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Thursday, April 13, 2006

Car thief hits lottery, posthumously

Congratulations Brian Dunn, attorney for the family of teenage car thief Devin Brown, who tried to run over a policeman a year ago, and was shot by the officer trying to protect himself . I hope the few hundred thousand dollars you and the Cochran law firm will receive as a result of the expected $1.5-million settlement from the taxpayers of Los Angeles is worth the damage this and similar cases have done to urban law enforcement.

Our mayor wants to hire a thousand new officers. Even though your picture will never be on a recruiting advertisement, you will certainly be on the minds of young citizens as they choose a career of service to protect society from the hoodlums whose favor you seek.

That goes double for the jelly backboned police commission which can’t make up its mind whether a cop is supposed to use his training and God-given judgment to make a life-and-death decision, or call “time out” so he can consult a policy manual of obtuse regulations.

What is a cop supposed to do now, if a criminal drives a car toward him? Even if it’s going only two miles an hour, it’s still a lethal weapon.

Why wasn’t any blame attached to the mother, for letting her little future gang banger out on the streets, stealing a car at 4 o’clock in the morning? Does bad parenting have no consequences?

What kind of message does it send to the community to award the family of a thief a million and a half dollars?

What will potential future police officers feel about joining a force where their city has no interest in backing them up when they do their duty or try to protect themselves?

Los Angeles would be better off fighting these cases, and running the risk of paying out a few more million, than simply giving up. There are times when principle is worth fighting for. If our city attorney doesn’t have the talent in his office to challenge such a case, then he should contract the case out to a law firm that does, as does the school board and other municipal entities.

Even if the trial collected a jury that was hopelessly ignorant of right from wrong, the city could appeal to whatever level it took to obtain justice. If the city never prevailed, at least we would have the satisfaction of knowing we were on the side of honor and our protectors in blue.

17 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Boy - the little Latina illegal alien girl turns out to be more of a facist than the old, dead Republican RINO mayor himself.

April 13, 2006 10:59 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

"Los Angeles would be better off fighting these cases, and running the risk of paying out a few more million, than simply giving up."

Yes, but then that would ruin the city's reputation as a slot machine for plaintiff's attorneys wouldn't it.

April 14, 2006 2:07 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Jennifer you go girl!! Good for you stating the truth. John Mack prez of police commission was at that same commission with the radical blacks threatening to burn down this city and demanding the officer get fired. Their decision was political to calm downt the blacks. Thank you Jennifer for stating the obvious. Who the hell wants to join a dept. when the electeds never support their officers. Rewarding criminals for their behavior absolutely sends the wrong message. You forgot that little Devin had marijuana in his system.

April 14, 2006 6:55 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Ms. Solis.. That was WONDERFUL! Now you're giving me something to look forward to. I'm tired of people not taking responsibility for their children's actions. We should send that mother to jail! I don't want any of my tax money going to some irresponsible mother who's just gonna go out and spend that money. I'm glad that cop protected himself, cause there's no way in hell that the city would have tried to protect him and that is obvious! I'm am extremely disappointed now.This city can't even protect the one's that protect us. Suppose that kid would have ran over an innocent child. Then it would still be the police dept.'s fault and not the mother who should have known where her son was.

April 14, 2006 7:34 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Good lord, I couldn't believe my eyes. Someone actually speaking up in defense of the LAPD?!? I had to read this post twice to be sure my eyes weren't deceiving me.

Glad to know I'm not alone in my outrage over this settlement. Thanks for the post, Jennifer!

April 14, 2006 9:37 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Next item-ban lawsuits against civil servants and departments.

Waste of Money and prosecution usually liars and thiefs.

April 14, 2006 10:52 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

The little Devil Devin will end up like Rodney King after his winnings.

On Drugs, several arrests, wife beater, broke.

The story never changes. Once a criminal always a criminal.

April 14, 2006 10:54 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Posters

Many bloggers agree with Jennifer. Don't label every Angeleno against Cops.

Jennifer magnificent post

April 14, 2006 10:57 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

10:54
The kid got killed. His mother will enjoy his winnings. Hopefully she puts that money towards a foundation that raises the awareness of responsible parenting. Yeah right! Like that would ever happen. I'd like to be proved wrong.

April 14, 2006 11:02 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Killed? Boy was I wrong! The mom will smoke money on crack.

She's responsible for his death

April 14, 2006 11:20 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Finally logic on these posts. Good going Jennifer. It took a real woman to be intelligent on here Mayor Sam no offense to you. Watch all the black activists come out of the woodwork if city council doesn't give in. Let's see which council members have the guts to stand strong and say "NO." There's a lot of people who support LAPD but unfortunately, they don't let their voices be heard. Everyone on these posts should tell 3 people and start sending e-mails to city council members telling them NOT to vote on gving up that $1.5 mil to an irresponsible mother.

April 14, 2006 3:54 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

you guys are all losers, and i bet the cop was right to shoot that marine in ontario too huh?

admit there are bad cops and good cops. just wait till they gun down your children for joyriding. Oh but i guess they would deserve it huh?

good going jennifer, they are even calling you an illegal alien..you can see you cant win with these racists

PicoGrl

April 14, 2006 6:25 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

great post!

April 14, 2006 11:29 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Look, a car traveling a 2mph is NOT a lethal weapon when boxed in by a squad car.

If your going to make an argument, at least have the sense to keep it on this side of the moon.

April 15, 2006 12:04 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

No one is saying there aren't bad cops. However, there are far more good ones that do positive things in the communities. You never read or see those stories cause the local media is so bias and unfair. More and more people are turning to cable news because without a doubt LA has the worst news coverage of credible news stories.

April 15, 2006 8:23 AM  

Blogger Ron Buckmire said:

I'm shocked Devin Brown's mom is settling for $1.5 million. If Cochran was still around you know it would be 5-10 times as much, and well-deserved for the death of a 13-yearold child.

What are cops supposed to do if a car is backing towards them at 10 mph? Get the f*** out of the way and shoot the wheels.

The new Police Commission policy makes it very clear.

April 15, 2006 8:03 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

MadProfessah,

You defend yourself! This is what cops must do!

April 16, 2006 11:52 PM  

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