Christopher Dorner is Dead
Good.
Earlier today, as news was breaking that San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies had surrounded a mountain cabin where Christopher Dorner was believed to be holed up, the media spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department, Commander Andrew Smith, was holding a previously scheduled press conference. “Everyone is very hopeful,” he said, “that this thing ends without any further bloodshed . . . The best thing for him now would be to surrender and allow us to take him into custody and he can face the criminal justice system.”
Commander Smith is a good man and is well respected in the department, but I disagree. In his position he has to say such things for public consumption, but surely he knew that cops everywhere were hoping that Dorner would meet his end right then and there, preferably from a cop’s bullet.
And now, though the body has yet to be identified, that’s apparently what has happened. We are now spared the vulgar carnival that would have attended Dorner's prosecution had he been taken alive. Yes, even here in California he would have been given a death sentence, but he would have lived to old age on Death Row, all the while finding satisfaction in seeing the Crazy Left turn him into a folk hero along the lines of Mumia Abu Jamal.
The only lamentable thing about today is that Dorner claimed another life, that of a man far, far better than he was. In a few days or weeks, no one will be talking about Dorner anymore, which is as it should be.
Perhaps the fire that consumed him in this life was but a preview of what awaits him in the next.
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Comments:
Dec '10
Re: Christopher Dorner is Dead
Great conspiracy theory already. Vid here:
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Dorner&src=has
Edited on February 13, 2013 at 6:21amMay '10
Re: Christopher Dorner is Dead
I'm glad he's dead.
But how likely is a controversy-motivated investigation into the fire? When I heard about the tear gas and then the fire, my mind immediately went to the controversial FBI raid in Waco.
And reporters on Fox News today were saying the firefighters were ordered to watch the cabin burn. Even if it was for their own safety, I expect some shouting about that.
Sep '10
Re: Christopher Dorner is Dead
I agree. I was telling my parents that it would be a great message if he were captured, tried and executed, but only if the execution happened quickly, which it wouldn't.
Perhaps you remember the Toolbox Killers of the late seventies/early eighties. The leader of the duo, a man sentenced to death 25 years ago is still alive.
Aug '12
Re: Christopher Dorner is Dead
If the Justice System more surely did justice, Commander Smith's statement would have been the simple truth and not an obvious lie.
Dec '11
Re: Christopher Dorner is Dead
The fact that this situation was "abruptly ended" leaves me thinking that perhaps the lack of a public trial and "discourse" (ugh!) has left luffing the sails of a great many who would turn this into some sort of "cause de celebre". The liberal media will do it's best to keep the story on life support but thankfully, I believe, the story's shelf life has (hopefully) been cut in half.
Aug '12
Re: Christopher Dorner is Dead
I hope he died in the fire and not by his own hand, the coward's way. True justice would have been served had the police killed him outright but I suppose this will have to suffice.
May '11
Re: Christopher Dorner is Dead
Let's hope they burned the right man to death. All those cabins look alike, having roofs and walls and such. And he had to be burned to death because killing a cop is much worse than killing any other person. I don't know much about this man or what he did, but the keystone cops idiocy has me less than confident that this was the most appropriate ending for a man who accuses the police of wrongdoing and then goes on the run. I'm sure he may have been a bad man, but I would prefer a jury to decide that, not a bunch of trigger happy, torch bearing cops.
Jun '12
Re: Christopher Dorner is Dead
When an officer kills someone in cold blood executing a botched raid, it's "Proper procedures were followed." When someone kills an officer, it's "Burn 'em with fire", and "Oh, that wasn't him? Oops, here's a truck."
[Redacted for CoC]
Edited on February 13, 2013 at 6:00pmRe: Christopher Dorner is Dead
I'm not comfortable mixing "police officer" and "revenge."
I understand they are human, but part of the professionalism is to not mix those things.
The problem is when it trickles down. Who cares about Dorner - but what about a police officer motivated by revenge against lesser criminals?
Re: Christopher Dorner is Dead
Tommy De Seno: I'm not comfortable mixing "police officer" and "revenge."
I understand they are human, but part of the professionalism is to not mix those things.
The problem is when it trickles down. Who cares about Dorner - but what about a police officer motivated by revenge against lesser criminals? · 50 minutes ago
Agreed. I understand that this became very personal for many police officers, but I would hope that they would focus on justice rather than revenge.
Jul '10
Re: Christopher Dorner is Dead
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
Tommy De Seno: I'm not comfortable mixing "police officer" and "revenge."
I understand they are human, but part of the professionalism is to not mix those things.
The problem is when it trickles down. Who cares about Dorner - but what about a police officer motivated by revenge against lesser criminals? · 50 minutes ago
Agreed. I understand that this became very personal for many police officers, but I would hope that they would focus on justice rather than revenge. · 40 minutes ago
We wouldn't have to worry about it as much if our legal system was more concerned with providing justice to the victims than protecting criminals' rights.
May '11
Re: Christopher Dorner is Dead
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
Agreed. I understand that this became very personal for many police officers, but I would hope that they would focus on justice rather than revenge.
Police aren't supposed to do "justice." They're supposed to follow procedures and laws. Courts don't do "justice," they're supposed to do the law. That's what a nation of laws is supposed to be.
I just heard police screaming to burn the cabin down. That is outrageous. Dorner's estate should sue the city and destroy the police department. Maybe then it can be rebuilt. They have shamed this country long enough.
Sep '12
Re: Christopher Dorner is Dead
I am pretty sure this comment violates the Ricochet Code of Conduct.
E. Blackadder:
[Redacted due to CoC Violation] · 2 hours ago
Dec '12
Re: Christopher Dorner is Dead
I have read Jack Dunphy's stuff for years, I usually agree with him, sometimes disagree, and wrote a rather critical comment to a recent post on this same issue. Your comment is over the line. He is a valuable resource showing an insider's view of the goings on in the LAPD and we are lucky to have his perspective. He is due respect, even if you disagree with him. I consider him a good man and he seems to be a good cop, a dangerous and often thankless job being done by some of the best among us.
Edited on February 13, 2013 at 6:03pmI , too am horrified by the street justice he seems to be advocating, so lets have a reasonable conversation with him about it, instead of condemning him for expressing his perspective.
Jan '11
Re: Christopher Dorner is Dead
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
Agreed. I understand that this became very personal for many police officers, but I would hope that they would focus on justice rather than revenge.
Also agreed.
It's incontrovertible that Dorner was a horrible person; even if one assumes the friendliest interpretation possible of the story of his firing, that can in no way excuse the evil he's done in the last week. And I, too, am glad we've been spared the continuation of the perverse hagiography that had already begun.
Regardless, it's more than a little unsettling to see a police officer express sanguine pleasure at a man's death by fire and imply that the murders of police officers are greater crimes than the murder of others.
Sep '12
Re: Christopher Dorner is Dead
I don't hear any advocacy of street justice.
Advocacy of street justice is "let's not follow the law," not "I'm happy the bad guy got killed by cops who were following the law." If the latter is in your definition of "street justice," you're using the term to denigrate behavior that is within the law.
I'm no expert on police work, but, based on what Dorner has said and done, I think it is very unlikely he could have been captured rather than killed--because of his own apparent willingness to violently resist.
From the very beginning I was sure this was going to end with a violent death for him. And good riddance. The last thing this country needs is another Mumia.
PHenry
I , too am horrified by the street justice he seems to be advocating, so lets have a reasonable conversation with him about it, instead of condemning him for expressing his perspective. · 8 minutes ago
May '11
Re: Christopher Dorner is Dead
Purple, the cops were on audio recording, screaming that they were going to burn the house down with him inside. That is street justice.
Dec '12
Re: Christopher Dorner is Dead
Purplestrife: I don't hear any advocacy of street justice.
Advocacy of street justice is "let's not follow the law," not "I'm happy the bad guy got killed by cops who were following the law." .
36 minutes ago
Well, I'm not passing a judgment on what happened, I just don't have enough evidence for that. But I consider it a dangerous and slippery slope when police decide that taking someone alive is not the goal.
From the post:
Edited on February 13, 2013 at 6:56pmcops everywhere were hoping that Dorner would meet his end right then and there, preferably from a cop’s bullet
Add to that the two incidents of Torrence police shooting up citizens 'by mistake', and it sure looks like they were out for blood, not justice.
Sep '12
Re: Christopher Dorner is Dead
So what?
What matters here is whether they followed the law and good police practices--not whether they hated him and wanted to see him suffer for his evil deeds.
The law does not demand that cops have hearts purified of all rage and resentment against a man who wants to murder them.
If your complaint is that something that is perfectly legal is "street justice"--good luck with that.
In that case, "street justice" refers to attitudes that make you uncomfortable, not behavior that violates any norms society takes seriously enough to enforce them.
May '11
Re: Christopher Dorner is Dead
Perfectly legal? To burn a man inside a house? Really? Seriously? That's what you're saying?