By Steve Levy
Every day, police officers put on a blue uniform and patrol the streets to protect the innocent and the vulnerable. It’s imperative that we have their backs.
Unfortunately, a liberal judge in New York has handed down a sentence against an officer that will instill a chilling effect upon every law enforcement member who wants to do what it takes to protect the public.
Officers will be fearful that, if their spur-of-the-moment decisions to collar a perp are twisted by an activist judge, they could lose their homes, their jobs, or even their freedom.
Last week, New York Police Department Sergeant Erik Duran was sentenced to 3 to 9 years in prison for stopping a suspected drug dealer by hurling an ice cooler in his direction as the suspect was fleeing the scene on his motorscooter. The suspect fell to the ground and succumbed to the injuries he sustained.
I’m old enough to remember movies and television shows when I was growing up in which a police officer would warn a fleeing suspect, “Stop or I’ll shoot.” No one was surprised by that back then because it was understood that, as a criminal, you assumed the risk if you recklessly decided to ignore the command and run from being apprehended after committing a felony.
Obviously, our pursuit policies have evolved since then, but the idea of snagging the criminal before he gets away to hurt others should never be eliminated.
Sgt. Duran was part of an undercover police narcotics unit. The suspect, Eric Duprey, was allegedly selling drugs and tried to flee from the officers at the scene.
Duran saw him getting away, so he reflexively, and with good faith, tossed the nearby cooler in his path to impede his getaway. It is similar to the police procedure of tapping the rear of a fleeing vehicle in a high-speed chase. For the sake of public safety, it’s important to stop the reckless suspect from inflicting further damage on innocents.
And sometimes, things can go astray. But when they do, should our policy be to imprison the officer who was merely trying to enforce the law and protect society from a violent criminal roaming free to do more harm?
Indeed, sometimes officers hired to protect us make the wrong split-second decision. When they do, we have to measure their intent. Was it malicious? Was it an attempt to feather their own nests? Was it a gratuitous attempt to inflict unnecessary violence upon a suspect? Or was it a good-faith attempt to protect the public that just went over the line?
If the intent was malicious or involved self-interest, then certainly a criminal penalty should apply. But where the officer was simply trying to protect the public, why in the world would we charge that officer with a crime and put him behind bars?
If the action was clearly wrong, the officer could be disciplined by losing his job and the police department and its municipality could be sued by those who were injured.
But putting an officer in jail when he was simply trying to collar a bad guy is reprehensible. It is horrific not just because of the impact it will have on the officer and his family, but also because it will make society less safe, as officers think twice about going the extra mile to protect us.