Sometimes police are not at fault
On March 31, three teenage girls drowned in a pond in a stolen vehicle while law enforcement officers stood by, feeling vindicated that the criminals in question were receiving their due punishment… or at least that’s what media capitalizing on police brutality would like you to believe. Around 4 a.m. March 31, a deputy observed a stolen vehicle driving without its lights on, at which time he attempted to pull the vehicle over. After he attempted to stop them, the teens in question decided to run from the police. During their escape they missed a sharp turn and launched themselves into a pond. After such time, the police officers attempted to go in to rescue them from the sinking vehicle, but soon discovered they were sinking and getting tangled in the vegetation, not to mention the absolute lack of visibility.
The three teenage girls that were in the vehicle all had previous existing criminal records of stealing vehicles, and while the families are devastated, I fail to see how their death falls on the shoulders of the law enforcement officers. The officers attempted to save the girls, were unable to due to the hazards presented, and these criminals died as a consequence of their own actions. The media coverage of this incident thus far has consisted of smearing the police and sheriff’s department and creating this false narrative in which the teenagers who drowned were victims of police brutality. However, these girls were engaging in criminal activity, running from the police in a stolen vehicle at 4 in the morning, and then died as a consequence of their own illegal actions.
When questioned, one of the girls’ mothers stated, “My daughter was not perfect. What 15-year-old is?”
I can’t help but find her statement to be entirely irresponsible as a parent. Acting out as a teenager is entirely normal, rebelling against authority and all that; however, stealing vehicles and committing crimes is beyond the normal scope of “teenage rebellion” and it cannot be justified. Sheriff Bob Gualtieri spoke out against misinformation and poor sources during the press conference, stating that the press had been provided with all the dashcam footage and reports proving the deputies had gone into the water to save the girls, and dashcam footage from the surrounding deputies, and then social media outlets decided to publish videos from deputies at the perimeter that had not gone into the water in an attempt to be misleading and suit the story to their own agenda. And while I understand police corruption and abuse of power are a hot-button topic, the manipulation of evidence and documentation in order to click bait people online is irresponsible.