The grand jury announcement this week that it would not be indicting the Cleveland police officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice less than two seconds after they exited their car sparked rage, fury and despair for those seeking justice.
Cleveland police officer Timothy Loehmann, after all, had killed a child in a playground for holding an air gun that shoots pellets.
But Loehmann said he was in fear for his life, which was all the grand jury needed to hear.
However, last week, a 66-year-old North Carolina woman named Elaine Rothenberg was arrested in front of a Connecticut police department while brandishing a pellet gun, taking a shooting stance near the doorway of the Torrington Police Department.
“What are you doing? Shoot me,” she told the cops according to news reports.
She also raised the gun and pointed it at officers, yelling “Boom, boom, boom.”
Then, as if daring them to shoot her, she yelled, “What are you going to do?”.
Normally, police would have shot and killed by before she had to chance to say boom, boom, boom.
But these cops held their gunfire and the woman eventually threw the gun down, allowing police to arrest her. She is now facing multiple charges, including reckless endangerment and interfering with police.
Police did not even feel the need to taser her or pepper spray her or beat her with a baton.
There are two ways to look at this. One, the police had every right to fire upon her, but perhaps Torrington police officers are better trained than Cleveland police officers. Or two, she was an older white lady instead of a younger black boy.
Either way, we are glad they did not shoot her, even if she was begging to be shot. But we are curious how they would have responded to the Tamir Rice call.
Here is their Facebook page in case you want to leave a comment.
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