A Philadelphia Fire Department paramedic is under fire for posting this picture with the caption: “Our real enemy.” The caption also said “Need 2 stop pointing guns at each other & at the ones that’s legally killing innocents.” Marcell Salters has also published highly antagonistic language toward police officers. He has since apologized but some have called for his punishment or termination. In the meantime, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio is under attack after Ismaaiyl Brinsley effectively executed two police officers over his anger with the recent decisions by grand juries in Missouri and New York. police have been protesting what they view as de Blasio’s unfair portrayals of police after the decision, including turning their backs on the mayor when he came to give a press conference on the murders.
Salters
Marcell Salters has been denounced for his attack on officers who often protect paramedics at accident and crime scenes. In now deleted comments, Salters said that he “never did or will like police” and “[b]ecause of what i do i have to work with them but dont have to like them . . . There are numerous crooked & corrupted cops (mostly white) & mostly they harass, beat, or kill innocents (mostly blks).”
He has since apologized and posted the following: “I would like to deeply apologize to anyone i have offended. That post was out of anger of what is going on around the world (mike brown, eric garner & etc) & past experiences that i have had with the police. . . My intentions was not to slander or hurt anyone or my brothers in blue. Again i am sorry.”
I have previously written about concerns that public employees are increasingly being disciplined for actions in their private lives or views or associations outside of work. We have previously seen teachers (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here), here, here, students (here and here) and other public employees (here and here and here) fired for their private speech or conduct, including school employees fired for posing in magazines (here), appearing on television shows in bikinis (here), or having a career in the adult entertainment industry (here).
One different wrinkle is that Joseph Schulle, head of the firefighters’ union Local 22, said that Salters could be disciplined because he allegedly made a comment about the post while on duty. That creates a different context than many of the prior cases above where comments or postings were made entirely during off-hours or outside of public jobs. It is not clear what the comment was that is being isolated as a possible basis for discipline however.
I tend to view these cases from a first amendment perspective. I find Salters’ comments to be highly offensive and wrong. However, I do believe that he has a right to say them just as others have a right to denounced them. While such comments obviously make for tense working conditions, some of us believe that free speech requires bright-line rules of protection even for hateful speech like that of Marcell Salters.
The uproar of police in Philadelphia has joined an equal if not greater outcry of officers in New York.
Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28, the killer of officers Wenjian Liu, 32, and Rafael Ramos, 40, had a history of violence and mental instability. He shot the officers as they sat in their patrol car in Brooklyn on Saturday before he ran to a subway station and shot himself. Only hours earlier, he shot and wounded his 29-year-old ex-girlfriend, Shaneka Thompson, at her home in Baltimore, Maryland. After shooting Thompson, Brinsley threatened on Instagram to kill police officers while referencing the New York and Missouri grand jury decisions: “They Take 1 of Ours… Let’s Take 2 of Theirs #ShootThePolice #RIPEricGarner #RIPMike Brown. This May Be My Final Post.”
Before the murders, Brinsley reportedly struck up a conversation with two men. According to the police, he asked the men “for their gang affiliation; he asked them to follow him on Instagram; and then he says: ‘Watch what I’m going to do.'” That is when he walked past the patrol car, circled it and then crossed the street to come up behind the car. That is when he fired four bullets through the front passenger window, killing the officers.
Police directed their anger in part at de Blasio who has been viewed as supporting the protests against police after the decision of the New York grand jury. The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association even went as far as having officers to sign a petition calling for Mr de Blasio to be barred from attending their funerals if they were killed in the line of duty. There is also a growing racial rift over de Blasio’s policies. A poll last week found seventy percent of black people approved of the mayor’s performance while only 32 percent of white people supported him. Yet, he had received good polling numbers over his handling of protests following the decisions in New York and Missouri.
There is no hope that De Blasio and the police can work together. We need a solution and I think I have it.
Obama should appoint De Blasio the Ambassador to Cuba. WIn/win.
Just me and Dian Von Furstenberg.
There are sociopathic and even psychopathic people in every line of work. When those pathologies mix with professions that put the person in a position of some authority bad things can happen. Cops carry guns and a badge and we live in a society that has venerated people in uniform. As LeeJ said, sometimes the person in that uniform isn’t a good fit. While abuse of patients in nursing happens, nurses who engage in it are usually drummed out of nursing, rightfully so. When cops have complaints of abuse against them they most often get away with it after a cursory investigation. We need to hold police responsible for the bad apples among them. That has not happened yet wih any regularity. That’s evident to the community.
I wonder if there are any serial, psychopathic killers in women’s retail apparel?
Doubt there is even one career that does not have killers as part of their group.
Accountant Sentenced for Fraud, Plotting Clients’ Murders
Steven Martinez, 51, stole more than $11 million from tax clients
Source: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Ramona-Accountant-Steven-Martinez-Sentenced-Tax-Fraud-Murder-Plots-202851191.html#ixzz3Mea1AR1e
Sturgis Accountant In Court For Boss’ Murder, Alleged Motive Explained
http://fox17online.com/2013/11/06/motive-for-murder-of-sturgis-businessman-explained-in-court/
Trooper, You are a treasure trove of facts. I remember reading about List after he was arrested.
Some nurses kill because they think they are being compassionate, some out of craziness, some out of reality. Just as with cop killers, some are carzy, some are just venal.
(and btw nurses, and doctors, do “snow” patients who are terminally Ill and dying a horrid death. Is this right or wrong? Depends on where you stand on the issue of compassionate death.)
John List.
http://static1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130917053352/criminalminds/images/f/f6/John_List2.jpg
You kind of looks like the Professor. Just sayn’
Are there any killer accountants?
Indeed.
LOL!!!!
Is that just people Nick or does that include threads? Just sayn’
Nurses kill out of hate. Cops kill righteously. ‘Troofs’ from the troofsayer. And don’t you say question the ‘troofer’.
Some police are great, some not.
I recall a situation where a businessman and I had a run in and I said we need to call the cops but I did not have a cell phone. The businessman called them but when I said to the officer “I want it put in the report that I was the one who said we need to call you” he replied, nastily, “I’ll put in my report whatever I want to put in the report” Only one guy but you hear too many stories of the uniform giving people a false sense of entitlement.
(and let me add I was a volunteer in a program when I was a teen for kids considering medical school. I had to wear the white doctors overcoat. As soon as I put it on I felt different, it gave me an aura of importance (and despite my name tag that clearly read volunteer college student, I was treated like a doctor by some folks) The uniform sometimes does make the “man” , for better or worse.
Paul, Nurses have our lives in their hands, just as cops do. And, nurses kill innocent people, just like cops. But, cops also kill people RIGHTEOUSLY. Nurses only kill outta hate.
Nick – don’t leave doctors out of the mix. They kill innocent people, too.
Illinois was the LAST state to allow conceal carry. The restrictions are draconian. Chicago had gun laws found UNCONSTITUTIONAL by SCOTUS. We have had this debate before. You lost.
rafflaw, You have denied here the 1st Amendment is under attack on college campuses. You have zero credibility after saying that. I didn’t bookmark it so do ask me for “proof”[said in a Lannie Davis voice] but it was within the last year. After I cited http://www.thefire.org you shut up about that. We’ll have to STRONGLY disagree on your hate for the 2nd Amendment. I’ll just say, people w/ your mindset scare the hell outta me. And, I am low on the gun rights scale. I own one gun, and do not have a conceal carry license.
Yes, there are bad cops, bad teachers, bad lawyers, bad CEO’s, bad governors, bad presidents, bad ministers/priests, etc. But I believe that half or more are genuinely good people. I do not believe the police officers in Missouri or NY did wrong or are rotten apples in the barrel.
PO said…
… there is a mentality of us vs them …
That is a two way street. And just how do you conjecture it started? All cops just randomly kicking the snot out of everyone? That is NOT my experience in a tough town.
Hint: Saying to the officer who stops you on the road: “What the f**k do you want” is not an inducement to collaboration between cops and Joe Sixpack. Morons like the assassin in NYC never looked at either side…he just acted out of extreme and lethal stupidity. And he did so with premeditated purpose.
The unformed police are representative of us all…treat them like that and just watch the malfeasance you cite disappear.
When the leaders of our communities stand silent in the face of blatant calls for killing cops, you get what you deserve for electing the schmucks. I am not sure if their is a cure for stupid.
I’ve never known a cop who didn’t just want to do his job and return home to his family. Where does this image of psychotic cops come from? We get what we deserve IMO.
When I was a teacher in a low socioeconomic town, I would listen to many of the students complain about the police, saying they hated the police. It turned out that the majority of these students had either had personal encounters with the police, served time in juvenile delinquent centers, or had parents serving time in prison. It was easier to blame the police then it was to admit wrong doing.
Recently, we had a large 18 year old, Michael Brown, who forcibly reached into a police vehicle to pull a gun from a policeman’s holster and then acted rebelliously toward the officer. Michael had been in trouble with the cops several times before. Yet, the police officer was blamed.
In NY, Eric Garner, was also rebellious and refused to listen to the cops. From what I viewed on tape, the police took time to reason with him, but he continued to argue with law enforcement officers. He was taken with force because he refused to cooperate. He too had a long rap sheet and had served jail time.
Ironically, people made excuses for these two bad boys accusing law enforcement of wrong doing.
We are fast becoming an upside down America that supports lawlessness over lawfulness. Too many people are watching television programs i.e. Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy and others. Are there too many people in our society unable to watch these programs without being discerning about right and wrong? Thanks to Hollywood, too many people are siding with the bad guys.
I also blame our President, Eric Holder, Mayor Blasio, Mayor Emmanuel, Al Sharpton, Oakland, CA’s mayor and CA’s governor for not upholding civil law in their speeches and actions. These so called leaders seem to be condoning the lawless behavior of these two men and choosing their actions over the police force.
Eric Holder is always ready to investigate a shooting where a black person is involved with a white, but leaves other civil cases to the state. He has taken the time to reminds us of his past brushes with law enforcement, but I am still waiting to hear him to give accolades to police officers and stand up for law enforcement.