Actor Denzel Washington called out people who criticize law enforcement during an interview published Thursday, according to Yahoo Entertainment.
Washington, who has portrayed a handful of law enforcement characters throughout the years, said he has “respect” for what our police do, Yahoo Entertainment reported.
Frequent movie cop Denzel Washington talks policing in America: ‘I have the utmost respect for what they do’ https://t.co/zxj9DmX6zl pic.twitter.com/GkGU1Sqwyl
— Yahoo Entertainment (@YahooEnt) January 28, 2021
“I have the utmost respect for what they do, for what our soldiers do, [people] that sacrifice their lives,” Washington told the outlet. “I just don’t care for people who put those kind of people down. If it weren’t for them, we would not have the freedom to complain about what they do.”
Washington went on to describe the moment he realized exactly what law enforcement workers deal with “moment-to-moment” in the interview. (RELATED: Watch A Special Look At Denzel Washington’s New Movie ‘The Little Things’)
“I went out on call with a sergeant,” Washington recalled. “We got a call of a man outside his house with a rifle that was distraught. We pulled up and did a U-turn past the house and came up short of the house. He told me to sit in the car, which I was gonna do. I wasn’t getting out. He got out. As he got out, another car came screaming up and two young people jumped out screaming. As it turned out, it was their grandfather. This policeman defused the entire situation by just remaining calm.”
“But it showed me in an instant how they can lose their life… He didn’t overreact,” he continued. “He could’ve pulled his gun out and shot the people that came up driving real fast. He could have shot the old man that was distraught and a bit confused, I think he was suffering a little bit from dementia. But in an instant, it taught me, and I never forgot it, what our law enforcement people have to deal with moment-to-moment, second to second.”