WTF Stories of the Week

[Ghoulish Delight]

Well, duh, of course it's Canada's fault. But that goes without saying.

[katiesue]

Nothing wrong with being grief stricken. But if you're so upset you can't think rationally, then you shouldn't be driving a car. Would it be ok if he had slammed into another car while running the red light instead of just being pulled over?

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by Disneyphile

All traits of irrationality.

Also the traits of someone strung out on any number of drugs.

Originally Posted by Disneyphile

I probably would have flat-out punched a cop at the time my mom was in hospice. I wouldn't have even noticed I was doing it.

And, I would have probably been condemned by people, because in our society, open grief is considered inappropriate, rather than a call for compassion, patience, and understanding.

If you would have punched a cop doing his job, I wouldn't give you a lot of sympathy. Your own grief is not an excuse to break the law and assault someone; ESPECIALLY law enforcement.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Disneyphile

I probably would have flat-out punched a cop at the time my mom was in hospice. I wouldn't have even noticed I was doing it.

And when you are subsequently arrested for assault on a police officer, would you expect to be let off?

[innerSpaceman]

Yes, let's all take that literally, shall we?

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

Yes, let's all take that literally, shall we?

Who's taking it literally? She offered a hypothetical situation, and her hypothetical actions in that situation. My question is, what would she expect the hypothetical reprocussions of those actions to be?

The genesis of his behavior is irrelevant. A cop facing irrational behavior is a cop facing irrational behavior, and the course of action is the same whether the behavior is the result of a fundamentally dangerous person or of someone overcome by temporary emotion. That's precisely the POINT of their training - to have a well practiced set of actions he takes to remain in control of the situation, regardless of the unknowable mental state of the person he's dealing with. All he has to go on is the observable behavior, and everything about Moat's actions in that video screams that this is an irrational person, take your time and don't let them have control of the situation.

I'm not saying I don't understand why the driver would have been acting irrationally, I'm saying that the officer, for the most part (by the time he's yelling "Shut your damn mouth!" it's clear that he's not doing a particularly good job of controlling the situation. But it was far from entirely out of line), reacted as he should be expected to when faced with an irrational person.

[Disneyphile]

Originally Posted by katiesue

Nothing wrong with being grief stricken. But if you're so upset you can't think rationally, then you shouldn't be driving a car.

If you got a call that Madz was in taken to the hospital in critical condition, would you be calm and rational enough to call someone and ask them to drive you?

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

Also the traits of someone strung out on any number of drugs.

I'm sorry. I missed that part of the article where they said he was under the influence. What drugs was he found with? I don't have time to read through it again.

If you would have punched a cop doing his job, I wouldn't give you a lot of sympathy. Your own grief is not an excuse to break the law and assault someone; ESPECIALLY law enforcement.

Again, what would you do if it were you in this situation?

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

And when you are subsequently arrested for assault on a police officer, would you expect to be let off?

Nope. However, I would expect an officer to actually listen to me first and assist from there, but if he stood in my way.... When someone is grief-stricken, it is pretty damned apparent that they're not making it up as an excuse just to run red lights.

Sorry that I have compassion and a tendency to lean towards the side of someone who is losing/lost someone.

[Strangler Lewis]

When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Disneyphile

Nope. However, I would expect an officer to actually listen to me first and assist from there. When someone is grief-stricken, it is pretty damned apparent that they're not making it up as an excuse just to run red lights.

The problem is, as Kevy pointed out, the difference between someone who is irrational because they're grief stricken, and irrational because of some other reason (e.g, on drugs, hates cops, is pissed at his wife for making him late to his appointment for a regular checkup) is not particularly apparent when someone is rushing out of a car, aggressively approaching you and yelling. A cop HAS to treat them all the same, there is no other option. And until someone calms down and is able to rationally explain what's going on, the cop treats them as an irrational person. They can't afford to differentiate between types of irrationality.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Disneyphile

Again, what would you do if it were you in this situation?

Again, it is irrelevant. Even if I did punch him, arresting me would be the correct response whether I agreed with it at the time.

Every time a red light was run this man was saying "my needs are worth risking the death of other people." Can I understand how a person could get to that state of mind? Sure. Do I have sympathy for it. Sure. There are tons of reasons someone might behave irrationally where I suspect you wouldn't view that as an excuse while understanding how they could get that way, I don't really see this as all that different.

Does that mean the correct response is "oh you poor thing, you go on your and we'll talk some other time"? No, not really.