It’s impossible for any senscient being in the New York metropolitan area to be unaware of what happened to a man named Abner Louima.  I refuse to describe it here because it sickened me to think about it then, and I am still beyond disgusted by the police conduct.

But two police officers, Bruder and Wiese (or the 2 Toms), won their appeals in the Second Circuit, renown for their fair treatment of defendant-appellants, as long as they happen to be police officers.  Since they were no longer guilty of a felony, the 2 Toms wanted their old jobs back.  Supreme Court Justice Ellen Branstondecided that wasn’t such a good idea, in Bruder v. Kelly.

Now cases such as this present a Hobson’s Choice for most criminal defense lawyers.  On the one hand, we stand for the right of an individual who has survived trial to go back to his role in society with his head held high.  The system threw everything it had at them, and they survived.  When they walk, doesn’t justice prevail too?

But, I have a problem with the 2 Toms.  A big problem. It may be personal, or it may be something that bothers others as well.  Here it is:

The fact that they did not personally shove the plunger into Abner Louima, like that sub-human Justin Volpe, but merely knew about it happening and did nothing, and then stood silent as the blue wall of silence closed around this outrage, does not make them heroes. 

While they may not have committed a crime, an issue that remains less than clear from a theoretical point of view, they were cops, sworn to protect, and allowed the animal Volpe to torture a human being without lifting a finger.  Yup, I have a problem with this.

And so these two “not guilty” Toms want the NYPD to give them back their guns and shields.  To serve and protect?  Because they only did what any other cop on the job would have done:  Protect their brother cop first, no matter what he did or to whom, and let a human being be subject to the handle of a plunger. 

There was so much wrong, and so much guilt, to be spread around the precinct that I believe that every cop who turned a blind eye, who stuck their head in the sand, who put cop above human, should be thrown off the force, lose their pension and held out to public scorn.  Of course, this didn’t happen.  The 2 Toms provide a limited exception.

Justice Bransten, to her credit, recognized the message that would be sent should the 2 Toms once again suck on the public teet.  There could be no message that would more endanger faith in the police than to allow these two to ever wear blue again.  She held that the public interest’s need for “trust and confidence” in its police officers trumped the argument that they were, at best, unconvicted.  Of course, they only lost their jobs.  I wonder if they would be willing to trade places with Abner Louima in the precinct bathroom.