THE MURDER OF ASHLI BABBITT

I cover the Capital protests, the tragic death of Ashli & talk about Police use of force; quoting from my own experience as a policeman in the MET 2015-20. A Police officer should NOT resort to lethal force straight away- an old sweat once told me your greatest weapon is your mouth. First you communicate- talking respectfully calming the situation, second if this fails you resort to NON LETHAL force- CS sprays, restraint techniques- handcuffs, batons. The THIRD option; Lethal force used ONLY after all other options have been exhausted- you dont get out a gun & shoot straight off like a cowboy in a Western. If Derek Chauvin deserves prison for using a police college taught restraint technique excessively then SURELY Lt Michael Byrd who killed Ashli deserves prison too. It is VERY hard to avoid the suspicion that if Ashli had been a BLM Black protestor & Lt Byrd a white man- he would be in prison now. JULY 2022- update- I do criticize Trump here for failing to honour Ashli's martyrdom; apparently he has since paid tribute to her- so I withdraw much of my criticism.