So once again a controversial police shooting is dominating the news headlines. Here’s what we know right now. On April 16th, there was an attempted armed robbery with a gun in Hamden, CT. The Hamden officer followed, what he believed to be the car wanted in connection with the robbery into the neighboring city of New Haven. A short time later, a Yale University police officer joined in with the Hamden officer and attempted to stop the suspect vehicle. The driver in the suspect vehicle begins to exit the vehicle, at which time the Hamden officer begins firing rounds at the vehicle in question. The female passenger in the suspect vehicle is struck by gunfire but fortunately survives. Preliminary investigation shows that the vehicle was not the one wanted in connection with Hamden’s investigation, and there was no weapon found in the vehicle.
It is my desire that people stop overreacting and actually wait for the details to come forth. Our society has been polarized by the narrative that cops are running around like the Wild West shooting at every shadow. I would encourage all to read some news articles, such as the New Haven Independent which contains the surveillance and body camera videos, as well as the audio of the BOLO (be on the lookout). Gathering information and actually understanding the facts should be primary in our modern day society. However, we are seeing the exact opposite, and this problem is continuing to polarize our society.
In the rush to be first and get the information out there, we are neglecting pertinent facts and landing on wild assumptions. This rush to be first makes us ALL prone to bad information. Instead of being patient and gathering facts, far too many are willing to listen to the earliest narrative and wholly trust that. Then they dig their heels in and become resistant to change their minds when more facts come to light. Take a moment and consider how many times in your life you have heard a story from a source, only to find out that many details were flat out wrong. I’ll wait.
Fortunately, the State Police held a news conference in order to quell any simmering of a cover-up and relieve the growing agitation of some crowds demanding justice. Taking to the streets in protest before we have all of the facts and reached a conclusion, seems counterproductive and tends to cause a collective eye roll from onlookers. I know it’s hard to just wait and see, but rushing to conclusions only causes harm in the long run.