Let's Stop Making Victims Out Of Wrong-doers

Like many, I watched the video of the incident with the two teenagers, Angel Rosenthal, 17, (PS - Pink Shirt), Marilyn Ellen Levias, 19 (BS - Black Shirt), and Officer Ian Walsh a number of times. If you don't recognize their names, you surely recognize the incident. It made headline news the world over. Police officer attempts to arrest two teenagers for jaywalking and punches one of them in the mouth.

In viewing the video, I remained analytical and not political or reactionary. My first impression, which cannot ever be changed, is the image of just how foul-mouthed those two girls were. Sorry, folks, but under no circumstances can I refer to them as ladies. Wenches, hoochies, trollops, ghetto rats, and sluts are just a few of the choice words that came to mind when I saw the tape.

When I first tuned in, it was labeled "raw video" and the reason that the officer was attempting to arrest those two girls was unbeknownst to me. Truthfully, I laughed the first time I saw it, thinking to myself that the girl got what she deserved. It is most often the case that those who hit don't like to get hit back. It wasn't until days later, when the incident began to pick up steam, that I learned the entire event was due to those girls jaywalking. That caused me to replay the video a number of times and investigate further.

I managed to pause the initial part of the tape and it clearly shows both girls lined up against the police car. PS is closer to the driver's door, while BS is overheard shouting, "Get the f*** off my neck." From there the situation goes downhill with the officer attempting to handcuff BS while PS continues to get involved. What was amazing to me was the total disregard for their safety when both girls repeatedly try to fight the officer. In my mind, he could have pulled out his gun and shot them, claiming he was in fear of his life.

When PS breaks free from the young man who was attempting to hold her back and rushes to join in, I questioned whether or not she ever had any home training? My mother always told us not to get in the middle of a fight. But it's obvious PS has been emboldened to feel she was entitled to "jump in" and fight a cop over her friend's imminent arrest.

I stopped the video a second time - at a point where the tape clearly shows PS's arm fully extended and her hand balled in a fist as she attempts to land a blow to the officer's face. That's when the officer raised his own fist and punched PS squarely in the face. And guess what? It worked! She is clearly in shock over getting a dose of a good beat down - something she should have gotten as a child to teach her self-control, or the consequences that come when one doesn't demonstrate it. But not BS. As the cop struggles with PS, BS jumps all over his back.

The cop now has to deal with BS as PS is pulled away by the friend who tried to stop her to begin with. Now the cop's attention is again drawn back to BS, which is where all the trouble started to begin with. The cop finally gets control of BS and cuffs her and after all the drama she gave the cop, the first thing she does is bawl like a baby. Meanwhile PS is standing several feet away, nursing her mouth, now in complete control of her behavior.

Here are some additional facts that have since come out regarding the incident. The street where the girls were jaywalking is kind of like Lake Shore Drive. I saw another video where the kids were attempting to get across it, and they are truly risking their lives as cars travel about 45 mph. The reason Officer Walsh was there was because the school at that location had asked the police to enforce the law about jaywalking. Many of the students are too trifling to use the pedestrian bridge and would rather risk life and limb to jaywalk. Of course, we know what the story would have been had they been hit and killed while a cop car sat nearby.

What is amazing to me are the organizations that have come out trying to defend these two foolish girls. Those organizations are trying to make them victims when in truth they are perpetrators. Yet those same organizations aren't acknowledging that PS has since apologized to the officer for her behavior.