They’re the Only Ones saving jumpers

Two Orange County Sheriff’s Deputies and one California Highway Patrolman risk their lives to save freeway jumper.

The woman slipped, lost her footing and dangled over the freeway while  (Deputy) Wehrli and (CHP) Rand clung to her clothes and fingers, Dwyer said. (Deputy) Gunsolley climbed the fence to help, and more deputies grabbed their colleagues to keep them from slipping.

Now that is some crazy Hollywood style police action there, a suicidal woman trying to jump off a 50 foot bridge into rush hour traffic below, and three cops are holding on to her by her fingertips.  Excellent work on the part of these three brave officers, they’re a credit to their respective departments.   I’m quite pleased to know that there are cops out there willing to risk their lives to help people…even if those people may not necessarily want help, like the jumper in question.

I’ll be the first person to admit that there are some bad apples out there – cops aren’t perfect, and they’re not saints.  But they’re also not devils.  That’s my problem with the original Only Ones meme – it reminded me of the tactics of the anti-gun groups.  Think about the parallel for a moment.  Every time a gun owner crosses the line and commits a crime, the Brady Campaign et al blast it all over their front page, and use it as an excuse to paint all gun owners with the same brush.  The same could be said for the Only Ones thing, except that instead of law-abiding gun owners getting smeared, it was cops.

Ultimately, cops aren’t any better or any worse than the rest of us, and I it is important to remember and remind people that a few bad apples do not spoil the whole batch.

13 Comments

  1. You know what I hate?

    People who are so self centered that their attempt (poorly executed as it was) at suicide endangers the lives of others. This dozey cow was so focused on her own personal tragedy (they probably cancelled her favorite soap opera) that she had absolutely no regard for the safety and well being of the unsuspecting motorists she was about to drop down on like a ton of bricks.

    If it weren’t for the actions of these “only ones” there would have been many more injuries, likely several more fatalities and untold thousands of dollars in property damage. Go team po-lice!

    Now take her out back and shoot her. Everybody’s happy!

    Joe

  2. What are you talking about? They did nothing more than any citizen who happened upon the scene would do. Brave? Hardly. And, if these cops are so pure, so good, so wonderful and only a few “bad apples” are giving them a bad reputation, why aren’t we finding the bad ones face down in a ditch? Why do the “good” one protect the “few bad apples” ? Your premise is faulty.

  3. Bill,

    They were on an overpass, I’m sure that more than one honest citizen drove by, and none of them stopped to help.

    As to why the good cops protect the bad apples, it’s not always as cut and dry as you think – a lot of the time the good cops don’t protect the bad apples, and then the bad apples end up out of a job, like the guys in Florida who were fired recently.

  4. a lot of the time the good cops don’t protect the bad apples

    Or you have systemic problems and patterns of abuse and cover ups, like in Chicago:

    We’re sending Aldermen to jail in this city (they’re deputized police) for corruption.

    We hadPolice “hit squads” that dealt drugs and robbed with impunity while brother officers CYA’d for ’em…

    On the flip side you have the rank and file working overtime because the city won’t pay for training, equipment, pensions, etc. On top of that they get roasted by the city and the brass for shooting genuine bad guys and doing their job. Its not hard to see why these guys go bad… The incentive is strong to not “do the right thing”.

    In the past, I trained and shoot with a lot of CPD, but I’d be a fool to trust each one I got to know… Bottom line? “The police aren’t your friends” and “Don’t talk to the police!”

  5. It doesn’t take a law degree to understand the words “Shall not be infringed”. You only need to know basic English grammar, to know that ALL gun control laws violate the 2A. Yet everyday “the only ones” are enforcing those laws. Why? Because it’s their job, because they have to follow orders or get fired, because their paycheck and that big fat pension is more important to them than upholding the Right and living up to that oath they swore to defend the Constitution. The old excuse of “I was just following orders” didn’t cut it in ’45 and it doesn’t cut it now. Make no mistake, “the only ones” are the servants of the government and not the people and the people have not been the government for decades. Some day “the only ones” will be brought to justice.

  6. While I do not doubt hat there are many fine and dedicated police officers, and I don’t object to you highlighting them, until these good cops stop defending and protecting the evil ones among them, they deserve contempt.

  7. “But they’re also not devils. That’s my problem with the original Only Ones meme – it reminded me of the tactics of the anti-gun groups.”

    That’s because you apparently don’t understand “the Original Only Ones meme”.

    Long time WarOnGuns readers know it originated with Lee Paige, the man I’ve called alternately “The Godfather” or “The Founding Father” of “The Only Ones,” but who 45superman rechristened ” The Patron Saint.” Paige, you’ll recall, was the DEA agent who told a classroom full of kids he was “the only one professional enough in this room to carry a Glock .40,” and then proceeded to shoot himself in the leg.

    That struck a chord with me–and with readers. How often are we told by the anti-gunners–or reminded by laws–that the police are the only ones either competent and qualified to be armed, or else the only ones allowed to be? Here was a perfect example– in one convenient sound bite– that just because someone is a career LEO, it does not make him any more trustworthy than you or me. And in same cases, we would soon learn, they are significantly less so.

    This has been the repeatedly stated intent from the time I decided to start routinely documenting “Only Ones” examples:

    I do this is to amass a credible body of evidence to present when those who would deny our right to keep and bear arms use the argument that only the police are professional and trained enough to do so safely and responsibly. And it’s also used to illustrate when those of official status, rank or privilege, both in law enforcement and in some other government position, get special breaks not available to we commoners, particularly when they’re involved in gun-related incidents.

    Just so we’re clear.

    Something else you should know: I have never gone looking for these stories. Ever. Typically, if I want to do a news search, I confine my term to “gun.” I have never once done a search for “police” or any variant. As I’ve observed on many occasions, I practically trip over the stories I do find because there are so many–and choose not to feature far more than I do. Long-time visitors can verify that I have, on numerous occasions, talked about how sometimes I feel like the feature is taking over, and don’t want to let it dominate my site. Their response? I ought to start a dedicated blog!

    And I notice you neglected to answer my challenge:
    http://waronguns.blogspot.com/2008/08/take-only-ones-challenge.html

  8. David – I’m generally fine with the use of “Only Ones” in that specific context; but it seems that meme has experienced a bit of context shift in that it no longer is just about highlighting areas where the cops weren’t professional with their gun handling, but were bad people in general. Perhaps that’s a bit of perceptive bias on my part; since as has been stated many times I come from a long tradition of cops.

    That being said, I don’t think for a minute that you and I are working at cross purposes here; I actually think our goal is the same – pointing out that cops are ordinary people, no different from anyone else.

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