Beware of police; we've trained them poorly

Police, like professional and college football players, haven't been doing themselves any favors this year. Both have hogged headlines with stories about beatings and domestic violence.

That's really not too surprising, frankly, coming from football players. But police truly should hold themselves to a higher standard. And we should hold them to a higher standard, too.

Certainly no one in America doesn't know the Ferguson, Mo., story of the young unarmed black man who witnesses said had his hands in the air when he was shot to death by a Ferguson police officer.

The Chattanooga area has its own list of similar horrors.

Last year, two Chattanooga officers were fired for using excessive force against a man at the Salvation Army federal halfway house facility on McCallie Avenue. A judge ordered the city reinstate the officers, finding that they had acted in accordance with their training when they struck Adam Tatum more than 44 times with a metal baton, breaking both his legs in several places. Ultimately, the city reached an agreement with the officers and paid each $44,000 in pay and benefits, plus an additional $15,000. Both left the police department.

Just this April, Red Bank police officers beat another unarmed man, Candido Medina-Resendiz, during a traffic stop. Police dashboard video shows the beating. One of the officers strikes the man repeatedly in the face as he lies on the ground. Another hits him with a stun gun more than once. How many of us can quickly put our hands behind our backs as we're being pummelled and stung? Hamilton County District Attorney Neal Pinkston plans to take the incident before a grand jury and also asked the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to look into the incident.

Also playing out in headlines is an incident involving a retired Chattanooga assistant police chief who shot his stepson in the leg during an altercation.

Kirk Eidson told police his stepson, Robert Ingle, burst in on him as he was dressing and demanded his truck keys. Eidson told police he backed up and pulled his handgun out of his pocket and asked the then-17-year-old to leave. Eidson said Ingle rushed him and when the two collided, the gun fired and struck the teen in the leg.

Eidson administered first aid, then went to the front porch to call police, according to the initial police affidavit. Ingle followed Eidson to the porch, so Eidson got in his truck to drive away. At that point, Ingle threw a flower pot at Eidson, according to a neighbor. The teen was charged with simple assault and domestic vandalism. Step-dad was not charged.

How many parents and step-parents out there would pull a gun from their pocket when their 17-year-old acted up and demanded keys? How many parents out there would drive off with a son wounded on the porch?

On Thursday, the Times Free Press reported that the teen months before had physically fought with his mother, and that his stepfather overstepped normal police policy to prevent an arrest in that instance. (An internal affairs investigation of dad's actions to keep the case low-profile was closed with "no action taken" because Eidson had retired.)

But back to leaving the boy on the porch and driving off: If you thought your teen was troubled and combative, would you leave him there to face first responders and police who you knew from your own experience are trained in a way that makes them overreact - much as you just did?

There is something wrong with the way we train police in this country - just as there is something wrong with the way we idolize sports figures and expect them to be violent and competitive on the ballfield but mannerly in elevators and living rooms.

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