Armed, dangerous, and the use of throw down guns

In the early 90's I was a graduate student in criminal justice at Sam Houston State in Huntsville, TX, just North of Houston. One of my classmates was a Houston cop who had gone through the Houston PD Police Academy in the 1970's. They had an afternoon segment, actually in the syllabus, where they were given a formal lecture on the use of a throw down gun. It was treated as a natural normal thing to do -- plant a gun if you've accidently killed someone who was not armed.

To some of y'all the 70's was a long time ago. But many of us can still remember that long ago time. And you can be sure that the Houston PD has senior police officers who took that class on how to use a throw down gun.

History and culture have a lot to do with the way police departments work. Citizens need to remember that -- they need to not forget.

A Houston cop recently killed a suspect who may or may not have been armed. The cop says he was. There's video that shows an unclear picture, he might have been armed. A gun was recovered at the scene. But the history of the Houston Police Department is very real and it's such that you really to think about it when a cop tells you a story.

You especially need to think about it when the story he tells initially turns out to be a little mistaken in some important facts -- things like he initially said he shot the guy while the guy was facing him and pointing a gun at him. Then it turns out that both the autopsy and the video contradict that. He shot the guy in the back while the guy was running away.

But the Mayor of Houston stands by his cop. Strong police unioins deliver a lot of votes. It's pathetic.

But don't forget. This is America. They hate us for our freedom.

Update:

They're going to take it to a grand jury. It's not clear they'll tell the grand jury they just made shit up at the beginning, before they knew the apartment complex had a video camera on.