Monday, May 04, 2009

So What Would YOU Do?

Interesting question raised by Balko, Ace, and Morrissey. (YouTube at the link)

Cop gets all huffy when a woman calls 911 and drops the F-bomb. He HANGS UP on her.

On here THIRD call, he sends the ambo, and then personally ARRESTS her for "abuse of the 911 system" --which offense does not exist in statutes.

He gets a two-week suspension. Yes, he has 20 years and meritorious service badges...

So what?

Morrissey: A highly-decorated 20-year veteran can have a bad day, too, and he shouldn’t lose his job over it. If he had worked for me, I’d try to save his job, too. In fact, the community owes him more support than others in that situation

Ace: He's also clearly a bad cop. I know cops have high-stress jobs and take an awful lot of abuse, but this guy has the stereotypical bad-cop attitude that his badge exists chiefly to extract respect from people -- coerecively, if need be.

He's got a hard-on about indecorous language, which is his right, but he's using his position to bully people around, and in this case, he's actually willing to let someone die if he doesn't get the respect and chop-chop compliance with his bullying that he seeks

I'm inclined to agree with Ace. This is life-and-death, not the time for getting all prissy-faced about the F-bomb.

4 comments:

Andy K. said...

I'll be chiming in with Morrissey (whoever it is?).

She thinks her dad is seriously injured, yet she continues to swear to this cop, even after he tells her to not swear? There was no reason for the language, and she didn't need to go on. I would say she's even more at fault than this cop.

In fact, I don't think the cop is at fault for many things.

And, the girl said she's "freaking out". No, no, the tone in her voice didn't sound like a frantic freaking out. It sounded like "how dare this person tell me not to do something," in that teen-girl way.

I also wouldn't have hung up the phone on 911. Plus, the girl shouldn't have said "I need an ambulance." She *should* have said "My dad fell to the ground after having surgery. I need an ambulance."

I still love how he goes "you don't need to swear over 911", she goes "Ok", and then he continues, and she says "send me a f***ing ambulance!". I mean, seriously.

"Uuummmm, are you gonna give me an ambulance." Blech, sounds like a snotty little brat.

I really can't sympathize (empathize?) with this girl. She throws away any credibility against the cop.

I'll also disagree with Ace's take. The girl doesn't sound "quavering, freaked-out". She sounds bratty, like she's owed something, and the fact that 911 didn't pick up instantaneous infringed upon her God-given right to have 911 be her personal slave.

Dad29 said...

Andy, your comments are even more childish than those of the girl.
\
Matter of fact, 911 IS a taxpayer-paid SERVICE, and if someone is a bit strident because their next-of-kin is having convulsions on the floor, well, a public SERVANT takes it in stride.

Andy K. said...

But the copper didn't know that. All he had was a cussing girl who was no friend of authority.

I'll still place more/most of the blame on her.

I will concede he shouldn't have swore either, and he probably shouldn't have hung up the phone.

Dad29 said...

The copper did not ASK.

And when she called back, he called her a 'bitch' and hung up again.

THEN he lied about the whole incident.

That's three strikes, Andy.

I don't think the girl is an angel. But then, I haven't had a family member in convulsions and have a 911 operator correct my language, either.

By the way--with 20 years on the force, what's this cluck doing as a 911 clerk?