Letters to the editor for Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014

Disagreeing with Statham on Ferguson shooting

After reading Bo Statham’s commentary in the opinion page of the Aug. 21 Nevada Appeal, I would like to make a comment myself.

I agree that our nation is suffering from a moral decline. We, as a nation, have turned our backs on the Biblical values that this country was founded on. No parent should have to bury a child for any reason. And every law enforcement officer, whether they serve in a city police department, sheriff’s department or highway patrol, looks forward to being able to go home to their family at their end of watch.

Mr. Statham stated, and I quote, “Chief Jackson has not alleged Mr. Brown was armed or Officer Wilson was threatened with imminent bodily harm immediately before the shooting occurred.”

As a lawyer, Mr. Statham, how do you conclude no bodily harm when the officer was injured? To me, this leads to believe the officer was fighting for his gun with Mr. Brown (who is reported to have been much larger than the officer), and feared for his life as they struggled inside the officer’s vehicle.

Instead of rushing to judgement by crying police brutality, let’s wait until all the facts are in. Mr. Brown is alleged to have committed a crime. What about the store owner who was violated a second time when the store was looted and destroyed his business? Where is the justice in that?

Patricia Rikalo

Minden

Another who disagrees with Statham

Bo Statham’s article pretty much repeated what the biased media is saying. I don’t think it showed much research on the issue. However, I agree with him about the nation’s moral character being in question; I think it is not moral to allegedly rob a store, to attack a police officer, to attempt to steal his weapon or to riot, causing injuries and damaging and looting stores.

I spent four hours researching what I could find about police officers shooting citizens. There were two incidents unreported by the mainstream media — a reported black police officer in Salt Lake City killing an unarmed man — and a black police officer in Orange, Texas, killing an unarmed white man.

Mr. Statham also stated that police officers killed 104 black victims per year and did it for seven years ending in 2012.

The closest I could come to that figure was a statistic quoted by a black commentator that 18 black victims were killed by police officers during a three-month period in 2012.

Keep in mind Michael Brown was 6-feet-4-inches and weighed 290 plus pounds, already allegedly seriously assaulted the police officer and was approaching him again. Have you thought about what you would do in that same situation?

Don Gurney

Carson City