How many times can you kill the same guy?

Today's news story proves that the actual answer might be "just once" but the law wants someone to pay ten times for it.  Look at the laundry list of charges that will be preferred against six dirty, careless, used-to-think-they-were-above-the-law cops:

The grand jury charges

• Officer Caesar Goodson: 2nd-degree depraved heart murder, involuntary manslaughter, 2nd degree negligent assault, manslaughter by vehicle by means of gross negligence, manslaughter by vehicle by means of criminal negligence, misconduct in office for failure to secure prisoner and failure to render aid, reckless endangerment
• Officer William Porter: Involuntary manslaughter, assault in the 2nd degree, misconduct in office, reckless endangerment
• Lieutenant Brian Rice: Involuntary manslaughter, assault in the 2nd degree, assault in the 2nd degree [second of two similar charges], misconduct in office, reckless endangerment
• Officer Edward Nero: Assault in the 2nd degree (intentional), assault in the 2nd degree (negligent), misconduct in office, reckless endangerment
• Sergeant Alicia White: Involuntary manslaughter, 2nd degree assault, misconduct in office, reckless endangerment
• Officer Garrett Miller: Intentional Assault in the 2nd degree, assault in the 2nd degree, negligent misconduct in office, reckless endangerment

Messages are being sent here folks.  The elite who own these cops could have made it a show trial.   They could have limited the charges to just one or two of the worst of this bunch.  They could have spoken about their years of good service and how they are really such good people when they aren't actually in the process of killing helpless prisoners.  Instead, the elite bosses threw the book at them.  All of them.  They thought long and hard about just how violently each could get thrown under the bus and I must admit that I am impressed with this broad range of overlapping charges.  Folks, this smells more like revenge than justice.

The cops are not used to being treated this way.  This kind of treatment, they thought, was reserved for the little people.  You just trump up a bunch of charges, run them through the fake justice system and send them off to live out the remainder of their pitiful lives in a cell.  Yeah, thought the cops, if the little people of the city mess with me then I'll use my elite super influence and ruin their lives and those of their families.  Give the little guy a break?  Naw, I don't think so.  More people in prison means more power for the police, more fear of the system by the general public.  If someone wants a break, let them pay me for it.  But since most of the victims of fake justice are poor, the jails swell.

How does it feel to see your lives slipping away from you into the deep dark hole of the penal system fellas?  It gives new meaning to Baltimore Blues, huh?

Hey to the rest of you cops reading this, just keep in mind: you give the people a reasonable break and you are likely to get one.  But if you push people around and demand respect while giving none then fuck you the next time you are in trouble because your little protective umbrella is gone now.  You won't just be paying full rate for your crimes going forward, you will be paying 110% because your elite bosses will be keen to buy favor from the public lest they be thrown out of office or end up themselves in the street begging for mercy.


Cloudy horizon
Darkness is your companion
Winter has begun
--The Captain