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Notion of Injustice
Dodging behind cover
Bullets flying
Partner screaming
When will the backup be here?
He lunges out, returns fire
He dives for cover a few feet forward
Looks around the cover and sees his chance
Raises his pistol
Steadies his shaky hands
Pulls the trigger
Thud
silence
He goes back inside the house and checks on the lady that had just been assaulted
He hears the blare of the cop cars coming
Backup finally arrives
He explains what happened
“I saw him run outside, he fired in my direction.”
“I then took cover.”
I saw him again, shot and killed him.”
The backup goes outside to look at the scene
And it almost hits them like a punch to the gut when they see it
They come back
Heads down
Almost in a whisper
In a stuttery and shaky voice, an officer states
“There was no weapon outside.”
The officer stares stunned.
He slowly takes off his weapon and badge.
News vans arrive
They suck away all dignity from this cop
Funding stripped completely from their department
The court date is set
The cop…charged with life in prison for manslaughter
He arrives at the prison
two days in they find him
facedown
unconscious
blood slowly seeping out of his chest
the guards carefully pulling the knife out in disgust
Do we have the right notion of justice?
Is it really the criminal justice system?
Why are we hurting the ones that protect us the most?
How does taking power and money from those already limited help society?
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With Lines From “Criminal Justice or Criminal Injustice? The Power of Language” By Meera Santhanam, A Pulitzer Center reporting project.