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News & ArtsTuesday, December 1, 2009
News Misreading a Headline, Reading a Novel
Posted by Dan Savage on Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 8:41 AM
When I saw this headline on the Seattle Times' website this morning...
...I misread it. For a split second I thought it said "loan officer" and momentarily pictured an unemployed WAMU banker redeeming himself and his crooked colleagues by taking out Clemmons. But it was a lone officer—duh—a single cop sitting in a car, who spotted Clemmons, confronted him, and took him out.
Randomly: I just finished reading an amazing novel, Every Man Dies Alone, and one of the characters is a police inspector. (For the, er, Gestapo, but that's not relevant.) The inspector's superiors are pressuring him to find a suspect. He searches Berlin—he turns Berlin upside down—with no luck. He informs his superiors that most cases are solved by accident. The suspect makes a fatal mistake, a witness comes forward, a lone cop who isn't actively involved in the search literally stumbles over the suspect.
Hundreds of officers were turning Seattle upside down looking for Clemmons but it was a lone officer, an officer who wasn't directly involved in the search (but on alert, like every police officer in the state), who wound up stumbling over—and taking out—Clemmons. And thank God the officer looked into his rearview mirror when he did:
As the officer sat in his patrol car doing paperwork on the stolen car, he noticed a man was approaching the driver's side of the patrol car from behind. The officer immediately recognized the man as matching the description of Clemmons...
If the lone officer didn't notice Clemmons, if he hadn't had time to get out of his car and pull out his gun, we might be burying another cop this week.
1
The police have such dangerous jobs. Listening to the scanner and trying to picture each call, I was awed by the professional way they handled every situation. It takes a special kind of person to do what they do, day in and day out. We should thank them and help them in every way we can.
2
Dan, this one is in need of some spell check.
Either way, I'm glad they caught the SOB. Good thing it really was him instead of "random husky black guy with a mole".
Either way, I'm glad they caught the SOB. Good thing it really was him instead of "random husky black guy with a mole".
3
No kidding. NYT's narrative made it even easier to see how near a miss the officer may have had. So sorry the suspect's dead, so glad the cop's alive.
4
There's nothing random about the attention you attract driving around in a stolen car. Or talking on the cell phones of his relatives who have been identified as helping him. Or staying in the homes of people known to be connected with the suspect.
The police forced him to run and run and run and eventually they ran him down. And in the process a dozen low-lifes who helped him are getting taken off the streets.
The police forced him to run and run and run and eventually they ran him down. And in the process a dozen low-lifes who helped him are getting taken off the streets.
6
A gutshot, armed and desperate, child raping, multiple-cop killer walking up from behind? I 'm surprised the officer even requested that he stop and show his hands…twice. I consider myself a non violent person who avoids confrontation, but I’m not so sure I’d have the “patience” to be so accommodating.
7
I'm definitely glad that he was found, especially before he was able to take a shot at the lone officer.... But, I'm also very glad that the person the officer shot was Maurice Clemmons, and not someone who happened to look like him.
9
@6: It's not a matter of patience, it's a matter of not shooting some random black dude with a mole. "Show me your hands" really means "Show me that you're not the cop-killer, because if you're the wrong guy and I shoot you, it's going to make this whole thing even worse. Oh, look, you're not stopping. Okay, now you get shot."
10
@ 7 and 9,
Why, thank you ladies. Your insightful knowledge of what to do in the course of official police procedures for a justifiable shooting procedure has shown me the error of my way. I now plan to go into law enforcement packed with the literal knowledge you two have given to my self deprecating comment of praise for the officer’s composure under stress. As a matter of fact, I might suggest you apply for employment at the police academy as instructors. I believe there are several open positions for the rank of Captain Obvious.
Why, thank you ladies. Your insightful knowledge of what to do in the course of official police procedures for a justifiable shooting procedure has shown me the error of my way. I now plan to go into law enforcement packed with the literal knowledge you two have given to my self deprecating comment of praise for the officer’s composure under stress. As a matter of fact, I might suggest you apply for employment at the police academy as instructors. I believe there are several open positions for the rank of Captain Obvious.
11
Dan, can you provide a link to the article you're quoting? I'll look it up myself but it should be there anyway.
12
@10 I took your original no-patience comment as "I wouldn't have given him a chance," as opposed to "I wouldn't have been so mindful under such a stressful situation." SORRY DEAR.
13
Bah ... it's all a tale fabricated by the blue shield of silence. They got the dude the first day when the chief originally announced they shot him (and the neighbors heard gunshots). They just needed time to torture him before finishing him off. Hopefully more guys like this teach fraudulent cops a lesson; and hope IA investigates the hell out of this miscarriage of justice.
14
yeah approaching the cop from behind and then not showing hands when asked and then running?
the guy was clearly intending to kill another cop. he had his chance to prove he wasn't when the cop asked him to stop and hold out his hands.
the guy was clearly intending to kill another cop. he had his chance to prove he wasn't when the cop asked him to stop and hold out his hands.
16
Oh, Dan, I recently read Hans Fallada's prison diaries ("In meinem fremden Land. Gefängnistagebuch 1944"), and if you read in German and liked "Every man dies alone", I really recommend it.
17
Ever gone on a ride-along with a cop? I have. One of the things I noticed is that they run plates ALL THE TIME. If they're sitting behind you at a stop light, they're running your plates. If there's a car double-parked, first thing they do is run the plates. If they see someone just sitting in a car, they run the plates. It's almost reflexive, and that's why the dumbest damned thing you can do if you're fleeing the cops is steal a car and then attract their attention with anything even remotely out of the normal (like having an unattended car sitting with the motor running).
For all the pious comments about cops not "judging" or "executing" people, all I can say is that this fellow sounds like no great loss to the human race. I for one am glad he's no longer a threat, and that there won't be a pitched shootout trying to extricate him from some hideout somewhere.
Oh, and want to be taken in peacefully instead of having them shoot at you or send a dog after you, whatever? Then DON'T run. Put your hands up and stand still. Running from a cop whose adrenaline is up is just about the stupidest thing imaginable. Running from a cop EVER is stupid.
For all the pious comments about cops not "judging" or "executing" people, all I can say is that this fellow sounds like no great loss to the human race. I for one am glad he's no longer a threat, and that there won't be a pitched shootout trying to extricate him from some hideout somewhere.
Oh, and want to be taken in peacefully instead of having them shoot at you or send a dog after you, whatever? Then DON'T run. Put your hands up and stand still. Running from a cop whose adrenaline is up is just about the stupidest thing imaginable. Running from a cop EVER is stupid.
18
Can't say I'll miss the guy. Did any of you notice that the female cop who was shot was a teabagger?
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