Chicago Cop, Fearing Public Backlash, Takes Beating Rather Than Pull Her Gun

An unidentified Chicago police officer who took a beating at the hands of a suspect cops allege was loaded up on drugs and behaving violently���is saying that she declined to use her service weapon out of deference to the public outcry that would have ensued had she done so.

This past Wednesday morning, police were responding to an automobile accident on Chicago���s West Side when they came upon the suspect. The resulting altercation did not end well for the officers on site, three of whom had to be hospitalized afterward. The Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department, Eddie Johnson, was reportedly told by the one officer who suffered a terrible beating that while she was in fear for her life during the incident, she could not bring herself to pull her weapon in light of the current climate regarding police-involved shootings.

In the words of Supt. Johnson, ���She thought she was going to die. She knew that she should shoot this guy, but she chose not to, because she didn't want her family or the department to have to go through the scrutiny the next day on national news.���

Observers have speculated that we would begin to read more frequently about this kind of situation coming to pass. The sad fact is that given how cops��� lives are now so frequently ruined in the wake of a shooting event that occurs on the job, we will most certainly see more incidents like this until such time that the broad narrative about police shootings is reoriented on at least a modicum of common sense.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large