Rosenberg Absolutely Nails It With His Analysis Of The Alton Sterling Shooting

That was recorded yesterday morning. Prior to the Falcon Heights Shooting, which, somehow, might be more disturbing than Alton Sterling. I didnt think it was possible for a video to be more upsetting than Alton Sterling’s and then like 18 hours later we had a goddam live stream of a man bleeding out in front of his wife and child. But this was Peter Rosenberg’s reaction to yet another horrific police incident and I think it is absolutely, 100% spot on.

I wasnt going to post anything about these situations because I honestly dont think I’m qualified or informed or polished enough to tackle such a topic but Rosenberg is a veteran of the game and certainly capable and he said what I think a lot of us agree with. Why cant police ever admit that a mistake was made? Something was mishandled. Protocol was violated. Rules were broken. These 2 cops in the Alton Sterling death and the Philando Castile fucking SUCKED at their jobs. SUCKED. They fucked up. Everyone with a brain knows they did. As a matter of fact, both police officers who pulled the trigger know it too. You can see them and hear them on camera yelling “FUCK! FUCK!” with that sound of uncertainty and trepidation in their voice. They knew they screwed up. Why cant people say that? Why cant we just say that in these 2 instances, these cops fucked up in the worst way imaginable? In other altercations, there were times when police were maybe justified to use force. In these 2, they were not. I think you should be able to say that without being painted as some sort of cop-hater. I think other law enforcement should be able to say “those guys didnt know what they were doing” without being portrayed as some traitor to the police force. Why this has to be some sort of black-and-white, or in this case black-and-blue, one side or the other is a fucking joke.

Obviously I dont know what its like to be a cop. I dont know what its like to handle a gun. But anyone who is a cop and who does handle one should know how to make sure situations like these 2 dont happen. You took that job. You took that oath. You agreed to potentially put yourself in these high risk, high pressure situations. You need to be held to a higher standard than just shooting to kill when youre scared. You put your life on the line and for that, we’re grateful. But that doesnt mean you get carte blanche on your behavior with your gun. That doesnt mean you are above reproach or criticism. And yes, there are certain times where, unfortunately, force needs to be used and violence can occur, but neither of these situations called for that. Neither situation called for people being shot at point blank range. Why cant people just admit that?