It’s a scary trend the mainstream media has ignored — cops everywhere are being targeted, assaulted, and even killed in the weeks of civil unrest that erupted after a white officer in Minneapolis killed George Floyd, who is black.
The cop is rightfully facing murder charges … but around the nation, other officers are facing new threats to their lives.
While the vast majority of the protesters have been demonstrating peacefully, some of the events have been undermined by a violent subset intent on causing mayhem and killing cops.
So far, between 700 and 800 police officers have been injured that we know of, including some 350 in New York City alone.
NYPD First Deputy Commissioner Ben Tucker told the city council that an officer was hit by a car, another by a fire extinguisher, and another was smashed with a brick with so much force that his riot helmet cracked.
Police in the city have faced glass bottles, Molotov cocktails, overturned cars, and fires.
One cop hit with a bottle needed 10 stitches on his head, NBC New York reported.
In addition, at least 100 members of federal law enforcement agencies – including 60 Secret Service agents and 40 members of the U.S. Park Police – were hurt during the violent clashes near the White House in Washington.
Nearly two dozen of them were hospitalized with injuries from the assaults.
Over last weekend, several officers were injured by “improvised explosives” in Seattle, police said on Twitter.
At about 7:30 p.m. demonstrators outside the East Precinct began moving barricades at 11th and Pine despite multiple requests from police to stop. Individuals began throwing rocks/bottles/and explosives at officers. Several officers injured due to improvised explosives. pic.twitter.com/cbW6hWhIvy
— Seattle Police Department (@SeattlePD) June 7, 2020
The violence against police there continued into the week:
The crowd is throwing bottles, rocks, fireworks, and other projectiles at officers. The crowd is shining green lasers into officers' eyes.
Officers are responding with OC Spray and blast balls.
— Seattle Police Department (@SeattlePD) June 8, 2020
And some officers have paid the ultimate price as violence escalates even away from the protests. In Santa Cruz, California, a sheriff’s deputy was killed and another was injured by an Air Force sergeant who had homemade bombs and other weapons.
He’s being looked at as a suspect in other attacks.
Elsewhere in California, a police officer was shot in the head in what’s being described as an “ambush” style attack. Amazingly, he survived – as did an officer shot in the head in Las Vegas as he tried to control violent protests there.
In St. Louis, Sgt. David Dorn – a beloved retired police officer – was shot and killed trying to protect a pawn shop from looters during riots in the city.
It’s not just here at home in America, either.
As protests spread around the world, so did the violence directed at law enforcement.
In London, more than two dozen police officers were hurt in two separate protests, including a female officer who fell off a spooked horse and suffered what officials there called “nasty” injuries including a collapsed lung, a broken collarbone and broken ribs, the Evening Standard newspaper reported.
“I am deeply saddened and depressed that a minority of protesters became violent towards officers in central London,” Metropolitan Police Service Commissioner Cressida Dick told Reuters. “The number of assaults is shocking and completely unacceptable.”
If there’s a bright spot, it seems law enforcement is doing its job and weeding the violent looters and others with bad intentions from the crowds of peaceful protesters demonstrating their First Amendment rights.
While the crowds remain – and in some cases are growing – the amount of violence has dropped enough that the National Guard has been removed in many cities and is continuing to withdraw from protest zones.
At one point, nearly 45,000 National Guard troops were activated, including 5,000 just in the nation’s capital.
The White House said the president deserves credit.
“The streets of America didn’t spontaneously become peaceful last week,” White House Director of Strategic Communications Alyssa Farrah told Fox News. “It was a direct result of President Trump calling on governors and mayors to surge the National Guard in their states and restore law and order on America’s streets so that peaceful protesters could demonstrate safely.”
— Walter W. Murray is a reporter for The Horn News. He is an outspoken conservative and a survival expert, and is the author of “America’s Final Warning.”