The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department may or may not respond on behalf of young African Americans who find their safety in jeopardy. If they choose not to, it gets harder to blame them after the incident that occurred at Mt. Vernon Missionary Baptist Church. Police Sgt. Matthew Grimes was injured when he intervened to stop a fight that was set up to test whether a white officer would care enough to respond to black-on-black crime.

During the presentation, an altercation broke out in the crowd, and Grimes intervened. The officer was thrown to the ground and drew his Taser, ready to stun one of the people involved, police said. At that point, someone stepped in and told the officer that the incident had been concocted to test the reaction of the officer to the situation, police said. Grimes suffered severe back spasms after the incident and was taken to Methodist Hospital for treatment.

(HT: Channel 6 News, Indianapolis)

The Minister of the church, James Harrington, set up the fight to test the white officer’s reaction. Not only is he obnoxious, but apparently, he doesn’t belief those of the Caucasian Persuasion feel pain the way his kind does.

James Harrington, pastor of the Mt. Vernon Missionary Baptist Church, said he set up the scenario to test a white officer’s reaction to a fight between two black men. Harrington denied that the officer was injured.

This reminds me of a story Fred Reed wrote as a police reporter for the Washington Times. He described the letters he received from white officers who had to police the ghetto. At the time, they were getting hammered for racial profiling every time they attempted to “protect and serve” on a suspected perpetrator.

Fred — After having read your article on 11/20/00 I have to state that YES!! We on the P.G.P.D for the most part are now looking the other way. After almost [deleted] years on the job I find this disheartening but a necessary fact to survive in today’s, what appears to most officers, an ANTI-POLICE environment. We are even being told by some supervisors to keep a low profile so “you’re not next on the front page”! I became a police officer to help people [deleted] years ago in P.G. County . . . but I now share the attitude of most officers, just let them eat each other, we have to survive.

(HT: Fred Reed)

Just let them eat each other. Is that really what our national leaders want? Is that what Barack Obama was trying for when he accused the Cambridge Massachusetts Police of overreaction against Dr. Gates? The cameras may have rolled and President Obama may have indulged in the petty theater of a beer summit with the principals involved, but it takes a little more for people to risk life and limb. It takes a sense that they have a chance of keeping their career intact before a police officer is really going to care if you or I can safely walk down the streets.

Just maybe, that is what took place recently near where I went to college undergrad, in Richmond, Va. It seems a naked man got beaten outside a bar in the Fan neighborhood. A witness shot a video of the assault. The police, thus far, have shown no interest in the proceedings. If the man was stupid enough to go out on the street naked, perhaps Richmond VA’s Finest believe the perpetrators did society a favor. Just let them eat each other. Predators thin the herd.

If the police stop caring, America’s cities become unlivable. We tried that in the 1970′s. We do not want to go back to that again. At least we won’t have to worry about profiling. Nobody takes undue concern in the activities of a moldering corpse.

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