Boston Cops Can't Catch A Break

We often hear inner-city residents and "community activists" express outrage when the police fail to quell violence in crime-ridden neighborhoods. What happens when a cop performing this duty needs the aid of the community and the community instead spits in his face? Where is the proportional outrage?

Here's an interesting column from the Boston Herald, telling the story of a rookie cop who was pursuing a suspect through a city neighborhood - a suspect he believed was armed (who was eventually apprehended.) The chase wound through the neighborhood of Roxbury, and eventually ended up in a resident's backyard. The residents were at the time holding a birthday party. As the officer tried to wrestle and subdue the suspect, partygoers responded by throwing keys, soda cans and verbal insults at the officer. Some were even reported to have physically struck and kicked the officer.

The officer's cell phone was dropped at the scene, and when he returned to retrive it, the residents "played dumb" not only as to its whereabouts, but also to the incident that had just occured. The Boston Police spokesman pulled no punches:

For the kids looking on, it was a riveting display of warped values, a disgraceful endorsement of a mindset “community leaders” profess to abhor.

“The kids witnessed adults encouraging the bad guy to get away,” McCarthy pointed out. “That was the message the adults gave them, loud and clear: Beat up the police and help the bad guy get away. You’d think they wouldn’t want someone like that running through their children’s party. But nothing’s unbelievable to me anymore.”

That damn oppressive "system." Moral of the story - the next time somebody starts ranting about the brutality of city police while demanding their service, remind them of this story and tell them to go pound sand.

Officer Jared Gero, by the way, returned for duty the very next day - ready and willing to do it all again for the citizenry that spit at him.

Cross-posted at the Jawa Report.