Men With Guns (and Tanks)
"Got a knife, gotta cut something."
--A line I remember from something written long ago by Bob Dylan. I think it was "East Orange, New Jersey"
One of the Netzero news links on 5 June 2004 read: "Man Dead After Bulldozer Rampage, Authorities Say."
Just a few days previous to that, on the Sundance Channel, I had seen a chilling documentary called "Cul De Sac: A Suburban War Story." Dating from 2002, it was about a troubled man who snapped and got hold of an Army tank and drove it through streets and highways near San Diego, California for slightly less than half an hour, causing some property damage but no injuries, before the police -- though he wasn't shooting at them and was just trying to get the finally halted tank going again -- fired down into the tank as if he were a hog in a pen and killed him.
As I clicked on the link I figured that this man in Granby, Colorado likewise had been shot and killed by the police without being given much of a chance to leave his vehicle alive.
He had been shot and killed all right, but the authorities said it had been by his own hand, after a Swat team had used a blowtorch to cut into the bulldozer -- which he had fashioned into a sort of tank by dropping a homemade covering of steel plates and concrete over the bulldozer. If the police had failed in being the ones to kill him, it hadn't been for lack of trying. They had fired more than 200 rounds at the "tank," plus several explosive devices, and they had dropped something called a "flashbang" down the exhaust pipe.
The man had done considerable damage with his contraption, running into several buildings, and also mashing some vehicles, including some patrol cars. But the report said he had seemed to be intentionally avoiding hitting anyone. He was angry because of a zoning problem.
It must not have been safe to be anywhere near there, not because of the homemade tank but because of all those police bullets flying around and bounding off things. Bullets are not known to be effective against armor-plated vehicles. But some people who are legally sanctioned to do so greatly appreciate the chance to use guns, as do others who don't have such permission.
I wish that Swat teams were only another invention of the movies. There they are often seen, nearly as much as funerals, strip joints, and anywhere in and above New York City. And in their bulky, black getups and brandishing fearsome weapons with a palpable readiness to fire, they are indistinguishable in appearance from the faceless, remorseless squads of killers that are shown in every cinematic depiction of an apocalyptic future.
--A line I remember from something written long ago by Bob Dylan. I think it was "East Orange, New Jersey"
One of the Netzero news links on 5 June 2004 read: "Man Dead After Bulldozer Rampage, Authorities Say."
Just a few days previous to that, on the Sundance Channel, I had seen a chilling documentary called "Cul De Sac: A Suburban War Story." Dating from 2002, it was about a troubled man who snapped and got hold of an Army tank and drove it through streets and highways near San Diego, California for slightly less than half an hour, causing some property damage but no injuries, before the police -- though he wasn't shooting at them and was just trying to get the finally halted tank going again -- fired down into the tank as if he were a hog in a pen and killed him.
As I clicked on the link I figured that this man in Granby, Colorado likewise had been shot and killed by the police without being given much of a chance to leave his vehicle alive.
He had been shot and killed all right, but the authorities said it had been by his own hand, after a Swat team had used a blowtorch to cut into the bulldozer -- which he had fashioned into a sort of tank by dropping a homemade covering of steel plates and concrete over the bulldozer. If the police had failed in being the ones to kill him, it hadn't been for lack of trying. They had fired more than 200 rounds at the "tank," plus several explosive devices, and they had dropped something called a "flashbang" down the exhaust pipe.
The man had done considerable damage with his contraption, running into several buildings, and also mashing some vehicles, including some patrol cars. But the report said he had seemed to be intentionally avoiding hitting anyone. He was angry because of a zoning problem.
It must not have been safe to be anywhere near there, not because of the homemade tank but because of all those police bullets flying around and bounding off things. Bullets are not known to be effective against armor-plated vehicles. But some people who are legally sanctioned to do so greatly appreciate the chance to use guns, as do others who don't have such permission.
I wish that Swat teams were only another invention of the movies. There they are often seen, nearly as much as funerals, strip joints, and anywhere in and above New York City. And in their bulky, black getups and brandishing fearsome weapons with a palpable readiness to fire, they are indistinguishable in appearance from the faceless, remorseless squads of killers that are shown in every cinematic depiction of an apocalyptic future.
posted by Carl (aka Sofarsogoo) | 7:25 AM
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