Dear Dirty America

Today a man was shot by the Los Angeles Police Department. He was “sought in connection with an assault with a deadly weapon” and when police stumbled upon the suspect, they shot him in the arm, so says the news report.

Every day people in Los Angeles are shot by police, but rarely do any of them get off with as much luck as the nameless man who was shot today.

Usually, it seems, dangerous suspects who get fired upon for one reason or another by the LAPD end up getting shot dozens of times. It seems customary that if one shot is fired by an officer, the other LAPD officers must at least unload their weapons on the suspect before further assessing the situation.

The major exception to this rule is if the suspect is a celebrity, like Justin Bieber, who can repeatedly drive erratically along the Hollywood Freeway, and never raise the ire of police. If Justin Bieber was instead Justin Bimbler from Corona, or say Victorville, he wouldn’t end up driving away with a ticket, but rather splayed out on the concrete with six dozen bullets caught in his body.

Unless the suspect in today’s case wanted to shuffle off this physical plane, I’d say he got away with one. If nothing else, he’s got a great story to tell. 

Shot in the arm, but not dead! he might say. Or, usually people like me end up bleeding out on the sidewalk.

[photo by Cliff]