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Is this title what you call a double entendre?
Anyway. If you thought your family was F'd up, just read about this one.
A husband who walked in on his wife and father in a compromising position on his son's bed has been suspended from the police force for four years. Timothy John 'TJ' Brewer, a sheriff's deputy in Moab, Utah, pistol whipped his dad, a fire department chief, after he walked upstairs to find his wife and father getting frisky in his son's room. When the suspension ends, Brewer will have to enter the police academy again if he wants to wear a badge once more.
Opinion on the case has been sharply divided -- on the one hand, sympathy is with Brewer, who walked in on a horrific scene. Who could blame the man for freaking out?
On the other, reportedly Brewer, his dad, and his wife had all been drinking heavily at a family BBQ that night. I don't care what happens that pisses you off, you're a cop, you don't grab your gun when you're drunk and mad. Plus, there were children present.
But if Brewer had left it at that, he probably would have gotten off easier. Instead, he then tried to get into the hospital where the father lay injured after he stabbed himself (a lot of stuff going on here!), telling officers who arrived that he wanted to kill his father. He was still drunk and called the officers "dumb asses."
When his uncle -- also a cop -- arrived and tried to stop him, Brewer assaulted his uncle too.
Not excusing what his father and wife did, but does this sound like someone you want running around with a gun? His gun wasn't issued to him for the purpose of personal retribution. You don't get to kill people because they piss you off.
As a cop, you are entrusted with a gun that you're not going to use when you become emotionally volatile. People have to deal with all kinds of situations that anger them -- someone hitting your car, someone stealing your property, someone sleeping with your wife. Yes, if it were your dad, that makes it a million times worse. But you still don't get to use your gun any which way you want to.
And then to assault another officer who was just trying to keep you from murder -- just trying to do his job -- that's wrong.
Plenty of people will think that this man's punishment is too harsh, but I'm not at all sure it's harsh enough. (To see how lightly he got off, check out the other Utah police officers suspended this year -- one got two years for altering a workers' compensation form.) Brewer was lucky to keep his badge -- he was one vote away from losing it.
He also seems like he needs to take some gun safety and anger management classes -- and he might want to look into Alcoholics Anonymous. He should consider that he got off fairly easy here and start the onerous task of rebuilding his shattered life.
Anyway. If you thought your family was F'd up, just read about this one.
A husband who walked in on his wife and father in a compromising position on his son's bed has been suspended from the police force for four years. Timothy John 'TJ' Brewer, a sheriff's deputy in Moab, Utah, pistol whipped his dad, a fire department chief, after he walked upstairs to find his wife and father getting frisky in his son's room. When the suspension ends, Brewer will have to enter the police academy again if he wants to wear a badge once more.
Opinion on the case has been sharply divided -- on the one hand, sympathy is with Brewer, who walked in on a horrific scene. Who could blame the man for freaking out?
On the other, reportedly Brewer, his dad, and his wife had all been drinking heavily at a family BBQ that night. I don't care what happens that pisses you off, you're a cop, you don't grab your gun when you're drunk and mad. Plus, there were children present.
But if Brewer had left it at that, he probably would have gotten off easier. Instead, he then tried to get into the hospital where the father lay injured after he stabbed himself (a lot of stuff going on here!), telling officers who arrived that he wanted to kill his father. He was still drunk and called the officers "dumb asses."
When his uncle -- also a cop -- arrived and tried to stop him, Brewer assaulted his uncle too.
Not excusing what his father and wife did, but does this sound like someone you want running around with a gun? His gun wasn't issued to him for the purpose of personal retribution. You don't get to kill people because they piss you off.
As a cop, you are entrusted with a gun that you're not going to use when you become emotionally volatile. People have to deal with all kinds of situations that anger them -- someone hitting your car, someone stealing your property, someone sleeping with your wife. Yes, if it were your dad, that makes it a million times worse. But you still don't get to use your gun any which way you want to.
And then to assault another officer who was just trying to keep you from murder -- just trying to do his job -- that's wrong.
Plenty of people will think that this man's punishment is too harsh, but I'm not at all sure it's harsh enough. (To see how lightly he got off, check out the other Utah police officers suspended this year -- one got two years for altering a workers' compensation form.) Brewer was lucky to keep his badge -- he was one vote away from losing it.
He also seems like he needs to take some gun safety and anger management classes -- and he might want to look into Alcoholics Anonymous. He should consider that he got off fairly easy here and start the onerous task of rebuilding his shattered life.
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