In the years I was in law enforcement, I had to discharge my weapon in two situations. One of those people lost their life. Not a day goes by, in fact not an hour goes by when that doesn't enter my heart or my mind. I had no other choice in either situation. The person that lost their life would have taken mine and my partner's life if I hadn't pulled my trigger first. I guess the fact that I saved my life, my partner's life, and the lives of everybody else at that scene makes me a real assshole.
Oh... and before you accuse me or group me into some other stupid crap - I could have cared less about weed when I was a cop. I became a cop because one of my closest friends was murdered by an ex-boyfriend. My thing was helping people, not killing them. I helped start many domestic abuse programs while I was in law enforcement - many of those programs are still in effect. I tried to make the most of my time - and I did everything in my power to assist people in need. I did that tirelessly and I did that from my heart, not my wallet.
At the time that I was a police officer, I had my own business, and my home and cars were paid for. Trust me, I didn't do it for the paycheck.
From the two situations where I shot someone - I was sued a total of 8 times for 2 bullets. In the situation where the person did not die - he was lunging at another officer and his own mother with a knife in one hand and a broken beer bottle in the other. after saving his mother's life, she turned around and sued me civilly - and she also sued the City.
I must be a real asshole for taking the actions that I did, but she should have thanked me for having the life in her body the day she signed the court papers to sue me. That's what the judge said to her when he tossed out her lawsuit.
I do regret discharging my weapon and injuring her son. The stress from her civil suit alone destroyed my private business, my personal savings, my family, and eventually my motivation to work in law enforcement. All because I made split second decision to save the life of someone that I didn't even know.
It's real easy to sit back and point fingers and group people together and second guess people that have been in situations that require split second judgement calls where they have other lives (not only their own) to take into consideration.
It takes a very weak-minded person to accuse me of selling out freedom for a paycheck, when you have no basis for making such a statement - you have no idea how I conducted myself as a police officer - you have no idea why I chose to become one in the first place - and you have no idea why I left law enforcement. Yet you sit there and say idiotic things such as that - grouping myself and Mike into some stereotype that is designed to make you feel better about what you are saying.
Oh... and BTW, the idiot that I shot a split second before he sliced his mother's chest open with a Michelob bottle... he committed suicide two years after the law suit was tossed out. I had been out of law enforcement for about 4 years by then, but it didn't stop the guy's mother from trying to hold me and the City responsible for his suicide.
IMO, people like that are shitt. I also think I'm right about that.
You don't know me, nor do you know anything about me - and I will guarantee you that don't have half the balls that it took to do 1/1000th of the work I did as a soldier or as a law enforcement officer. It's easier for you to sit back there and toss BS out there and hold myself (and everybody else in law enforcement) responsible for situations we had nothing to do with. That is because you are ignorant. I have been on the front lines. I have put my ass on the line night after night and day after day. I have knowledge of law enforcement - both positive and negative. You don't - and you don't have a clue about me or anybody else that wears a badge. For that reason, I have no problem telling you to STFU.
Congratulations. You are the first person I have had to say that to in over 15 years of being online - and you deserve it.
