Nashville's 2012 July Fourth celebration
At the Fourth of July fireworks celebration downtown — Biggest in the Nation! — several police officers were stuck in the Bridge Building during the display while trying to make sure the building was empty of trespassers. Because it is, you know, very dangerous to be that close to where thousands of pounds of fireworks are being set off. A police helicopter was also not clear of the scene when the fireworks started.
According to NewsChannel 5:
While SWAT officers were in the building and the helicopter was overhead, [Metro Nashville Police Department public affairs manager Don] Aaron said a security guard exited the building and told an NFD Arson Investigator that he was the last one in the building and that it was empty.
"Without going through command and without checking with MNPD to ensure our personnel were out of the building, the message was relayed to start the fireworks show. Command was not advised the show had commenced," Aaron said in a statement.
I think we can all make a pretty strong guess as to what happened here: Folks who were under enormous pressure to get the fireworks started as quickly as possible after a delay due to some jackwagons trespassing in the building — because God forbid tourists are unhappy or inconvenienced for any length of time — screwed up.
Is there any other city in this country that treats tourists like the abuser in a domestic-violence situation, where they just do whatever they want, even when it hurts us, and we excuse it because how could we pay the bills without them? They were really drunk and they’re not like that normally — and they love us, can’t you see how much they love us? If we just find the right contortions to move the city in, we can keep them from hurting us too bad.
Well, good job, us. The tourists are happy, and we only had to needlessly endanger the lives of several cops to do it. Between this and the unwillingness of Republicans to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection, I’m starting to suspect that the Blue Lives Matter crowd might be more interested in slogans that piss off liberals than in actually giving a shit about cops.
I keep thinking about Vickie Hambrick in her rage and grief on Friday when she faced the cop who killed her son — now-former Officer Andrew Delke, who is going to serve three years (or possibly less, with good behavior) for it. I keep thinking about Sheila Clemmons Lee, whose son was stolen from her by police as well and who has been an advocate for the Hambrick family.
The anguish — not just from the loss of their sons, but at a legal system that will not provide justice — is unbearable.
The lawyers for Andrew Delke gave a press conference on Friday. From The Tennessean:
[Lawyer David] Raybin has maintained for years that Delke was not guilty of murder because he was following his training. Raybin was asked during the briefing if he thinks anything needs to change with how police are trained.
"That's a discussion we need to have," Raybin said. "(Delke) was following his training. He did not want to shoot Mr. Hambrick. He hesitated. The discussion about training ... it's up to the police department to make those decisions. We make those decisions at the police department, in the mayor's office, in the ballot box — not in the jury box."
The first time I read this quote, it pissed me off. But the longer I stare at it, the more true and damning it seems. Of course we make these decisions all the time about who is important and has value and who doesn’t. And we do make those decisions at the police department, in the mayor’s office, in the ballot box. And it’s true that we don’t make them in the jury box. I am 100 percent positive that Raybin meant this as an example of the system working correctly, but damn if it isn’t a perfect description also of how the system is so messed-up.
Shit rolls downhill, as my Grandpa Phillips used to say. It’s the rare person who yells back at his boss. Most of us just find someone lower than us to snap at later. So, the people in charge set the tone for what’s acceptable behavior.
And what Nashville’s people in charge find acceptable is sacrificing the well-being of people who live and work in Nashville everyday for the illusion of some kind of adult Disney World.
If it is easier for Nashville to risk the lives of police officers for fireworks, because it’s too inconvenient to save them, is it any surprise that cops will shoot people fleeing from them because it’s too inconvenient to track them down later?
This callous disregard for people’s lives isn’t something that can be fixed through police training when it’s rot throughout the city.
Update:Â In response to this post, a representative from the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. reached out to Pith to say the following: "No one was under tremendous pressure. No one was there going, 'hurry up, hurry up.' The fire marshal gave the go-ahead." The rep made it clear that the fire and police departments handled safety issues surrounding the event, not the NCVC itself.
