This doesn't qualify as 'fail', more "!(#(%a^^! idiocy"

Jared and Rose Cleerdin found themselves right in the middle of a shootout at what should have been a routine DWI checkpoint.  Days after the dramatic shootout in Brunswick County, they are still shaken by what they saw. 

"Every cop turned around and started unloading like super trigger happy as if their training was coming into full effect and they were being able to utilize it," said Cleerdin. "Everybody was just blasting this car to pieces. It was absolutely terrifying."

Dug around and found this article with what's supposed to have happened.   Better to go read it than me take excerpts.  It's... interesting.  See what you think.


Over at Sipsey there's a long one on the subject of 'if our society goes completely pear-shaped'.  Right now just going to borrow this one thing; next time someone says something like "One infantry platoon could step on a whole neighborhood/town if the right-wingers start something!", point them to it.  It's about the immediate aftermath of Lexington.  And remember that Capt. John Parker had said beforehand Stand your ground. Don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.
But after the British onslaught and the militia "unassed the a.o." as they say in certain quarters today, the colonials were treated to British cheers and an 800 musket volley of celebration. As David Hackett Fischer described it in Paul Revere's Ride:

In the houses and woods along the road, the people of Lexington listened bitterly to the British cheers and began to count their dead. seven Lexington men had been killed and also one of the Yankee prisoners taken on the road, the unlucky Woburn man who was shot while "trying to escape." Nine other Lexington men were wounded, some severely. The toll was heavy in that small town. Eight pairs of fathers and sons had mustered on the Common. Five of those eight were shattered by death. Most families in that small community suffered the loss of a kinsman -- if not a father or son, then an uncle or cousin.

As the British troops disappeared into the west, the people of the town gathered on the Common. There was at first a sense of shock, a terrible numb and empty feeling of cruel and bitter loss. Then there was another raw emotion: deep, consuming, abiding anger. The people of Lexington asked themselves, who were these arrogant men in their proud red coats? By what right did they act as they did?

Other militiamen were now arriving from the far corners of the town. Those who had slept through the alarm began to appear, weapons in hand. Captain Parker mustered his company once again on the bloody ground. There were not sixty militia as before, but twice that number. The men were silent, grim and pensive. Most had lost friends and relatives only a few minutes before. Some wore bloody bandages. A few had faces and shirts blackened by powder stains. Their weapons were no better than before, but they replenished their ammunition from the dwindling store in the meetinghouse.

This time there were no consultations of debates. With a few terse words of command, Captain Parker ordered his company to fall in. The men were no longer in doubt about what to do. They were ready to give battle again, but on different terms.
He emphasizes that 'different terms'; the regulars found out real soon what that meant.  And if the people hoping to have cops and troops fire on people like us had any freakin' idea of the consequences, any understanding of history, well, they wouldn't be hoping for that.


Back to LEOs behaving downright idiotically, I present Humane Officer Barry Accorti and CoP Mike Freeman.
After signing the appropriate paperwork, the humane officer made his way to the backyard, found the kittens hidden in the woodpile, went to his truck, got a gun, and proceeded to shoot each kitten in front of the homeowner and her small children.
And the CoP?
“After visiting the scene, talking with the responding officer and re-interviewing the complainant, I have decided his actions were appropriate and have decided not to impose any disciplinary measures for the incident. We will talk with the humane officers about improving their communications with the public.”
What level of 'Fucking Idiocy' does it take for him to find this to be 'appropriate', and that 'improving communications' is the fix?