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Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Why ‘Good Cops’ Stay Silent

“I can’t get killed for this job,” observed one of Adam Basford’s former colleagues in the Yakima Police Department, explaining why he had refused to come to Basford’s aid during a hand-to-hand struggle with an armed suspect. “I thought we were going to get killed, so I had to leave you there.”

That officer was one of three who were in a position to help on August 18, 2013 when Basford attempted to arrest Antonio Cardenas, a recently paroled felon who was suspected of aggravated assault with a firearm. Concerned over the safety of bystanders, including a young girl, Officer Basford didn’t pull his gun. He found himself grappling with a younger ex-convict who was several inches taller and at least sixty pounds heavier, while every other available nearby officer found something better to do.

Basford was able to subdue the suspect without killing him or risking the lives of people in the neighborhood. Rather than receiving a commendation, Basford is now off the force and facing criminal charges – not for taking down an armed, violent felon without using lethal force, but for filing a misconduct complaint against an erstwhile colleague.

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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I expect response time to get longer to certain areas. Let them deal with it for a while. May it will refresh there memory on what they saw.

Anonymous said...

The union hammered him.....

Anonymous said...

So was Basford the only good cop on that entire police force? Police friendly people are constantly saying that the Bad cops are the minority. Well I don't think so. What you have here is 1 single cop willing to do whats right and because of that the rest neglect their duty. That to me spells out in no uncertain terms that all cops are bad. Period. Until you can police your own STF up about the the rest of us. You are the enemy of free men. Rethink your profession before someone makes the choice for you.

lmclain said...

Holy crap!! Read the article and then come back and say how "honorable" the police are and how "it's just a few bad apples".
EVERYWHERE you look, there are cops shooting people (ASLEEP can get you shot!??), cops beating people ("contempt of cop" is at an all time high and must be dealt with severely), cops dishing out their own "justice", and now, cops pulling guns on OTHER cops.
Sounds like you boys are becoming more and more like the Crips every day.
Except the Crips are a lot tougher.

Anonymous said...

Yes there are a very few 'bad' cops. But there are no 'good' thugs, unless you include the dead ones.

Anonymous said...

Police department is always accepting applications. I suggest that some of you big-mouth heroes go on down and apply. Maybe you can show the world how it should be done. And no, I'm not LE. Most of you critics would probably crap yourselves if you had to perform a cop's job.

lmclain said...

"...crap yourselves...", huh? LOL. How hard can it be to shoot a guy who is SLEEPING? Huh?
And being a volunteer doesn't also give you the power to decide what Constitutional rights you'll be allowing the citizens to have today. That's waaaaaay above your pay grade.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Police department is always accepting applications. I suggest that some of you big-mouth heroes go on down and apply. Maybe you can show the world how it should be done. And no, I'm not LE. Most of you critics would probably crap yourselves if you had to perform a cop's job.

August 26, 2014 at 4:55 PM

If ur not a le, what makes you think you know what they go through? As well as anyone 'crapping' their pants? lol Go watch some more t.v.

Anonymous said...

"If ur not a le, what makes you think you know what they go through?"

Just following the trend, pinhead. You silly chumps are demonstrably ignorant, but think you have all the answers. A 30 second YouTube and you know all the ramifications of an incident. One article on a conspiracy website and you think evil reptilian cops are under your bed. But you didn't address my point (big surprise there) - why don't you apply and show everybody how it is done?