The story of Edmon Burns versus the Maplewood and St. Louis Police Departments has sparked more local controversy than any story in recent memory. The following offhand comment by a news anchor, uttered the moment Burns was subdued by police, distorts the story as much as the incessant pontifications of ad hoc committees, columnists and commentators:
"They've [police] just spotted the chopper so they're gonna cool it."
This glib, prejudicial comment concocts the officers' self-acknowledged guilt: they stopped beating the suspect because they were caught on tape. Message to the media: you are not the judge and jury; the true story does not emerge in snap judgments. I salute KTVI for airing the entire eleven minute video. Careful scrutiny of the helicopter footage exonerates the officers, but convicts Burns and the shrill, race-baiting critics who hate cops and coddle criminals.
After allegedly using his car as a weapon against a police officer, Burns initiated a long car chase, endangering dozens of civilians. Burns' van was forced to a stop by a barricade of three police cars, then the suspect fled on foot. One can safely assume Burns fled in his car and on foot for obvious reasons: he thought the police would give up, he thought he could get away.
The foot chase was brief, but well-filmed: Burns was running at a good clip, and only one officer initially caught up to him. Careful examination of the video shows approximately 30 paces from the abandoned autos. At an adult male running stride of four feet, this equals 120 feet of foot chase. As the officers converged on him and wrestled him to the ground, Burns continued to resist arrest. The officers subdued the suspect with twenty seconds of flailing fists, nightsticks, and feet -- twenty seconds, that's the whole dust-up. Finally muscled into a prone position, his arms were forced behind his back and cuffed; game over. The officers looked up at the helicopters after they had the suspect under control; to impute their guilt is a machination.
The frog march across the field back to the police cruiser entailed 65 paces. At an adult male walking pace of three feet, this equals 195 feet, thus we can estimate the distance to be between 120 and 195 feet.
Here's the part you haven't heard about: Despite the horrific beating he supposedly received, including his ankle smashed into the ground, the suspect walks at a normal pace, head held high, without a stumble or even a loser's limp. Arriving at the cruiser, an officer directs Burns to stand or lean over the trunk to be searched. Burns disobeys the officers' commands, repeatedly turning around to get in their face despite repeated shoves towards the trunk. An audio tape would help, but his movements deliver a clear attitude on the video: Burns is defiant, running his mouth, does not seem injured. In his last recorded impudence, Burns resists entering the cruiser, and blocks the door so the officer cannot shut it. He was treated and released from the hospital.
Inquiries into this arrest are welcome and necessary to explain what happened that day, but prejudicial commentary against the arresting officers is unhelpful and distorts the facts on video. Do not fault the police for doing their job: chasing down and arresting a dangerous suspect with brazen disregard for the law and civilians he endangered. If he had escaped, his triumphal laughter would have reverberated loudly to embolden the criminal element in our midst. That is not helpful to our community.
How many of you pontificators have actually been beaten up by a cop? I once had the misfortune of being in the wrong city, wrong car, wrong driver, and had guns shoved in my face and the butt of a shotgun crack a rib. I can still remember the smell and texture of the pavement as I was knocked to the ground. I was cooperating fully with the adrenaline-pumped officer's demands, thus it was completely unwarranted aggression. The four rather well-dressed white people in the car came away with an incontrovertible lesson: don't run away from the police--they deserve our respect, they are the law.
