Bullets Blazing

I doubt there are many other cities who can profess the dubious honor of having policemen almost as likely to shoot you as the bad guys are. After a brief car chase last Monday, an officer fired at the teenager fleeing the scene, and inadvertently hit a man inside his house. (Man, that’s some bad aiming.) Henry Parson was hit in the ankle and is expected to survive.

The officer who shot Parson seems to be a little trigger happy. According to the paper this is the eighth shooting he has been involved with since 1993. Sgt. Jon Scott has been with the BPD for 19 years, so I guess that averages out to one every couple of years. No big deal. Assistant Chief Bryan Lynn has been with the department 25 years and NEVER fired his gun, but he’s probably just a wussy.

One of the incidents Scott was involved in happened back in 2001 when three idiots from Palmdale came here to rob an Office Depot and then led the cops in a high speed chase. The chase ended near the Valley Plaza after 97 shots were fired and two of the suspects were dead. Ninety seven bullets? Do the words “over kill” come to anyone else’s mind?

As usual, of the seven previous shooting incidents, all were ruled justifiable. As a matter of fact, only one incident out of twenty six since 2003 has been ruled unjustifiable.

Translation – Watch what you do in Bako because the cops will shot you and ain’t nobody gonna tell them not to.