I read a number of accounts of the incident - you can probably find them if you look - and the action seemed wildly excessive.
Common sense is certainly important in making arrests. In general, I would say that common sense suggests that in cases where the actions of the person in question are peaceful, involve minor offenses, and pose no significant threat, the force used should be as minimal as possible. In cases where violence or heavily armed individuals are involved, common sense is on the side of overwhelming force - the faster the arrest can be made, the less likely it is that sustained violence will erupt. In cases where arrest is resisted with armed force, and federal agents serving a legal warrant are killed, it is fairly normal for the government to use overwhelming force (if Waco had involved a crack house instead of a cult compound, nobody would have given a damn). In cases where an unarmed woman is driving a carload of kids - I may not have this exactly right, but my recollection is that one of the kids had dropped something out the window, and she backed up and allowed the kids to remove their seat belts to look for it - it behooves government to impose the law a little more mildly.
Of course we see double standards on both sides. If a black guy gets shot 20 times because he reached for his ID and a trigger-happy cop thought he was going for a gun, the liberals moan and the conservatives don't give a shit. If a right-wing cultist gets blown away resisting arrest, the conservatives howl and the liberals don't give a shit. Kind of makes one suspect that a lot of people on both sides of that equation are full of shit. |
