Daily BrewBlack Ontario police officer faces misconduct charge for not reporting racial taunt
From now on, everyone should overreact to everything, because turning the other cheek just doesn’t seem worth it anymore. File a complaint, call a lawyer, clog up the court system. Finally, there is proof that rationality has abandoned us entirely.
A black Ontario police officer is facing misconduct charges for not investigating racial taunts spat his way during a tense investigation.
The Toronto Star reports that Const. Dameian Muirhead faces charges under the Police Act for the way he handled being racially taunted, including one person who shouted he "would love to see that guy (Muirhead) hanging from a tree.”
You see, he handled it by turning the other cheek. Forgiving and forgetting. Taking the higher ground.
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The bizarre case began when Muirhead and other York Regional Police officers investigated a bush party in May 2011. They were looking for a suspect who had struck a woman with an off-road vehicle, and were met with hostility by more than a dozen partygoers who had been drinking, according to Muirhead.
One of them — a charming fellow to be sure — filed a complaint against him because Muirhead would not speak with him as he wrote down licence plate numbers. The man's leather jacket also fell on the ground during the search.
Which is the worst thing that has ever happened in the history of mankind.
During Muirhead's misconduct trial he said partygoers hurled racial taunts, including the aforementioned "hanging from a tree" statement. But because he had not reported them, apparently a requirement, he has been charged with misconduct.
Muirhead should be commended, not punished for taking the high ground. Faced with 15 hostile drunk people, officers could have been forgiven for reacting in kind, placing such people under arrest or at least detaining them during their search. Muirhead could have exacted revenge for the lynching comment. He handled himself with impressive restraint.
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The National Post's Chris Selley has an interesting take on the subject, contrasting it to the endless parade of human rights complaints and demands for redress we see these days.
The Bible isn’t especially popular as a policy-making manual these days, but there’s some good philosophical advice in there. If someone slaps your right cheek, offer him your left — we still teach children that. Do not meet violence with violence. Sticks and stones, and so on.
Too often, sadly, modern Canadian society urges citizens to seek non-violent redress where they might easily make do with none.
It doesn't take much to make the high ground seem less than appealing. Rising above the fray should be a reward of its own. It shouldn't require a reward. Then again, it shouldn't end in punishment either.
