https://prospect.org/justice/2024-03-06-spectacle-of-policing/
"On February 25, an active-duty airman named Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire
in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., while yelling, “Free
Palestine.” I’ll leave it to others to analyze the politics. I want to focus on
something else that emerged from that most harrowing event: what first
responders did on the scene before anyone even knew what was going on.
The
first first responder, according to a witness, either a security guard or
a cop, asked the man before him who was on fire, “May I help you, sir?” Then he
ordered him to the ground.
The second first responder—a Secret Service agent, it turns out—then approached
“with a gun drawn on the man after he collapses, still consumed by flames.” A
picture of that moment emerged. It looks like he thought he was keeping a
murderer from fleeing the scene of the crime.
It was the third responder who tried to actually put out the fire. As he did,
he cried something that ought to live on in popular lore for the way it
concentrates attention on just how sick our weapons-addicted society has
become—like when a University of Florida student cried, “Don’t tase me, bro,”
when six officers assaulted him for asking an embarrassing question of a
politician in 2007.
He told the guy aiming the pistol, “I don’t need guns, I need fire
extinguishers!”
By the time enough of those arrived, it was too late. Bushnell died in the
hospital.
People whose job it is to preserve public safety always have many tools at
their disposal in any given situation. Choosing the most appropriate one is
their job. The best tool might be a stern warning, or soothing words to talk
someone down from doing something rash. It might be well-armed reinforcements
with a battering ram, a psychiatric social worker, or in this case, a fire
extinguisher. February 25 was a frightening token of how habitually our
officers of public safety get that choice wrong, when anything but guns are
required."
Via Kevin O'Brien.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
