Last month, a deputy in Harris County, Texas, was fueling his patrol car when an armed black assailant walked up behind him and opened fire. The officer, Darren Goforth, died instantly.
The horrific scene was part of an ongoing nationwide trend toward viewing the police as Public Enemy Number 1 and singling them out for lesser — or in the case of Deputy Goforth greater — abuse.
Yesterday, the rampant anti-police sentiment took a new and particularly menacing turn.
According to CBS Los Angeles that a disturbing video has surfaced on social media that shows a member of the LAPD getting into his patrol car. The camera then pans downward to a hand brandishing a handgun. The vantage point is a car parked behind the officer’s.
The video, posted on Instagram, has since been removed but archival versions remain:
The article notes that the footage has the local law enforcement community understandably upset. The wife of one LAPD officer is quoted saying:
It’s completely frightening, and I know that a lot of the wives are scared. They just want to do their job and yet all this hatred is coming at them. And it’s becoming more and more violent. They are so scared that their husbands are not going to come home.
The hatred toward the officers isn’t going to accomplish anything. It’s just going to create a bigger divide.
The LAPD is taking this video seriously and has opened an investigation into it.
