Officer Friendly May Not Be Your Friend Anymore -- Especially if you are an old man with a cane

Recently, a South Carolina Deputy Sheriff shot a 70 year old man who reached for his cane during a traffic stop. The video follows. How anyone could have mistaken a three legged cane for a shotgun is simply beyond comprehension. Viewing the video of the scene, how anyone could have thought the old man was a threat is also beyond comprehension. Warning, this video is hard to watch.

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What is illustrated is a shocking lack of cultural awareness. The second the old man reached back into the bed of his truck, I knew that he was going for his cane. Anyone who has spent over five minutes in the parking lot of a VA hospital has seen that move a hundred times. Old white men hang their canes between the bed and the cab of the pickup to keep from having the thing rattle all over the cab while your're driving

New South Carolina Law Enforcement
training poster.  This is a cane, it is
used by old men to keep from falling.
The object on the right is a SHOTGUN.
THEY ARE NOT THE SAME.

and possibly even get between your feet and the pedals.

What is further illustrated is a shocking lack of common sense. If that cane had been a shotgun who in their right mind would put the muzzle on the ground and leaned on it? And for that matter, what is the matter with the deputy's eyesight that he can't tell the difference between a cane and shotgun?

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But, the most sinister thing illustrated here is the change in attitude of law enforcement toward the people they serve. Some cops are now so afraid of every citizen they encounter that they are automatically in
combat mode as soon as they hit the light bar. And, even worse, federal organizations like the

Department of Homeland Security are distributing practice targets teaching policemen to shoot pregnant women, elderly men and women, etc. IN ORDER TO LOWER THEIR CONSCIENCE LEVEL ABOUT USING FORCE AGAINST THE GENERAL POPULATION.

This tragedy was very much as result of that Deputy's training. If he was so frightened that he couldn't tell a three legged cane from a shotgun he shouldn't be wearing a badge. And, I hope that old man and his wife sue the county and wind up owning the county courthouse before this is all over.

But, there is a deeper cultural problem as well.  Until recently, policemen were a part of the community. They were respected and admired for the job they did.  But increasingly, they are being armed and trained to serve as a domestic constabulary, literally an occupying force in their own country.  That paramilitary, occupying force mindset cannot help but end in tragedies like this one ... and worse that may still be to come.