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An interesting article written by Barbara Anderson for the American Chronicle on March 29, 2007:

The proverbial “thin blue line” is the contingent of law officers duly sworn to protect We the People. There are review boards and other means to make sure officers of the law do not abuse their positions.

Nonetheless, there have arisen groups that have not been elected by voters, nor appointed by those we have given the authority to oversee our law keepers. Also, there seems to be a pattern of wrongful prosecution of certain border patrol agents. These agents have one thing in common: they were either trying to apprehend illegal aliens or have, in fact, apprehended them.

Perhaps one of the earliest cases of misdirected prosecution was that of Stephanie Mohr, working with her canine partner for the Prince George’s County Police Department in Maryland. On September 21, 1995, Stephanie Mohr, recipient of 25 letters of commendation and two awards, answered a back-up call of the Takoma Park Police Department, who were on a stake-out after several rooftop burglaries had taken place. Stephanie and her partner, along with the dog, Valk, joined two Takoma Park policemen who had spotted two suspects atop a commercial building. A helicopter was called to assist, along with K-9.

The two suspects came down on the back side of the building and were ordered to freeze and put up their hands. Looking jittery and only raising his hands about waist level, one suspect started speaking in Spanish to his companion. The companion made a move as if he were going to run. Stephanie then released Valk, who followed his training and, when the man did not obey orders to stop, bit the man on the leg and held him. Sergeant Dennis Bonn, Takoma Park supervisor, was on the scene of this apprehension by Stephanie’s dog.

Both suspects ended up in jail and were subsequently deported. That should have been the end of this story. However, five years later, and one day before the statute of limitations expired, Stephanie Mohr was charged with a crime. The two illegals, even the one who was bitten, never filed a complaint. The case against Stephanie took two trials to convict her. Eleven jurors in the first trial voted for acquittal, with only one holdout. Most often, prosecutors will not go to the expense of a second trial after seeing a jury vote heavily for acquittal. Also, there is the spirit of double jeopardy to consider.

Bringing in new witnesses, the race card was played. The new slant was that Stephanie Mohr was prejudiced toward minorities. The usual pressure groups, from Amnesty International to the N.A.A.C.P. were involved. Also, the deported illegal alien was sprung from his jail cell in El Salvador, and his companion from a prison in Texas to testify against her. The full power of the government was available to the prosecution under the aegis of the U.S. Department of Justice.

An ordinary citizen, even with a very good attorney, is usually not equipped to go up against that array of prosecutors with the attendant power to spend whatever it takes to move witnesses around and offer immunity to any who also might have been involved, however slightly, to give testimony against their fellow officers. It’s easy to see that other officers would not want that government behemoth turned at them if they did not cooperate.

In August of 2002, Stephanie Mohr was handcuffed and led to jail. The judge had sentenced her to ten years. Ten years in jail for a dog bite. Her young son, Adam, will spend his formative years without his mom.

Our law officers are coming under fire by all the usual criminals, but something more sinister has been added to the streets they patrol.

In November of 2004, an article by Matthew Cella in the Washington Times reported that:

“Police officials in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties are warning officers that a Salvadoran street gang is plotting to ambush and kill them when they respond to service calls.”

Cella added that: “In July 2002, The Washington Times reported that MS-13 had dispatched about 20 gang members from California to Fairfax County to kill a county police officer at random”.

Nonetheless, Stephanie Mohr, whose record was clean, was prosecuted and taken off those dangerous streets where citizens needed her the most. For a dog bite.

Ray Bunn and his partner ran into a nearly fatal meeting with a suspect in Atlanta, Georgia on July 14, 2002. About 3:00 A.M , while patrolling the Buckhead bar district, the two officers heard the sound of breaking glass, heard a car alarm go off, and saw a man jump out of the shattered passenger window of a nearby car. Although they shouted “Police! Stop! Police! Stop!”, the man ignored their shouts and jumped into the back seat of a Chevy Tahoe SUV. Drawing their weapons, the officers slowly advanced toward the SUV. Suddenly, the driver of the SUV stepped on the gas and started driving directly at Officer Bunn.

As Officer Bunn saw the SUV, weighing more than three tons and traveling at a speed of 25 MPH, he knew he was facing a deadly weapon. With the vehicle bearing down on him, Bunn knew he had to defend himself as well as he could.

He fired two shots and tried to jump out of the way. The SUV struck his knee.

Corey Ward, driver of the SUV, died at the scene from a gunshot wound to his head. Officer Bunn knew he had acted in self defense, but he was devastated, although Atlanta police are trained to use force if they feel their lives are in danger.

Anti-police activists claimed that Bunn was a racist, rogue cop. Corey Ward was an African-American young man. Bowing to pressure, three and half years after the incident, the Fulton County District Attorney announced he was indicting Bunn for the murder of Corey Ward. Local news media, as is their wont, are printing stories sympathetic to the members of Corey Ward’s family, thereby influencing any jury that might be impaneled. However, they fail to report that police found marijuana, cocaine, a large knife and two stolen cell phones in Corey Ward’s SUV.

Once again, how does a working man trying to provide for a family of five children, including a toddler, go up against the government with its array of top guns provided by taxpayer money? How does a wife face the prospect of seeing her husband, who she knows to be a good man, go to prison for just doing his job? Some of the police groups are standing behind him, but their funds are limited, certainly in comparison to the prosecution’s. (more…)