for my students is not even one of my actual duties.

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Teddy Barnes's avatar

Only two were indicted? Travesty......How about indicting the cops that went to other classrooms and rescued THEIR kids? I got mine, fuck everyone else.....

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Stranger Than Friction's avatar

Thanks for the leopard, Gary

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Zyxomma's avatar

Ta, Gary. Protect and serve what now?

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Bel-Ami's avatar

That is marketing. The truth is they are not obligated to protect or server ANYONE. We throw money at police departments, make out that cops are heroes, and let them act without oversight or accountability. Meanwhile, they assault civilians, kill unarmed people of color, play footsies with the far-right and let little kids die in classrooms. Before you say it, that's NOT ALL COPS (I've known some very fine ones) but it IS a majority of the culture in many/most places (certainly where I live).

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Daniel O'Riordan's avatar

Cool. Now do Abbott and Paxton.

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Biff52 Lost Canadian's avatar

Abbott will probably pardon them.

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The_Shadout_Mapes's avatar

This story still brings me to tears. I am certain, even if a jury votes to convict, our racist fuckstick of a governor will pardon them anyway.

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Gary Seven in Space's avatar

They were scared..the shooter had an assault rifle AR 15. The cops know how that tears a person up so they let kids and teachers face it instead of them. This is the best argument to ban them yet.

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Ward From Cali's avatar

Yeah, this ain't a Trump conviction, but I'll still be perfectly happy to see Arredondo go up the river. Not only is he an incompetent and cowardly tough guy, but I remember all his blame-shifting and self-pitying bullshit in the aftermath. That vile bastard had the nerve to believe that he was the real victim, before the parents of the real victims even had a chance to bury them.

Motherfucker is the poster child with everything that's wrong with modern policing. Burn that fucker.

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Revenant's avatar

So much for all that "warrior cops" bullshit. Oh, they can and DO get ferocious when squaring up to some 110 lb. reporter with a camera in her hands, or an unarmed black kid running for his life, they get downright medieval on the defenseless. Thugs and goons and cowards.

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Boscoe's avatar

Too bad Trump wasn't there. He claims he'd "run right in" if he were near a school shooting. And we know that if nothing else, Trump is completely honest and totally non-delusional! Allegedly!

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Revenant's avatar

a lot of kids could have hid behind that useless bulk of his, and that huge Frankenstein square head is surely dense enough to bounce bullets off. And if not, nothing of value would have been lost.

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PhoenixDogLover's avatar

In cases like this, the defense arguments often must be infuriating. The people we hire and pay to protect us from life-threatening crimes in progress need not be especially competent, nor need they prioritize the lives of victims over their own lives. They can simply choose to join the medical examiner in after-the-fact collection of evidence.

This case now looks like an exception to the rule. Two police officers facing the charge that, if you don't take action to stop the crime (your supposed job), you are abetting the crime through negligence.

We'll see. The police have an influence similar to a protection racket (it would be a shame if...) and regular citizens are afraid of their power and potential for recrimination. Police have shown they are willing to wield that malignant influence.

I guess we should remember that police in the US were largely conceived as a force to protect business owners, not regular Joes, and certainly not young students.

My heart goes out to the parents in Uvalde. I wonder if the Newtown Sandy Hook parents have reached out to them. There is strength in numbers.

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Runfastandwin's avatar

They will get immunity.

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TootsStansbury 🇺🇦's avatar

The Supreme Court will just decree that police can’t be held liable or charged with anything whatsoever because they are the law.

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PhoenixDogLover's avatar

The key is that none of the Texas laws that might apply to the situation mention Uvalde. That ambiguity can only be resolved by the higher Courts upon appeal.

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Cakes We Like's avatar

OT - made it to the hotel safely. Unpacked my meds and had a brief nap. Now it's time to head out to dinner and a show. Tomorrow's schedule is art galleries and the Green Day gig.

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Gary Seven in Space's avatar

Have Fun@@@!

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WeepingAngel~Lost In The Facts's avatar

Enjoy Green Day! I'm seeing them in August.

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Bagels of Doom's avatar

huzzah! :D

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Land Shark 🇺🇦 🏳️‍⚧️'s avatar

In an unexpected turn of fate, it is 70ºF (20ºC) here, a nice breeze, lots of sunshine, and low humidity.

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Richard S's avatar

Today is clearly a day for taking what good news we can get.

This is QUITE GOOD news.

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Rosy red ASS's avatar

Well, PAB is at he head of the next story. Time to peace out. Stay safe you wonderful fuckaducks!

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twinsbrewer's avatar

I'm all for penalizing the police chief. But any police who were too frightened to respond should be fired, not prosecuted. Prosecute them when they abuse their power, sure! Not for being scared.

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Ward From Cali's avatar

I'm not sure if even that applies, here. They did fall back when they received fure on the first attempt to storm the room, but that's not even cowardice. It's the wrong response, but it's a perfectly reasonable one, and just evidence of inadequate training in active shooter procedures. But after that, weren't they ORDERED to limit their actions to securing the approaches to the room? I can fault them for failing to ignore obviously bad orders and acting on their own initiative, but not a lot, you know?

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Land Shark 🇺🇦 🏳️‍⚧️'s avatar

An officer shouldn't be charged if their commander didn't do jack shit. An officer should be charged when they do bad shit independent of command or rules or procedures.

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