Officer fired after helping wounded officers

David Sedmak, a Rice University police officer (not a mere rent-a-cop) was fired after he assisted two officers who had been shot:

The May 7 episode that led to Sedmak’s controversial dismissal began when Jesse Brown, 20, was seen with a pistol as he tried to buy a ticket at the Greyhound bus station in downtown Houston. When HPD officer Fernando Meza, working an off-duty job at the station, confronted Brown about the weapon, Brown shot him in the hand. Soon after, Brown shot another officer, Timothy Moore, in the leg.

Sedmak said he arrived on the scene and prepared for a confrontation with the armed suspect. Several HPD officers came in after him and took cover behind his patrol car. Brown, who had been accused of shooting a 3-year-old girl, her grandfather and another man on Halloween in San Francisco, then shot and killed himself as Sedmak and the other cops closed in.

So why was he fired? For only the dumbest of reasons, of course:

“Sedmak left his post when only two other officers were on duty and failed to notify his supervisor of his whereabouts for nearly an hour, which could have endangered the safety of our students and campus,” according to the university.

I’m all for holding the police accountable, but this is ridiculous. The guy has been a police officer for 17 years and he was assisting two other officers who were in an obviously serious situation. Yes, he should have said where he was, but let’s get real. His history, his actions, and the situation do not dictate a dismissal.

The Houston Police Officer’s Union has seen fit to give Sedmak a check for $2,500 while he looks for work. I can only hope that he gets hired once again as a police officer – just somewhere more responsible and intelligent.


Thought of the day

Excusing the god of the Old Testament comes with three distinct problems. First, he still did those awful things. I say this because the most common excuse is that all the laws and prohibitions and commands of the Old Testament were really only meant for the people of the time – specifically, the Jews. But so what? That doesn’t mean God didn’t commit genocide or destroy innocent families for nothing but his own sinful pride. Second, this common excuse (in fact, it seems to be the only excuse) makes God a moral relativist. This is in contradiction with the beliefs of most Christians that morality is absolute and objective. (These people aren’t even coherent.) Third, if the Old Testament or significant portions of the Old Testament are only relevant to an ancient culture, then why bother with it? Or why not at least exclude the parts that are irrelevant? I mean, I know Facebooking Christians do love to exclude the evil of Deuteronomy and Leviticus from their cherry-picked status updates, but why not just throw it away?

The Streisand Effect? Yeah, I’ve heard of it.

I’ve had plenty of quacks threaten me with meaningless legal dribble, try to get me shut down, blah blah blah. Regular readers know the story. The result? The Streisand Effect. Now Kirk Cameron’s people are trying to avoid the posting of some silly picture. Naturally, I have to link it.