Speeding Is a Capital Offense
Did you know that the penalty for speeding is death?
It is something to think about as we head into the Farce of July and the sickly celebration of the freedoms we lost a long time ago. Among these, the right to not be shot to death in the streets over traffic offenses.
Yes, really.
A couple of years ago, the nine Judge Dredds who quite literally are the law – by dint of decreeing what the law is, as opposed to what the Constitution actually says – ruled (a most appropriate term) that if a speeding motorist flees from an enforcer of the law, that enforcer is empowered to execute him. (News story here.)
The case at issue was Plumhoff vs. Rickard.
Back in ’04, a Memphis, TN law enforcer named Vance Plumhoff tried to pull over a white Honda driven by the now-deceased (via-Plumhoff) Rickard for the egregious offense of driving with one headlight out. Rickard attempted to flee – a not unreasonable act these days, given forced enemas and anal probes (also ruled “constitutional” by The Nine Dredds), the planting of drugs and trumping-up of evidence, wood shampoos, Tazerings and so on.
A chase ensued.
Eventually, Rickard’s car was cornered – and even though all that had transpired thus far was some illegal high-speed driving – by both parties, it’s important to point out – when Rickard “refused to surrender,” Plumhoff fired his gun at him three times.
This frightened Rickard.
For unfathomable reasons, he imagined his life to be in danger. He thus hit the gas and attempted to get away – whereupon Plumhoff emptied his semi-automatic pistol’s magazine (12 more shots) into the bodies of both Rickard and his passenger, both of whom were rendered immediately “compliant” – and very dead. Of a piece with the summary execution of Miriam Carey – do you recall? – who was gunned down in living color and with her baby in the passenger seat, just a hop skip and a jump away from the den of the Nine.
And, of course, Philando Castile – executed by a law enforcer named Geronimo – who “feared for his safety” after Castile explained he had a legal firearm (and permit) on his person. Castile didn’t even commit a moving violation. He was pulled over because the enforcer thought he looked like another person who had apparently committed a robbery.
Postmortem, Rickard’s daughter sued Scharfuhrer (sergeant) Plumhoff for using excessive force. The Nine ruled not so. Scharfuhrer Plumhoff acted “reasonably,” they concluded.
Herewith the reasoning of The Nine, in the words of America’s very own Roland Freisler, Samuel Alito:
“It is beyond serious dispute that Rickard’s flight posed a grave public safety risk, and here the police acted reasonably in using deadly force to end that risk.”
But what constitutes a “grave public safety risk”? Pretty much whatever the law enforcer says – no, believes – it is.
We live in the Era of Officer Safety, an offshoot of the broader Safety Cult.
A moment’s hesitation or questioning of barked orders amounts to “resisting” and a “threat” to “officer safety.”
It is more like a challenge to their authority – which is the real issue, never spoken but understood by everyone.
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