Mortal Combat
A number of months ago I was on a short hike in the woods alone at dusk. For 20 minutes or so there was no one on the trail except for me. On my way back, far off down the trail, I could just see, in the gathering gloom, another hiker walking toward me. As he got closer, I noticed that he had his right hand behind his back. My first thought was that he was probably scratching his back. To my surprise, however, he kept his hand there as we approached. He held it there MUCH too long for him to be just scratching his back. He kept it there as we drew nearer to one another. Try as I might, I couldn’t see IF he was carrying something, and, if so, what it night be. Was it a flashlight? If so, why was he carrying it behind himself. Was it something he wanted to keep out of sight. Was it a rock? Was it a weapon? A gun? Why WAS his hand back there? We were alone in the deepening darkness. Did he mean to harm me? To shoot me? No one was around. No one would know. I had no weapon. What was he doing at this late hour going off into the woods? And why was his hand BEHIND his back? Should I stop? Should I turn and run? If I did turn, I’d have my back to him, which is not the way I wanted to keep myself positioned. So I kept on walking. We got closer and closer, and, as we did so, I felt a sharp twinge of fear. What to do? I decided to “break the ice” and said, in a non threatening voice: “How ya doin’?”…. No reply! We got closer and closer. We were finally close enough where I was able to notice that he seemed to be looking “through me” rather than at me. Not good. Should I abandon the trail? Should I run? Again I felt a twinge of fear. But without good alternatives, I kept on walking, just as I had been. And then we passed, three or four feet apart. He kept on going, and so did I. After we passed, I suppressed an urge to turn around to see what, if anything, he was holding behind his back. I didn’t want to “engage” with him anymore than I had been forced to already. A few minutes later I did turn, but by then we were farther apart and it was now too dark to see anything. To this day I have no idea why his hand was behind his back, and what, if anything, he was carrying, and why he didn’t respond to my greeting. But I do clearly remember those twinges of fear. The fact that I couldn’t see the other hiker’s hands, set off a deep instinct of dread.
On that hiking trail at dusk, I had experienced a situation that was quite terrifying, but was, thankfully, very rare in my rather cosseted life. It occurred to me, however, that the experience I had a brief glimpse of, is one that a police officer might come to face OFTEN in the course of their work. I bring this up because I recently saw a play in New York City that brought this recollection to mind.
The play was titled “Ferguson” and was written by Phelim McAleer and was performed at the Theater At 30th Street, in New York City. The play involved the Grand Jury proceedings in the case of the OIS (Officer Involved Shooting) of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The Grand Jury was convened to determine if charges should be brought against Officer Darren Wilson, who fatally shot Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager, in 2014. The play was very unusual in that the dialogue was taken VERBATIM from the official transcripts of the proceedings. It is a powerful work of drama that spans a “tight” 90 minutes, but feels like it’s over in a flash.
One of the remarkable things about the play, is that it showed how the prosecutors debunked false testimony, both for and against Officer Wilson, as given by witnesses with axes to grind. As the prosecutors interviewed key witnesses they were able to use inconsistencies in their testimony as well as forensic evidence to expose some sworn testimony as false.
One of the main themes of the drama is something that is often overlooked in discussions of officer involved shootings, and is ALWAYS overlooked in protests of those shootings: during that encounter, police officer Wilson was in MORTAL danger.
Michael Brown was SIX feet four inches tall and weighed TWO HUNDRED AND NINETY TWO POUNDS. While he was described as a “gentle giant” by friends, he was also described by several people as being capable of erratic and aggressive behavior. He was known to “hear voices” and was, very likely, an incipient paranoid schizophrenic. There is also the fact that he was on drugs at the time of the confrontation, and it is also known that, just prior to the confrontation with Officer Wilson, he had robbed a convenience store.
Police critics point out that Brown was unarmed. While it is true that he didn’t have a weapon, in my opinion this in no way impugns the police officer, for two reasons:
1) “Unarmed” does NOT necessarily mean “not dangerous”. In the course of my work in hospitals and emergency rooms over the years I can attest to the fact that there are individuals that, even though they are “unarmed” are STILL very dangerous. In fact, I’ve met some thugs who, even with their hands tied behind their back, would CONTINUE to be dangerous. Michael Brown, at 6′ 4″ and 292 pounds, suffering from schizophrenia and likely under the influence of drugs, would have been such an individual.
2) It also must be realized that if a strong perpetrator manages to wrench a gun away from a police officer, that person is no longer “unarmed”. The forensic reconstruction of the confrontation shows Brown reaching INTO the patrol car going for the officer’s gun. In an instant, the “unarmed” perpetrator could have become an “armed” one, and the police officer’s life could have been immediately in jeopardy. After the conclusion of the show, I had the opportunity to talk with the playwright, Phelim McAleer. I expressed my amazement that in the aftermath of the shooting there was NO discussion of just how INCREDIBLY AGGRESSIVE it is for a civilian to reach INTO a patrol car and ASSAULT an armed police officer attempting to get his gun. McAleer mentioned that a friend of his from Ireland wondered the same thing, saying “Exactly how aggressive to you have to BE to get a cop in America to shoot you??”
So, the drama reminded us that encounters like the one with Michael Brown can rapidly become “real life” MORTAL COMBAT. Once you step into the shoes of the police officer in such a terrifying situation, you find that your perspective changes, and you understand the Grand Jury’s decision not to indict.
The play also showed how the Grand Jury’s decision hinged on the testimony of a black witness, Ciara Jenkins, who’s reluctant but, ultimately, brave testimony exonerated Officer Wilson. None of the protestors and rioters were, apparently, aware of this. But, as the subtitle of the play states: “Truth Matters”.
So, when protestors fulminate about “racist cops” and when smug commentators (on their safe and secure perches at CNN and MSNBC and the NYT) pass judgement on “fascist police”, I suggest that they put themselves in Officer Darren Wilson’s shoes. If they do so, they might be able to imagine what it might be like to be in a fight for their lives, to be in mortal combat. And if they do so, I think they’ll find it much more difficult to condemn.