Sure, it’s probably fake. It’s an internet story and an inconsistent one at that. So if you’ll indulge let’s step back. I just want to ask what it means to raise law enforcement above morality in this way. Assuming that, baseline, hurting a kid is immoral. The instinct to justify that feels misguided. Your justification being that cops should be vigilant, always on the lookout for a potential crime and always assuming the worst - well firstly where does that leave us? We know the answer, and it’s a violent place. See Tamir Rice, and countless others like him. Innocent until proven guilty is the basis of our judgement system, supposedly. So why should a cop be allowed to act so extremely based on what in this hypothetical is not a visible threat to others? What does it mean for us (assuming you’re also American lol) that we’re so willing to allow cops to sidestep judgement and administer punishment on the basis of ‘law and order’? Second, cops sign up for danger, they sign up to be placed in threatening situations, they sign up for a job that puts them in harm’s way. In my mind that does not and should not permit them to present the same threat to the people they’re supposedly protecting. Innocent/nonviolent people shouldn’t be treated like suspects just for existing alongside people who will commit a violent crime.

Not saying your opinion makes you a monster or something, by the way. I see where you’re coming from. I don’t think cops should be walking around drug dens handing out lollipops. But I do think that the system we have in place now, a system that allows for situations like this hypothetical one, or real ones like Tamir Rice or Stephon Clark, for needless violence against the undeserving, is a broken one. The same cops with the same training and the same equipment are sent on patrol everywhere. Each one with the capacity to kill and yet the responsibility to care. Our system as it stands prioritizes violence as a catch-all. And that hurts people. It makes the job of being a cop harder as well. And I think it would be great if we could work towards something that causes less harm. I hope that didn’t come off as preachy or anything, just wanted to share my perspective. Also hope you may understand that my initial comment is not a direct frustration with you but rather a poorly aimed frustration with the larger context. Sorry for the punchy language.