Hands up...don't move!

Written by David DiCrescenzo on . Posted in Op-Ed

The headlines read, “Man with hands up shot by police,” “unarmed black youth shot by police,” “NYC man choked to death by police,” etc.  During the past several months we have been bombarded by stories like this, and the media conveniently forget to discuss the obvious real issue, and they don’t interview police regarding what happens during confrontations.

The mayor of NYC, with the all too willing help of Al Sharpton, POTUS, and AG Holder fueled the fire of racism and hatred of police resulting in two NYPD officers being gunned down last month for no other reason except that they were cops.  At the funerals of these brave men, the vast majority of the officers assembled to pay their respect rightfully turned their backs on Mayor DiBlasio, and calls for his resignation continue.

As I write this, tensions in Ferguson, MO are probably getting ready to reignite because former officer Darren Wilson will most likely not be facing civil charges in the death of Michael Brown….because there is no evidence to suggest he did anything wrong.

And now there is this case from December 30, 2014 out of Bridgeton, NJ.  In a nutshell, a car was pulled over and there was a heated exchange between the officers and the occupants of the car. At that point it doesn’t matter the ethnicity of the officers or the alleged perpetrators, such incidents as this and those above escalate rapidly.  

Click here for video...

The very common sense lesson here is when confronted by any officer at any time is simple, obey the commands of the officers.  When an officer says “hands up” and/or “don’t move,” that means for whatever his/her reasons, you have crossed the line and the situation is dangerous for both of you, and is escalating rapidly.  All necessary force will be used to quell the situation as quickly as humanly possible.

In the story out of NJ, after observing a gun in the glove box, in no uncertain terms, the officers repeatedly ordered the suspects to put their hands up and to not move.  They did so because they saw a gun and had no way to know what else the suspects may have had in their possession, and when in the heat of a very tense moment the suspect in the passenger seat decided to ignore the command of “don’t move” and exited the car…push went to shove, and he is now dead.  Bad day for everyone.  

Just like Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and so many others…if they did not resist and simply complied with the officers, they would likely still be alive today.  Sure, they might have been arrested, paid a fine, possibly done some time, however they would probably be ALIVE.

I’m probably going to catch a lot of heat for this closing statement, but the bottom line is this.  Cops have a tough job, and yes there are some bad ones out there, however in the majority of cases, the day could end well for LEO and perp if the perps don’t resist.  I for one am fed up with the constant race baiting that goes on in these cases that have nothing to do with race and everything to do with obeying the law.