Thursday, May 13, 2010

Houston Cop Acquitted of Shooting Robbie Tolan

The New York Times reports on the acquittal of Sgt. Jeffrey Cotton in the shooting of Robbie Tolan. We discussed it here when it first happened and here when the trial began recently.

Sergeant Cotton and another officer forced Mr. Tolan and his cousin to lie face down on the ground at gunpoint after the young men had gotten out of their car in front of Mr. Tolan’s house. The officers mistakenly believed that the car had been stolen and that Mr. Tolan had a weapon. Mr. Tolan survived the shooting, though a bullet punctured his lung and lodged in his liver.

The article focuses on the racial profiling aspect of the case, in fact the police are being sued in civil court for discrimination. For me though, it's not so much a racial thing as a power thing. The cops who abuse their power and get away with it are a plight on our nation.

Police officers who misuse their firearms, like they did in this case, should be appropriately punished and new police recruits should be properly screened. Obviously neither of these things is taking place.

What's your opinion? Is this another case of Texas justice or is it just another case of the police being held to a different standard?

Please leave a comment.

2 comments:

  1. Simply another case of rogue police gone bad...It's a sad day when this type of dangerous behavior is allowed to go unpunished.. People are left less safe in their own communities and racist whites who think this is ok are given a false sense of supremacy... Pathetic!!!

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  2. Yes, indeed. This is a terrible example of Texas Justice.

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