As the hand-wringing over the needless shooting death of P.O. Omar Edwards at the hands of a fellow officer begins to fade, a report by WABC News’ Jeff Pegues raises an ugly specter. Two witnesses, whose identities were concealed, have come forward.
“We pull up and then we see a cop handcuffing him and leaving him there,” one said.
“They just left him. Didn’t give him no aid. Told the officers not to touch a gun. It was a silver gun. He was about 10 to 15 feet away from his gun,” the other said. “He was just on the floor cuffed. Face in a ditch, in the gutter… They weren’t paying attention to him.”
Of course, after a notorious shooting, it’s hardly uncommon for people to come forward who claim to have witnessed events just to enjoy a moment of fame, or make claims about wrongdoing that rely entirely on their statements. This isn’t one of those situations. The witnesses took videos on their cellphones showing Omar Edwards lying in the gutter, being handcuffed after he was pumped full of bullets, and then ignored.
The question posed is whether the downed officer received the attention he required from the police, or was left in the gutter while the blood flowed and life ebbed from his body. The problem, which Pegues unfortunately leaves unsaid, it that it wasn’t until later, when aid arrived and was rendered, that the cops discovered that they had shot one of their own. Only then did it hit the fan.
What remains behind is the tacit expectation, together with its equally tacit approval, of a process that distinguishes a cop shot from any other black man with gun shot on a Harlem street, Does the NYPD policy support letting suspects lie in the street and die, though cops are entitled to immediate attention? No doubt the policy says otherwise, though the practice may have some difficulty keep pace.
But while WABC story about these two witnesses, who were told to get out of there by cops on the night it happened rather than questioned as to what they saw, is an important piece of new to get out, the fact that nobody thought to question why it’s different and acceptable to leave any person shot, bleeding, dying, in the gutter without attention is astounding. While few of us toiling in the hard, cold trenches are surprised by the fact that police are just a wee bit less concerned with the welfare of non-officers, no matter how much they might deny the fact that they treat an officer down with the care worthy of a saint, one would hope that the media would know better and report it.
The question posed is whether the downed officer received the attention he required from the police, or was left in the gutter while the blood flowed and life ebbed from his body. The problem, which Pegues unfortunately leaves unsaid, it that it wasn’t until later, when aid arrived and was rendered, that the cops discovered that they had shot one of their own. Only then did it hit the fan.
What remains behind is the tacit expectation, together with its equally tacit approval, of a process that distinguishes a cop shot from any other black man with gun shot on a Harlem street, Does the NYPD policy support letting suspects lie in the street and die, though cops are entitled to immediate attention? No doubt the policy says otherwise, though the practice may have some difficulty keep pace.
But while WABC story about these two witnesses, who were told to get out of there by cops on the night it happened rather than questioned as to what they saw, is an important piece of new to get out, the fact that nobody thought to question why it’s different and acceptable to leave any person shot, bleeding, dying, in the gutter without attention is astounding. While few of us toiling in the hard, cold trenches are surprised by the fact that police are just a wee bit less concerned with the welfare of non-officers, no matter how much they might deny the fact that they treat an officer down with the care worthy of a saint, one would hope that the media would know better and report it.
We showed the officials with the district attorney’s office and the NYPD the video. They would not comment.
This speaks volumes, if only the media was inclined to pay attention.
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The media are disinclined to pay attention because they rely on the police for so much of their news and don’t want to get on their bad side.
Beyond that, the police, as a group, wield enormous political power here in New York. The recent and fairly extraordinary events in the New York State Senate are probably related to the Governor’s refusal to extend a nearly 30 year old “temporary” law awarding a generous retirement package to police and firemen.
Politics ain’t beanbag, as they say. And politicians are very attuned to what hurts them and what helps them.
Crossing the police is almost never a smart political move, for politicians or the media.
I’m not so sure that this falls under a general disinclination to be critical of the police, as the story is critical no matter what the spin. I suspect this is more about a reporter’s bias, that the lives of cops are more valuable than the lives of others. It never dawned on Jeff Pegues that had Edwards not been a cop, it was still a bad thing to leave him cuffed, unattended and lying in the gutter.
Call me naive, but until a relatively short time ago I would have thought a reporter’s bias would be, if anything, skepticism towards authorities like the police. But I must now agree that most reporters and editors are biased in favor of the police.
So the police are of course biased in favor of the police, the media are biased in favor of the police, the judiciary is biased in favor of the police, and the general public is biased in favor of the police.
And we wonder why there are a lot of wrongful convictions.
Reporters come in all flavors.
it’s sad that this happen.but if the cop who was involve in the shooting should be investigated then he should be. handcuffed a bleeding suspectand just left him to bleed to death that is one thing. this police officers i think were trained in first aid but what happens then, was the guy was black and i think he was never given the chance to drop his weapon no second warning nor a third one.