Behind the Badge
On Sunday, Sept. 25, a California Highway Patrol officer was on patrol in Fresno when he approached a crowd of people who were surrounding a vehicle doing doughnuts. As the officer got out of his patrol SUV to approach the driver, the vehicle took off. The officer got back in his SUV in order to chase the violator down.
That’s when things got bad.
A crowd estimated at about 40 people surrounded the officer in his SUV and began kicking and pounding on it. Windows were broken out and the car suffered pretty significant body damage.
The rest of the crowd cheered on the hooligans as they attacked the officer’s SUV.
All of this was recorded on video by the participants themselves and uploaded to social media. The crowd can be heard cursing at the officer. One person can be heard yelling, “F*** the police, we run the streets!”
The officer wisely sped away at the first opportunity. He called for backup but apparently the crowd dispersed before any other officers arrived.
The Fresno Police Department is scanning the social media feeds in an attempt to identify suspects.
I would hope that any person who respects the laws of the land and orderly communities would be disgusted by what happened in Fresno.
The courage of the mob can be very strong.
I can’t predict if this is a sign of things to come or just an aberrant event.
We are all in some way impacted when the rule of the mob is allowed to operate without consequences.
When there is absolutely no respect for the authority of a police officer trying to do his job, it should be disconcerting for all of us.
Joe is a retired Anaheim Police Department captain. You can reach him at jvargas@behindthebadgeoc.com.
