Someone please explain how the closing of the investigation of the shooting of Ashli Babbitt can be reconciled with the sentence just handed down in the case of the Alabama officer who shot an allegedly suicidal man who would not drop his gun.
The US Capitol Police officer who shot and killed pro-Trump rioter Ashli Babbitt on January 6, 2020 will not face any disciplinary action. “USCP’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) determined the officer’s conduct was lawful and within Department policy, which says an officer may use deadly force only when the officer reasonably believes that action is in the defense of human life, including the officer’s own life, or in the defense of any person in immediate danger of serious physical injury,” the department said in a statement. The department will not name the officer out of consideration for the officer’s safety, although his name has been unofficially on the web for quite a while. If this is not a USCP double standard, it is certainly a journalism and political double standard. A black officer who shot an unarmed white women is protected with official anonymity while one white officer after another in police-involved shootings of black men have had their names not only released, but published and made the targets of attacks by elected officials.
Prof. Jonathan Turley, hardly a rabble-rouser, writes in damning prose:
“The decision was marked by the same lack of information that characterized an earlier decision from the Justice Department. There is little media coverage of the obvious disconnect in the handling of this shooting and other uses of force against protesters in recent riots. Even law professors are largely silent on the implications of a finding that the shooting of an unarmed protester is justified. Babbitt seems to [to have been] treated as “fair game” because she was part of the January 6th riot.”
Ya think? Yes, she was one of those dangerous, white, deplorable insurrectionists trying to take over the government with her bare hands, and that God she’s dead.
Turley, who seems unusually “troubled” about this result, continues,
“Not only was there no claim that Babbitt was believed to be armed, but there were officers directly behind her and in front of her at the time. As I noted earlier, if the officer intended to shoot Babbitt, it would not likely meet the standard for a justified shooting under governing cases like Tennessee v. Garner (1985). If the officer fired blindly or wildly, it would appear to have many of the same negligent elements as the Wright shooting [which Turley discussed in this context previously]…Violent riots are unfortunately common today in cities ranging from Minneapolis to Portland to Washington. The use of live rounds, however, have never been authorized absent a particularized showing of a significant threat to an officer or others. Nothing in the announcement in the Babbitt case answers how such a showing was made by the officer. Will the media support local police using live ammunition to break up the next violent riot? We have seen protests turned into riots repeatedly in the last few years, including racial justice protesters taking over police stations and city hall buildings. Officers did not use live rounds when protesters broke through doors of police stations or a city hall. They did not use live fire when protesters were breaking through windows and barriers to burn down police buildings. Will the Babbitt standard now apply?“
You mean when a black officer shoots a white unarmed citizen? I assume so. If the races are reversed, obviously not. Is that too harsh? Cynical? I hope so. Please tell me what I’m missing.
Ethics Alarms 
Until hundreds start convening on the Capitol grounds demanding justice for Babbitt the coverup will be successful.
Protesters should put targets on themselves and carry signs saying “I have as much if a right to “peacefully protest” as SJW’s that burn and loot without fear of being shot to death.”
This situation needs to happen now to compound the negative image of the current regime.
We all need to call Bullshit on this decision.
If I recall correctly a number of persons caused the Kavanaugh hearings to be interrupted and Jeff Flake was accosted and surrounded in the private elevator where he was intimidated into voting for more investigations.
Well, why isn’t there a protest? Nobody has the guts to argue that white conservative lives matter? Apparently.
Well, if we want to unilaterally surrender to the SJW movement we have no right to complain about Biden surrendering to the Taliban
Agreed.
You’re not missing anything. Decisions are now made on the basis color and gender, not on the basis of anything intelligent. White conservative lives not only do not matter, but they are something that those in power would actively like to snuff out. The fact that this would be a genocide is completely lost on those in power, since apparently genocide of those you do not like is perfectly all right. If we get out of this mess, it might seriously be time to consider doing away with those who want to do away with us, before they do away with us.
May I nominate this for Comment of the Day?
Sadly, I think this is a very accurate description of the mindset of a substantial portion of the Left.
I desperately want to do something, but I’m disabled and stuck at home. What can I personally do to make a difference in the country I love other than reading & educating myself about everything I can, and being a “keyboard warrior”? It kills me that I can’t grab a sign and march along with my fellow patriots. (And yes, I’m a white, 40 year old cis-gendered hetero Christian conservative…everything that is currently hated. I’d only be hated more if I was a man. But I guess I have being a woman as my one victim, ahem, good, point.) I genuinely want to stand up for what’s right, as a patriotic of this country and also what is both morally AND ethically right. I just feel at a loss.
CD, Keyboard Patriots are needed as much as sign carriers; perhaps more so because they have the power to reach out and touch more people. My comments were directed at the organizations that profess to be leaders in the protecting our Constitution because it is they who need to create the environment to bring people together on the Mall. The Left is organized and can raise an army of protesters in minutes we must do the same.
Its a damn shame that so many “conservatives” contributed so much to the Lincoln Project to undermine Trump but do nothing when it comes to conserving the ideals that we are a nation of laws not men.
Indeed. “The pen is mightier than the sword [or the sign]” comes to mind.
Yes, what Chris said.
I’m 67 and moderately mobility-impaired. I’m not going to be attending any Capitol protests , but I’m a “keyboard warrior” as well. My Congressman and Senators -and others as well- along with state legislators, county commissioners and school board members hear from me regularly on issues of concern. I have already written several times concerning the Ashli Babbitt homicide, as recently as yesterday evening. I support organizations that champion my viewpoints and try to educate my “circle of influence” on important issues. We do what we can, with what we have, from where we are.
Keep it up, CD!
I think we all figured out a long time ago that this was going to be a whitewash and an attempted memory-holing, and that’s pretty much what we have seen.
Like you, Jack, I cynically think the racial makeup of this tragedy is a large part of the reason it is being declared justifiable despite the disparity of force. From a PR standpoint, which is the only one the Capitol Police and Biden administration DOJ seem to care about, this is either the disastrous throwing-under-the-bus of a long-serving black officer for which they will be assailed endlessly by the Left, or playing 3 Monkeys with a white MAGA person whom they don’t mind demonizing in the least.
Obviously, that’s a no-brainer, and yes, I’m aware that’s probably a pun.
The characterization of the January 6th riot as an “insurrection,” despite the fact that it manifestly was not, is the way the Left is covering for any questionable actions on the part of law enforcement. Their hypocrisy is on full view considering they are the driving force between the “Defund the police” movement and yet here they are covering for what looks like an unjustified shooting. The fact that it is in defense of the police charged with defending the politicians is not lost on me, and neither is the racial element.
Hopefully, Babbitt’s family will have better luck in the courts, but I’m not sanguine. If the Republicans manage to take back the House in 2022, I expect there will be an investigation. Perhaps that will shed more light on the subject. But absent a civil court discovery order or congressional investigation, my feeling is that the Democrats are confident they have successfully whitewashed this eyesore.
I guess this is one more way of reminding us, in case we didn’t get it the other 50,000 times, that laws are for the little people.
I’m a real stickler about when it’s acceptable to shoot and kill another human being and in my opinion what the officer did was CLEARLY not an acceptable use of lethal force. This might be a coverup meant not only to shield the shooting officer but to shield his supervisor who might have given orders to stand your ground and prevent entry into that hallway at all cost. Since they have justified the shooting and are not prosecuting the officer the latter is the likely reason for the blackout of information.
If the order came down from Pelosi herself and that is who is ultimately being protected, eventually the shooting officer will end up dead or thrown under the bus.
A few observations re the U.S. Capitol Police:
1. Per their website, “Currently, the Department has an authorized sworn strength of more than 2,000. In addition to the sworn members of the force, the Department has over 350 civilian personnel who provide operational and administrative support.” This ostensibly to watch over the 126-acre (about .2 square miles) Capitol grounds and the denizens thereof. [My county sheriff and app 200 sworn deputies (all ranks) provide police protection to over 60,000 citizens across more than 275 square miles (outside municipal limits)]. Admittedly, we are not as densely populated by morons, but still…
2. In federal law enforcement circles, the USCPD is often seen as a “stepping-stone” position for other federal law enforcement agencies. The USCPD requires only a high school diploma or GED, and officers can work toward the college degree required for many other federal LE agencies. This contributes to #3:
3. Their turnover rate (anecdotally reported by a former officer) would be considered appalling for a similarly-sized local agency. They are always hiring, especially since their ranks were significantly expanded after 9/11. This in spite of an excellent pay and benefits package. Their best are frequently leaving for better jobs, leaving… the rest.
4. With easy access to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center’s nearby Cheltenham Training Center outside Clinton, MD, the USCPD should be extremely well-trained in every aspect of use of force, particularly deadly force. At least, lack of access to resources cannot be blamed. (A former federal officer I know calls Cheltenham the “fast drivin’ and straight shootin’ school.”)
5. The USCPD often provides “protective services” for Congress-persons when they travel outside the district, although I know that in the past they have sometimes reimbursed state and local agencies to provide trained protective personnel for this duty. A friend who now trains dignitary protection personnel used to draw this duty regularly back in the 90s when members of Congress would travel to big events in our state.
6. Being exempt from the FOIA, and answering only to the Speaker of the House (through the House’s Sergeant at Arms), with announced plans to open field offices in California and Florida and add several additional regional offices in the near future, the USCPD may be the closest thing we currently have to a nascent “secret police” agency. The Ashli Babbitt homicide “investigation” clearly shows that a watchful eye on this agency is required.
Jim
Re your point 6.
We need to demand that the USCPD be overseen by a bicameral and bipartisan committee. The FOIA exemption needs to be repealed.
We do not need a STASI like police force that can be exploited for political gain by corrupt politicians from either side.
Agreed! I wrote my U.S. Representative and both Senators about this very thing yesterday evening. I also copied my county party chairman and urged him to get the word out. My county is split between two congressional districts so the party can make sure both representatives get tagged by actual voter/constituents. On Thursday morning I will urge my fellow “Old Farts Breakfast Club” members to write as well. It may be 2022 before anything can be done, but at least there can be a plan in place.
Has anyone considered that the reason the FBI stopped investigating was not because they found no right wing conspiracy but because they found numerous left wing agitators who use mob psychology to do their bidding? The FBI does not have a good track record with respect to Fidelity and Integrity.
FBI:
Branch Davidians Waco TX~~~> all burned up.
Ruby Ridge~~~> tragic deadly fiasco.
Nikolas Cruz~~~>abysmal failure.
Hillary’s emails~~~>hmmm
Gretchen Whitmer~~~>???
Roger Stone~~~>finally a well publicized triumph!
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“It is the old practice of despots to use a part of the people to keep the rest in order.”
Thomas Jefferson