Texas county sheriff: ‘It’s not the job of the officer to raise your kid’
Thomas McDonald
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Throckmorton County Sheriff Doc Wigington slammed critics of police officers as “armchair police” in a viral Facebook rant.
“The public is quick to jump on the officers involved stating a need for more training, better de-escalation tactics, and possibly shooting the subject in the leg,” Wigington said. “Let me address these so called solutions. First this is not the old west movies and a leg wound is just as serious as a shot to center mass. When the use of deadly force is warranted that is exactly what it is DEADLY FORCE, not flesh wound force, not any other words to describe it just deadly force.”
“It easy to post an opinion on social media as to ‘how I would have handled it’ instead of armchair quarterbacks we now have armchair police. If a person thinks they could handle the situation differently I encourage them to join an academy and become an officer,” Wigington said.
Wigington’s rant comes during a time when much of the national conversation has centered around the recent conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was found guilty of the second-degree murder of George Floyd. Wigington told local media that he does believe Chauvin was a bad officer and should have been removed from the force long before the death of Floyd.
“He should have been off the force a long time ago. That’s the failure of leadership in my opinion, alright, he would have been gone with me.”
Wigington believes police are unfairly getting a bad reputation. “We don’t have a bunch of officers running around saying I just can’t wait to kill someone,” said Wigington.
His post ends with a message to parents of all races. “IT IS NOT THE JOB OF THE OFFICER TO RAISE YOUR KID. Parents need to take responsibility for the actions of their FAILURE to raise their child to be respectful, responsible and listen to authority figures.”
Recent officer-involved shootings have spurred protests and riots in cities across the country. In late March, a 13-year-old boy named Adam Toledo was fatally shot by a Chicago police officer after responding to gunfire around 3 A.M. Police bodycam footage was released in April showing the officer telling Toledo to “show me your hands”. Toledo was holding a gun and tossed it behind a fence just a second before the officer opened fire.
In a statement to ABC News, the officer’s attorney said “the officer was faced with a life-threatening and deadly force situation. All prior attempts to deescalate and gain compliance with all of the officers’ lawful orders had failed.”
In early April 20-year-old, Daunte Wright was shot and killed by a Minneapolis police officer who mistook her gun for a taser while Wright was resisting arrest during a traffic violation. Wright had an open warrant related to an armed robbery case against him
Last week, 16-year-old Ma’khia Bryant was shot and killed by a Columbus police officer during a fight involving a knife. Columbus police released bodycam footage of the officer responding to a 911 call about an attempted stabbing involving three females. The video shows Bryant wielding a knife as she rushes toward another girl. An officer yells “Get down! Get down!” then fires his weapon as the girl swings at another with the knife.