Former New York Police Department Commissioner Bernard Kerik suggested that “radical left-wing progressive mayors and governors” should “tell the thugs in your community don’t attack our police” in the wake of the Atlanta police shooting of Rayshard Brooks.
Brooks was shot by police after failing a DUI test, then resisting arrest and taking an officer’s taser from him.
Appearing with former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino to discuss the shooting on Saturday night’s “Justice with Jeanine Pirro,” Kerik noted the nationwide discussion about the need for police reforms sparked by the death of George Floyd, then recited his own list.
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“They can start with reforms like tell the thugs in your community don’t attack our police,” Kerik said. “Don’t assault our police. Don’t resist arrest. Don’t obstruct or interfere with an arrest. Don’t run from the police. Don’t run cops over with your car. Don’t take their tasers. Don’t take their weapons. Don’t take their guns, because if you do, we’ll use force. And we are not going to lose if we use force.”
Pirro turned to Bongino to ask for his view of the “problem, if there is a problem at all.” The former Secret Service agent noted that, regardless of whether his attorney says it was “understandable,” Brooks was indeed trying to get away from police, which is an illegal act.
“Well, that may be [understandable] for him, but it is in fact illegal,” Bongino said. “Resisting arrest is a crime. If you don’t like that, change the laws and good luck having anyone arrested in your community ever. I want to be clear what you are suggesting if you are suggesting that’s not a crime. Do you think anyone can throw blows at the cops and take their weapons and run from them?”
Bongino acknowledged that Brooks certainly did not “deserve to die” and that police are not trained to shoot to kill, but also defended police officers’ right to use a “superseding amount of force to stop what is happening.” (RELATED: ‘Closest I’ve Seen To Our Country Becoming A Lawless State’: Seattle Police Union President Rips Mayor’s Defense Of CHAZ)
“If someone points at your taser that they stole from you after assaulting you, you don’t have to pull your taser and get in a taser fight,” he said. “If they pull a knife out, you don’t get into a knife fight.”