Fox Nation host Lawrence Jones responded Wednesday to a viral video of New York Police Union President Mike O’Meara.
Jones, during an appearance on Fox News’ “The Five,” acknowledged real pain on both sides and said that he believed the country to be at a “boiling point.” (RELATED: Lawrence Jones Slams Conservatives For Missing The Mark On Issues Of The Black Community)
WATCH:
O’Meara gave an impassioned speech during which he denounced the actions of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, the man who has since been charged with George Floyd’s murder. He then called on people to not paint all police officers with the same broad brush.
WATCH ???? New York police boss Mike O’Meara went off on the media today:
“Stop treating us like animals and thugs and start treating us with some respect … Our legislators abandoned us. The press is vilifying us. It’s disgusting.” pic.twitter.com/CXOPARKff7
— August Takala (@AugustTakala) June 9, 2020
Host Dana Perino responded to O’Meara’s comments first, saying that if people continued to vilify police there would be no need to defund them — no one would want the job.
Jesse Watters agreed, adding, “These people volunteer. They are not drafted. It’s a noble profession. We should be thanking them. Whenever there is an emergency, who do you call? You call the police. When your baby stops breathing, when your friend gets raped, when your dad ODs, when your husband has a heart attack, when there’s a massive collision on the highway, you call 911. They are there to help. They say, ‘What’s your emergency?’ and you give the address and within minutes of squad cars are there. Do you know how much violence these people see? Do you know how much blood, how much danger? They wear bulletproof vests because they are being shot at.”
Jones responded by pointing out that the response from some in the black community actually mirrored that of O’Meara.
“You know, it was heartbreaking because I think there is a similar feeling,” he explained. “You’ve got the police saying, ‘Look, don’t judge us by the bad apples,’ right? And you’ve got people in the community saying, ‘Look, not all of us are criminals so don’t treat us all like the bad guys’ as well. I think we are at a boiling point in this country. And we’ve got to look at people as individuals.”
“I think there are real reforms that need to take place but there was a report by the AP today saying that the Homeland Security is saying that people are leaking officers’ personal information,” Jones concluded. “That’s not cool either. You can’t put innocent cops at risk because you’re angry. So we have to take a chill pill.”