The high price Philadelphia lawyer is telling the media that the police chief's son
would never pull a gun on a cop. Well, actually, he did, that's why he's on trial. The cops were undercover, and the defense is saying that he didn't point the gun at them, he only
displayed it, because he felt threatened. I don't know if the defendant really felt threatened, but the detectives did, and drove in reverse to get out of harm's way. The father, between the lines, suggested that perhaps his son is actually the victim of racial profiling. If Allentown needed a national search to find a police chief was questionable. If Allentown needed to import a former Philadelphia cop from Texas is questionable. If we need a police chief defending his son's aggression with the race card is not questionable.
photo from The Morning Call
UPDATE: "He is not some thug, not some bum," McMahon said. "He is a man of character, a man of integrity, a man of honesty Thus spoke the expensive Philadelphia criminal lawyer today about his client. However, the defense is mostly referencing the father's supposed character, as if the son must have the same traits.
I don't disagree with your assessment of Allentown's need to import a police chief. However, I don't remember the father making the profiling allegation (I do remember the son's attorney suggesting that).
ReplyDeleteBut I have the feeling there is much more to this story:
Possibly at the heart of it is the supposed friction between the police chief and the Lehigh County DA.
County detectives, supposedly on the way to serve a warrant, following the Chief's son for miles because of his DRIVING? Never mind that county detectives can't make traffic stops.
I think the real story starts a long time before a gun was pulled and pointed or not pointed. I don't know that we'll get an explanation for those larger questions during the trial, but I sure hope we do.
@7:44, when the father was asked by the press, right after the arrest, if he felt racial profiling was involved, he declined to answer. he also hired the lawyer, and is partner to the legal strategy being used. the son was not being followed, much less for miles. the detectives just happen to be behind him on greenleaf, and then also turn north on 7th. the son was not stopped by the police; he stopped them, by slamming on his brakes, and jumping out of his car with a gun. he's lucky that the detectives didn't shoot him. it's unacceptable for a police chief to introduce such an insinuation in a community which has been spared such accusations, despite a substantial minority population.
ReplyDeleteHere's the thing:
ReplyDeleteA Department of Corrections employee is always a potential target for a vendetta-just like a police officer can be targeted. Even family members who are not employed as Law Enforcement Officers are targeted. This is one of the well known risks inherent with the job. If the undercover officers were in an unmarked car (presumably), I can understand how them tailing the Chief's son could be considered a potential threat. But here is where it sort of falls down: why stop? Why exit the car and present yourself to engage in who knows what kind of encounter? How exactly is that kind of response to an unknown carload of people supposed to end well? Isn't the advice given in these circumstances to drive yourself to a ..POLICE STATION? Didn't the Chief's son have a cell phone to call for help? Come on.
Second- the above scenario isn't even the one being put forward by the defense- it's something even more ludicrous. *Racial Profiling*...really? This is the whine you're going to get when you trot some troll in from Chicago or Los Angeles or Baltimore to assume that all of those cities issues are exactly as they are here. How is it supposed to be racial profiling when the undercover officers run your tags and see who they are actually tailing? Are we to believe that they decided to *racial profile* the son of the Chief of the Allentown Police Department?
You guys are killing me here.
I find it refreshing that our local media is actually covering a criminal trial.The readers can get a feel for what goes on in the Court House every day of thr year.As to the impact on L.V. culture the story gets delicate.If I was on the jury it would be the task of trying to determine the difference of pulling the weapon rather than pointing it.Good luck with that.It would seem if I were the Police Chief I would want an excellent working relationship with the D.A.'s office rather than a hostile working enviroment.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all this new police chief was a political advantageous appointment by the very delirious mayor for life Ed Pawlowski. He needed a minority to head his department for future political gains. This appointment cost $30,000 more a year, with a $9,000 increase the following year, to show he is diverse in hiring. Because of this failed appointment, Allentown is saddled with a high price Chief of Police, who only speaks when something is positive and never managed a police department greater than seventy-five [75] members, is at the helm of the department with no new programs and is severely undermanned! He makes the previous police administration, who cow-towed to every Pawlowski whim, look efficient; which we all know was a money grab through a very lucrative DROP pension program. As far as the Chief's son involved with the traffic incident, I guess he never heard of the word compliance. Something which evades our minority community today!
ReplyDeleteMM,
ReplyDeleteIn allentowns search with all its powerpoint advantages we would think that particular think tank would put the prereqwisites as such, honor, integrity than last but far not least self control as assets to the search engine¿
I am still thinking of how Pat Brown actually fell down on the on ramp¿
redd
patent pending
Does the son have a permit? You just can't go driving around with a loaded firearm, in the passenger compartment, without a carry permit.
ReplyDelete