I suppose most of you have seen this, but if you haven't you've got to take a look here. A Drug Enforcement Agency officer, while demonstrating gun safety to a class of grammar school children, discharges a gun in the room and it hits him in the thigh.
The videotape made it onto the Internet and is a top video everywhere.
Now get this: saying that the release of the video over the Internet has caused harm to his career, he then hires a lawyer...who in return hires a publicist. Next thing you know he's a celebrity on NBC talking about the suit he's filing against the school system.
Earlytorise.com comments that:
"The NBC reporter who interviews him characterizes his career as "exemplary" and admires him for playing down his injury in front of the children. "You must have been in great pain," he says in a commiserating tone. "Was it sheer pride that kept you going?"
"In the U.S. today, it seems that there's nothing we won't do for money and fame. Any act or accident, no matter how stupid or disgraceful, has the potential to be transubstantiated into the new, shameless American dream."
They add that you don't need to be an expert in handgun safety to know that:
* Accidentally discharging a weapon in a classroom full of children requires an amazing combination of stupidity and ignorance.
* Anyone who does so should never be allowed to carry a gun again.
* Any publicity that such a person merits should be negative.
* Any money that exchanges hands as a result of such an accident should be from the responsible party (the cop) to the true victims (the children).
I couldn't agree more in this case. Could you imagine a bunch of cops being caught on video improperly beating a suspect and then suing someone for having it played on the Internet because it could damage their careers? That is what is happening here.
This is more serious than simply being called a "dumb cop." This guy discharged a firearm in a room full of children. If you go on to watch the video, after he does that he attempts to get another gun and the children literally yell him down to not grab hold of it. They were terrified that this gun would go off also.
But to hire a lawyer and publicist as a means of making money out of the deal even makes this guy lower than he already is. What do you think?
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