Rayshard Brooks Is a Martyr? Seriously?

The dynamics of a police shooting are so skewed when viewed by, well, us. We often only see law enforcement's reaction rather than the provocation which initiated it, giving us a really crappy and incomplete idea of what actually happened.

Again, I don't send three-figure donations to the Fraternal Order of Police. But neither do I subscribe to the idea that every single police shooting of a black man is unjustified murder.

Atlanta's Rayshard Brooks makes a nice case in point. And for a change, there is lots of video available.

Okay. Rayshard had too much to drink. Now he's ferociously hungry. He's jonsing for a double cheeseburger (never frozen) with fries and pulls into the local Wendy's drive-through.

Everything is sweet and dandy.

Except for one thing. He passes out. The police are called.

They administer a completely legal and by-the-book sobriety test, which includes a breathalyzer sample. Brooks fails.

Again, all of this is completely legitimate and above board. There is no profiling. There is no stereotyping. Rayshard is drunk and behind the wheel of a car. It's open and shut.

Even 2020 Americans can agree DUI is not a good thing, right?

But as the police attempt to handcuff Rayshard, he resists. He hits the cops seeking to make an entirely-justifiable arrest and manages to steal one of their tasers. He runs away.

When the cops pursue him, he fires their taser at them.

Seriously, Rayshard? You're snagged passed out behind the wheel of your car and you're going to fire tasers at the police for catching you? Really? Put down the meth pipe, bro. You're really fucking messed up.

Let me ask you, good readers of The Square Peg: what are police to do when they encounter a law breaker who gives every indication of doing whatever he needs to do to extract himself from the situation?

Invite him (or her) out for beer and pizza?

Buy them the newest, most up-to-date video gaming console in the hopes it will keep said offender off the streets?

Realize it's break time and head for the nearest Dunkin' Donuts?

Or detain them for arrest and pending charges?

We need to think very, very carefully about what we are asking of our police. I, for one, don't want them neutered when they encounter a law-breaker. Or a violent felon. 

Do we really want anyone who resists arrest to be let off the hook, scot-free? Really? Is that the desired outcome?

I don't like laws and regulations any more than you do, but I will admit that yes, we kinda sorta need them. A society needs a framework within which to exist. And we need really skilled people to keep us within it. 

For whatever reason, Rayshard Brooks couldn't man-up to the simple, uncontestable charge that he was DUI. He escalated the entire stop by fighting, stealing an officer's taser, running away and then and firing that taser at police, which I hope we can all agree is a fairly aggressive act.

Sadly, the officer chasing Brooks didn't enjoy the same option, as his taser had been, well, you know.

Rayshard, I'm sorry you weren't the sharpest knife in the drawer. I'm sorry you panicked. If you hadn't, you'd probably still be alive today. But you're not.

Even worse, an engorged society already filled with legitimate indignation over police brutality has unthinkingly included you in their pantheon of social injustice victims. But we know differently, don't we? 

Let's be clear, people. Rayshard Brooks is not Laquan McDonald. He isn't Ahmaud Arbery. Not George Floyd. Nor Breonna Taylor. Bestowing martyrdom on a man who wanted to fuck with the police for (correctly) arresting him is questionable at best and blindingly ignorant at worst. 

Exactly what are we telling our children?