It did not take long for violence to engulf cities across America as the lethal shootings of Daunte Wright and Adam Toledo have become the two newest cause célèbres in the war on police. Minneapolis, Chicago, and New York saw violent clashes between “protesters” and police Friday night and — if the pattern holds true to form — other cities will likely soon follow. But, as before, the exploitation of both of these police shootings is much more about a false narrative than any real disregard for human life on the part of police officers involved.
The New American has already addressed the accidental shooting of Daunte Wright in previous articles (here, here, and here). As those articles show, any honest person looking at the known facts of that shooting would see that Officer Potter intended to deploy her Taser, but instead accidentally drew her firearm. What followed was tragic, but was not the murder of someone who was “driving while black.”
Adam Toledo’s case is arguably all the more tragic because of his young age. He was 13 years old on March 29 — the day his life ended. Barely pubescent and dead from a sucking chest wound in a dirty Chicago alley, Toledo’s life was over before it had really begun. The sadness and outrage felt by many are understandable. This writer shares those feelings.
And someone has to be to blame.
But, that is where this writer parts company with many others who feel sadness and outrage. Because the order of the day is to blame police — all of them, not just the officer who fired the shot. Cue the riots. Burn this racist system to the ground. Demand justice — just don’t stop to think about what justice means or what it requires.
Daily Mail is reporting:
Violent clashes erupted in Minneapolis, Chicago, New York and across the nation after initially peaceful anti-police protests descended into chaos on Friday night.
Thousands gathered on streets across America to demonstrate the fatal police shootings of black men Adam Toledo and Daunte Wright.
But as the night went on, skirmishes and clashes broke out between protesters and cops, leading to dozens of arrests and multiple injuries.
Riot season is starting earlier this year this year than last year.
This time the mantras being trotted out are some variation of “Cops Murder Children.” Those mantras are part of an overarching false narrative that deliberately ignores the facts of Toledo’s shooting. The facts are easy to know; Just watch the video. (Viewer discretion is advised — the video is disturbing and shows the death of a child.)
What is clear from the video is that of the two people involved in this shooting, one of them acted criminally and in a way to endanger others, while the other acted in accordance with the law, his training, police procedure, and in defense of himself and the public.
Toledo can be seen running from the the police. A gun can be seen in his hand. At the time that the officer orders him, “Show me your fu**ing hands! Drop it! Drop it,” Toledo tosses the gun behind the fence in a behind-the-back pitch unseen by the officer and quickly raises his hands toward the officer. At that exact moment, the officer — who undoubtedly realizes that a teenage boy with a gun is just as dangerous as a grown man with a gun — fires once, striking Toledo in the chest.
The officer then immediately rushes to assist Toledo, showing grave concern and doing all he can to save the boy.
The gun is shown where Toledo tossed it, behind the fence.
So, what led to this shooting? Although the liberal media and liberal politicians have made a major case of the fact that Toledo was not holding a gun at the exact moment when the police officer fired, they have conveniently ignored what happened earlier — including less than one second earlier, when Toledo tossed the gun outside of the line of sight of the officer, as confirmed by the officer’s body camera.
Leading up to the shooting, Toledo was roaming the streets of Chicago at nearly three o’clock in the morning (something his mother admits, saying he would sneak out as she slept) in the company of 21-year-old Ruben Roman. Roman is reported to be part of the Latin Kings, a Chicago street gang. Roman and Toledo were walking toward 24th street when Roman fired multiple shots at a passing car. A police ShotSpotter detector registered the shots and officers were dispatched. Roman passed the gun to Toledo and the two ran from officers.
The video above shows the events as the officer chasing Toledo caught up to him. In the dark, the pursuing officer was faced with a criminal suspect who had a gun in his hand the last time the officer saw his hand, which, as stated above, was less than one second before the shooting. Toledo made furtive movements before suddenly raising his hand to the officer, and the officer fired.
This is a clear case of a video that — when watched by an honest person looking at it objectively — shows a reasonable officer acting in a reasonable way to protect his life and public safety. The problem is what happens when it is watched by a dishonest person with an anti-police ax to grind. Unfortunately, such a person sees what he wants to see.
When the video was released to the public on Thursday, April 15, it was immediately added to the arsenal of the anti-police crowd. With one voice, it seemed, liberal media, leftist activists, and liberal politicians (but then perhaps this writer repeats himself) decried the video as proof that the officer murdered Toledo.
By Friday evening, Toledo’s death was already a battle cry in the war on civilization — of which the war on police is but a subsidiary part. Riots and violence predictably followed. It appears that no matter what crime a person commits — even violent and life-threatening crimes — if that person happens to be black or brown, any action on the part of police will be condemned. Action is condemned; inaction would be condemned. The police truly are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
And while someone has to be to blame, it is not the police officer who acted inappropriately.
This writer will plead guilty to ignorance of Toledo’s personal life. Ditto the the struggle his mother faced raising him. There is no mention of his father in any news reports. The streets of cities are a hard place to raise a boy. But, perhaps the first place to look when seeking to place the blame would be a culture that — bolstered by liberal policies — promotes fatherlessness and glamorizes crime and gang life. Perhaps Toledo’s mother was doing all she could to rein Adam in. If so, it turned out not to be enough to counteract the corrupting influences pulling Toledo in a self-destructive direction.
Unless the victim subjects of liberal politicians stop blaming the police and look to the real issues — those of a culture of death — for the answers, Adam Toledo will be followed by many more just like him. Because while some Adam Toledos are shot and killed by police, crime statistics show that exponentially more of them are shot and killed by each other.
