The Times isn’t overly concerned with the fact that the cooler-throwing sergeant was defending himself and other officers from being run over by a 30-year-old drug-dealer coming directly at them on a gas-powered motorcycle. If they’d died or been injured, no big deal. Definitely not front-page material.
"There’s been some dissension recently about the three-to-nine-year prison sentence handed down by a New York judge to former police sergeant, Erik Duran, for throwing a plastic beverage cooler at a fleeing suspect in the Bronx. The cooler hit the perp in the arm, causing him to lose control of his motorcycle, crash and die. The harsh sentence was uncharacteristic for Supreme Court Justice Guy Mitchell, who a few years earlier gave only nine months to a guy who beat a homeless man to death." . . .
. . . "Most significantly, the judge said that sending Sergeant Duran to prison would be “a general deterrent.” I guess now police officers will think twice before trying to stop fleeing felons by throwing picnic items at them!
"This gave me an idea for how we might disincentivize psychopaths who commit violent, completely unprovoked attacks on innocent people, slash pedestrians with machetes, rape women on subway platforms, push commuters onto train tracks and other piquant behaviors that have become commonplace in New York.
"Prison sentences might work as “general deterrent” on them, too.
"Last month, a transgender illegal alien pleaded guilty to raping a 14-year-old boy in the bathroom of a Harlem bodega — and was promptly released by Judge Michele Rodney. (Named “Jurist of the Year,” by the Caribbean American Lawyers Association!)
"Wouldn’t punishing the rapist, instead of letting him go, operate as a general deterrent to other men thinking of raping 14-year-old boys?
"Eighteen-year-old gang member, Steven Mendez, got probation for participating in a violent 2020 armed robbery and shooting — his second arrest for assault with a firearm. Not long thereafter, the extremely undeterred Mendez murdered a complete stranger, 19-year-old college student Saikou Koma, by shooting him in the head.
"Had Mendez gotten something a little rougher than probation for his earlier violent crimes, we would have had both specific deterrence — Mendez would have been in prison, not on the street shooting a college student in the head — but also general deterrence, for any other psychos considering shooting passersby for absolutely no reason.
"Speaking of deterrence, shouldn’t Sergeant Duran be commended for dissuading bikers like Duprey from ignoring the helmet law?" .
"I think I’ll run my breakthrough idea up the flagpole with the new mayor, citing Justice Mitchell as my inspiration." . . . Full article...
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