Perceived Police Brutality

I say perceived because we still don't have all the facts. A rush to judgement has always proven to be detrimental. Especially if you are one concerned with facts and not just emotions. Remember the shooting in New York in November, on the eve of the grooms wedding. There hasn't been much buzz surrounding that story lately. The flag flew up for me when Al Sharpton was summoned before there was an investigation. What happened to extinguish that raging fire. I thought the citizens of New York were ready to remove the whole police department. In most cases when the police are involved you get two stories. I have discovered that it usually pays to wait until the facts are available.

Which brings me to a local incident that took place in Millington. Let me first say I do not condone abuse of power by police on any level. I am aware that we do have crooked police, but not nearly as many as we do good ones. Having said that, I don't want to tie the policeman's hands either. Let's not render the police ineffective against criminals in expectation of a law abiding citizens rights being violated. We must allow them to be a show of force. A steady hand in the midst of instability. In the absence of conformity we have chaos.

This story has taken on so many twists I don't know who to believe. This is the first story I read: http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/local/article/0,2845,MCA_25340_5402170,00.html.
Before I could let that sink in I read this: http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/local/article/0,2845,MCA_25340_5404735,00.html
Both articles raise as well as answer some important questions for me. In order to be fair I'll just say "You live by the sword, you'll die by the sword". That goes for both sides.