What a beautiful city. How exciting. Precious time visiting my kids.
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Tripped, and down I went while strolling and sightseeing. Oh, no, tears — did I just hit my head? Oh, God, my elbow! I’m 700 miles from home. Within 20 seconds, I had three to four strangers helping me get up and caring for me.
One young man said, “I’m going for ice at my apartment.” When he returned three minutes later, he had a bag of frozen corn, Tylenol, two bottles of water and snack crackers! The kind lady from the Chicago City Day School brought a chair out to the sidewalk for me. I was so dizzy.
The next hero helped by calling my son and directing us to the nearest emergency room. I felt so cared for. Yes, I have many injuries and required elbow reconstruction surgery, but these beautiful humans helped mend my broken heart too.
My visit and touristy plans were canceled and I flew home early, but you can count on me going back to Chicago as soon as I heal! Thank you, my heroes. I don’t know your names, but I will never forget you. Selina Hoover, Fairhope, Alabama When a cop loses his cool, colleagues must act Here is what I observed from the bodycam video of Tyreek Hill’s detainment by Miami-Dade Police.
He gave his license to the officer and rolled up his window. The officer wanted the window to remain completely down. The officer escalated the situation because Hill kept raising his window.
Hill stated in a subsequent interview that he had raised the window to avoid gazing eyes from onlookers, which inevitably would have made it to the media. Plausible. I could easily go down the convenient slope of racial profiling, violating someone’s civil rights and potentially hurting your city’s team.
However, I did not write this to state the obvious. Instead, I have a query for law enforcement. These types of situations usually have a common component.
I am not talking about race. There is one police officer who overreacts while interacting with a civilian. There are other officers on the scene who typically maintain their calm but are placed in a position of defending the actions of a fellow officer.
In this case, other officers did not remain calm. More importantly, now the primary officer is being investigated. So, officers, why do you not stop the “doing too much” officer at the beginning of these exchanges? Seriously, is the blue code of silence worth your career and your legal peace? In a world where every human being has a camera in their hand, objective evidence for these interactions is now common.
Are officers in this country being trained in how to deal with another officer who overreacts in benign situations? Think of all the fewer violated civilians, legal exposure and money that could be saved by municipalities in these brutality cases if these scenarios are practiced. Jerrold Washington, Ashburn Tyreek Hill lost his cool We have public awareness campaigns for a host of things like tornado preparedness, suicide prevention and drunk driving. What recently happened with Miami Dolphins’ star wide receiver Tyreek Hill when stopped by police reinforces that we need one called “National Traffic Stop Day.
” In short, people need to know what to do — and not do — when pulled over by cops. It’s not complicated. When stopped, we should listen, obey all commands, and not mouth off.
That’s it. Frankly, had Hill done so, his encounter likely would have been quick and uneventful. As with many campaigns, perhaps an acronym will help.
How about COOL, as in stay COOL, which stands for: C: Civil. Be civil. Don’t mouth off.
O: Obey. Obey all commands. O: Open.
Open your window or door when asked. L: Listen. Listen to what the officer says.
Applied to Hill, he was not cool. Watch the tape. He was not civil, as he said to officers, “Don’t tell me what to do.
” He did not follow their simple commands but instead disobeyed them. He did not keep his window open. And he did not listen to them.
When pulled over by cops, we are not equals to them. Like it or not, they are in charge, not us. It’s not a time for political commentary or settling old scores or grievances.
Call me old school, but I blame Hill for what happened to him. If he simply listens to the officers — and doesn’t mouth off — he is issued a ticket and goes on his way. His behavior and mouth — not his race — did him in.
To be sure, there are rogue cops, and I am not so naive to think everyone is always treated the same. Yes, there is a shared responsibility, and cops can do better as well. But cops have tough jobs.
With every routine traffic stop their lives are on the line. Almost every cop wants their encounter with you to go as quickly and smoothly as you do. Besides entertaining us with his unbelievable athletic prowess, perhaps Hill can now serve to teach us even more off the field: namely, stay cool.
William Choslovsky, Sheffield Neighbors Why he supports Trump Reader Dan McGuire of Bensenville asked in letters to the editor Sept. 17 why “so many otherwise reasonable people” support Trump. I have a two-word answer: Kamala Harris.
Dave Tabel, Chicago Ridge.
