”When you pick up a rock and throw it at a police officer you should expect to have deadly force directed back toward you.” That’s what T. J. Bonner said on NBC Nightly News last night in responding to the anger over the death of a Mexican teenager who was shot by a Border Patrol officer.
Bonner is the President of the National Border Patrol Council, the union that represents America's Border Patrol agents. Last June, after the shooting deaths of two Mexican teenagers, Bonner said rock attacks, a common danger faced by border agents, have the “capacity to inflict serious damage, if not death.”
You can expect the head of a police union to say that, but Bonner is exactly right. Much is made of the fact that several teenagers have been shot just for throwing rocks at officers. But a good sized thrown rock is definitely a deadly weapon and, as Bonner said, the rock thrower should expect that officers will defend themselves by using deadly force against him. It makes no difference if the rock thrower is a teenager or an adult - it’s the deadly rocks that are the issue here.
The young rock throwers are not innocent children just out having a ball harassing some cops. Many of them are paid by the drug cartels and immigrant smugglers to cause a distraction and redeployment of Border Patrol officers, thereby facilitating the smuggling of drugs and illegals across the border elsewhere.
All of this reminds me of the Intifada, the Palestinian uprising against the Israelis. The two intifadas were both marked by hundreds of young Palestinians throwing large rocks and paving stones at Israeli troops. The Palestinians also used heavy-duty slingshots to shoot stones at Israeli soldiers.
The Israelis fought off the rock throwers and slingshot users with tear gas and by shooting rubber bullets in return. A number of Israeli soldiers were seriously injured by rocks and stones, while several Palestinians were killed. No one, other than the Israelis, condemned the rock throwing, but Israel was excoriated by the international community for shooting rubber bullets while defending themselves.
The Israelis tried to avoid killing Palestinian youths by shooting rubber bullets instead of regular bullets. They would have been justified had they used live ammunition against the rock throwers just like the Border Patrol officers are justified in shooting at those Mexican teenagers.
It is real easy to condemn the Border Patrol officers and the Israeli soldiers if you’re not the one being pelted by large rocks and paving stones. Fight or flight is their only choice and their jobs do not allow them to flee.
EDITOR’S NOTE - Here are comments from PACOVILLA Corrections blog. (Reginald Denny is the white trucker who got smacked in the head with a chunk of concrete by some black hoodlums during the Rodney King riot.):
Steelheader says:
EXACTLY what I was thinking. Hopefully others will take into consideration that you don’t bring rocks to a gunfight (I love that analogy).
So many people have forgoten that if you are in danger of being maimed, seriously injured, or killed by WHATEVER an asshole chooses to attack you with, you can defend yourself with lethal force. Unfortunately in today’s society, it’s the luck of the draw if you will get a grand jury, or jury of your peers to believe the same thing. There should be no thought what so ever into the fact if a person defends themselves from serious injury, or attack on their life, they may use deadly force to stop it.
Bob Walsh says:
A rock is certainly capable of causing serious injury or death. I seem to remember something about David and Goliath, or even Reginald Denny.
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