It’s very tempting to jump on the side of the London firefighter who’s charging that police used excessive force against him. And if I were a betting man, I’d lay money that he wins.
The story, as we have it, is one sided. Firefighter Edric Kennedy-Macfoy said he was driving at nearly 4 a.m. when he saw a youth throw a brick at a police vehicle. He tried to assist police, and that’s when things got out of hand.
Kennedy-Macfoy recounts being verbally and physically abused and arrested, even after identifying himself as a firefighter. We only have his account — but the courts did clear him of all charges and his case has been taken up by a watchdog group.
Again, it would be very easy to rally behind Kennedy-Macfoy. Yet, even assuming his story is fully accurate, he shares some of the blame.
His injecting himself in that situation, despite all good intentions, compounded rather than alleviated the problem. It is unreasonable to expect the cops to break off police activity while under attack to verify his credentials and assign someone untrained in police work a task.
Remember, it was in the small hours of the morning, he was in civilian clothes and driving a personal vehicle. I can see how his involvement would be unwelcome.
If this were a case of an officer being overwhelmed in hand-to-hand combat, he would have been right to intervene. And chances are he’s the type of guy who would have done just that.
Again, assuming his story is accurate, there were many ways the officers could have better handled the situation on their end. They are trained to diffuse, not escalate, such situations, which is why I suspect firefighter Kennedy-Macfoy will win his case.
Most of us joined the fire service out of a desire to help people in distress, even if those people are cops. And, rivalries aside, most of us feel a kinship toward the police we serve alongside.
Yet when confronted with a situation like firefighter Kennedy-Macfoy’s, it would serve us well to pause, take a deep breath and assess what’s happening before jumping to action. But that’s just one man’s opinion; I’d like to hear your take on this case.