Sheriff’s defense of deputy was the right decision

PREFACE: I am not a law enforcement officer, nor do I have family or friends who are LEOs. I am also a Democrat, so the following will seem out of character.

(The Journal) editorial of Oct. 14 chastising (Bernalillo County) Sheriff Manuel Gonzales was at best one-sided, at worst ignorant.

(It said) the deputy pulled a gun, “a prescription for disaster, and a clear escalation of what should have been a traffic stop and arrest.” Have you forgotten (Albuquerque Police Department) officer (Daniel) Webster? Have you forgotten (Rio Rancho Police) officer (Gregg) Benner? Both should have been traffic stops and arrests. Neither was. You stated that the bikers’ defense was that the “hand gestures displayed were middle fingers” not gang signs, as if middle fingers are less threatening. Perhaps, but it certainly wasn’t the proper response to a “traffic stop.”

(It said) “Anyone who has taken a rudimentary gun class. … .” How can (the Journal)begin to compare law enforcement’s extensive training and the unpredictable and dangerous situations they face every day to an average Joe or Jane attending a “rudimentary gun class”?

As for the question of whether officers should be required to wear body cams, (the Journal is) ignoring an important fact. Yes, these recordings can be used to exonerate officers. They can also be used to weed out bad officers. But they are too often used to second guess over weeks and months, and after a slowmotion, frame-by-frame analysis, a decision that an officer must make in less than a second. That’s a fact that the media and other armchair quarterbacks conveniently ignore.

Here are some facts that we did see in the video. The bikers didn’t stop when approached by law enforcement’s marked car. They not only continued their illegal and dangerous actions, but also flipped off the officers. The bikers’ actions certainly seemed more threatening than what officer Webster and officer Benner initially faced. What was the deputy supposed to do? Wait until a bystander was hurt? Wait until a bystander was killed? Wait until another officer was killed in the line of duty?

Sheriff Gonzales was right to defend his/our deputy. JULIE ANDERSON Albuquerque