When will we learn? – Part 2
Reflecting of the death of 17 year-old Trayvon Martin at the
hands of neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman I pointed to three major
contributing factors – fear, God-given differences and deadly force. I concluded that the responsibility for
Trayvon’s death ultimately lies with us.
To paraphrase the infamous words of Walt Kelly in his comic strip Pogo,
“We have met the enemy and they are us.”
My first pastorate was in a small (500 people) town in rural
Indiana. Everyone in the town not
only worked at their “daytime” job but also served in numerous volunteer
positions. I served as chaplain to
the volunteer fire department and county sheriff’s department. Or maybe I should say I was an ordained
Presbyterian minister who also was a volunteer fire fighter and a reserve
deputy sheriff.
It was as a reserve deputy sheriff that I was confronted
with the reality of deadly force.
I would not wear a uniform, but did wear my clerical collar often. I would not carry a firearm, but I did
carry mace.
The sheriff’s department for the rural county of 13,000
people was staffed by a full-time sheriff and his deputy augmented by 21
reserve officers – farmers, store keepers, teachers and business people. Most of the reserve deputies were
hunters. We were all trained in
the use of firearms. Everyone
owned their own weapons. And while
I did not carry, or even own a firearm, when I rode with the sheriff or deputy
there was a revolver available in the glove compartment and a shotgun in the
trunk.
In the late 1960’s the two U.S. highways that cut through
the county were major drug smuggling routes. The state police held several training seminars for our department
concerning the drug trafficking and what we were to do in case we saw a
suspected drug runner – do nothing and call the state police.
One night, riding with the deputy sheriff, we spotted a car
travelling at a high rate of speed in the opposite direction on a four-lane
divided highway. We turned around
as soon as we could and set out to pursue the vehicle. It took at least five miles before we
could get close enough to activate lights and siren. The speedometer of the patrol car was “pinned” at 120
mph. The speeding car did pull
over and stop. The deputy got out
and went to the car, weapon drawn.
I stood behind my open door with the glove compartment revolver and the
radio microphone.
The driver admitted he was speeding. He had just broken up with his girl
friend in Chicago (100 miles north) and was very upset. His foot had become lead.
Did the deputy and I feel threatened? Yes. Did we fire our weapons? No. That was
not what we were trained to do.
On another occasion the department was alerted to a teen
alcohol (and maybe drug) party that was to be held at the end of a gravel road
in a deserted farmhouse. The
sheriff, deputy, state conservation officer (law enforcement trained) and about
a dozen reserve officers set out to raid the party. The large crowd of teens were surprised and most of them
quietly accepted that they had been caught.
However, three or four of the boys jumped in a car and
attempted to escape by driving directly toward several of the officers,
including me, who were armed with rifles, shotguns and pistols. As the car drove at us, own of our
reserves aimed his high-powered rifle at the car and prepared to fire at the
driver. As I and another reserve
noted the angle of weapon we shouted:
Aim low!
The officer did just that. Fortunately, the teen driver stepped on the brake rather
than the accelerator and came to a halt several yards in front of us.
All the teens at the party were transported to the sheriff’s
department. Their parents were
called. And as I remember, there
were no charges filed against the teens.
They did, however, have to answer to their parents, who were rather
angry.
Later, as we debriefed, the reserve deputy with the high-powered
rifle thanked us for that reminder to lower his aim. The weapon could have put a round through the engine block
of the car and if it had gone through the windshield there most certainly would
have been a dead teenager.
There is no reason for a neighborhood watch volunteer to
carry a weapon any more powerful than mace. And there is no excuse for George Zimmerman disobeying a
specific instruction from a trained 911 operator to NOT PURSUE Treyvon Martin.
Pogo is right:
We have met the enemy and they are us!
--Dr. Ron Patton, H.R.
