I agree with Tuesday’s letter writer that Everett police officer Troy Meade was far from vindicated by his acquittal at trial. But I must respectfully disagree with the writer’s conclusion that “the system is working, and that is reassuring for all of us.”
The system is not working. I for one do not feel reassured. The victim in this case was supposed to be saved by the police. It was Mr. Meservey’s own friends who had called the police. The patrons of the Chuckwagon did the right thing. They put their friend’s life into the hands of the duly authorized officers of the peace whom we pay to protect us. At this point, all should be well. Period. This was so obvious that even the prosecutor felt compelled to file the case, just out of basic fairness to us average Joes. We would be found guilty for committing the same act as officer Meade. The jury wouldn’t buy our “lame” excuse and we would be branded as murderers.
Of course Mr. Meservey didn’t obey orders! He was intoxicated over three times the legal limit! The news reports said “drunk” when they should have said “wasted.” Mr. Meservey was wasted.
Are we supposed to believe that two cops couldn’t drag this guy out of a car? Indeed, it was the brave and honest Officer Klocker’s intention to break out a window, and use a non-lethal method of resolving the situation. Good plan, Officer Klocker! This is exactly what we citizens should expect and demand: A non-lethal solution to a simple case of public drunkenness.
A simple drunk call should never have resulted in the slaughter of an unarmed citizen. Do you think this would have happened to two cops back in the 1950s? Shoot the drunk guy? No way!
Tony Smullin
Everett
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