‘Bheja Fry’
courtesy of ‘kkalyan’

Here’s the long and the short of the DC Police Union’s position: maybe there’s some perfectly good reason that Detective Baylor, after choosing to get out of his vehicle and confront the snowball scofflaws, would have needed to have readied his weapon.

There’s no other way I can think of to take Union chief Kristopher Baumann’s assertion that Chief Cathy Lanier should have refrained from passing judgement. Said judgment being, in case you have forgotten, placing Detective Baylor on desk duty – with pay, of course – and calling his actions “inappropriate.”

Tom took issue when Chief Lanier presumed guilt on the part of an accused officer last week, but this situation has one major difference that Baumann seems to be missing: there is visual proof that Detective Baylor drew his weapon after getting out of his car to confront the snowball throwers. The only thing up for debate is whether there can be any justification for creating this confrontation and then escalating it by producing a firearm when no other weapon – beyond snow – was reported to have come into play.

Perhaps Baumann can think of one, but I cannot and it would seem Chief Lanier concurs. No doubt someone with over-sensitive pride might think that responding to getting hit with a snowball with bullets could possibly be reasonable, but I think that flavor of hothead is better served to a life of crime than law enforcement.

Don Whiteside

Well I used to say something in my profile about not quite being a “tinker, tailor, soldier, or spy” but Tom stole that for our about us page, so I guess I’ll have to find another way to express that I am a man of many interests.

Hmm, guess I just did.

My tastes run the gamut from sophomoric to Shakespeare and in my “professional” life I’ve sold things, served beer, written software, and carried heavy objects… sometimes at the same place. It’s that range of loves and activities that makes it so easy for me to love DC – we’ve got it all.