Both Tribes Are Wrong About ICE Shooting

0:00Both tribes are wrong about this ice shooting in Minnesota. And I'm going to try to say tribes instead of sides from now on on this show, because there's nothing wrong with taking sides. The problems start happening when you pledge allegiance to your particular tribe and you can see nothing wrong with anything that they do. And there's a lot of that happening on both sides, which I'm going to try to call both tribes from now on. Irreverent News Talk, Opinion Satire, it's Newsweek Radio. I'm Jesse Edwards. and you shouldn't put yourself in harm's way and use it as an excuse to use lethal force.

0:37You also shouldn't put yourself between armed federal law enforcement and their business. Neither actions were wise. We're talking about the woman in Minnesota that was shot three times in the face by federal immigration enforcement. This woman, who was also an activist, was on the scene in her vehicle trying to block the road and make it harder for ICE to do their job. We've all seen the footage at this point, but I might as well show it too, just for effect. One officer goes for the door handle of this woman's SUV, while another officer places himself near the front of the vehicle and fires three shots at the driver as she clearly turns the wheel right while hitting the gas to drive away.

1:14So then our idiot Vice President J.D. Vance goes up to the podium in front of cameras to claim that this officer has some sort of absolute immunity, which is absolute horse hockey. Like he's trying to impress Trump with this blind, knee-jerk, and party-line reaction to a tragic and avoidable situation. The President stands with ICE. I stand with ICE. We stand with all of our law enforcement officers. And part of that is recognizing that you people in the media, not everybody in this room, but many people in this room have been lying about this attack. She was trying to ram this guy with her car.

1:51He shot back. He defended himself. He's already been seriously wounded in law enforcement operations before. And everybody who's been repeating the lie that this is some innocent woman who was out for a drive in Minneapolis when a law enforcement officer shot at her, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Vance said himself that this officer had a similar incident six months ago where he was dragged by a car after he tried to stop it using his body. And to a lot of us out here in the court of public opinion, it looks like this officer should probably face charges if and when he is found innocent or guilty in a court of law.

2:24I'd say one third of us seems to think that the ICE officer was justified in shooting this woman three times in the face. Another third seems to think that the officer should be charged with murder. And I'd like to think that another third of us believe that both of these people were in the wrong. And so is everybody else for that matter who is instinctively retreating to their political corners of tribalism by picking sides without seeing this for what it is. Unfortunately, this level of stupidity cost Renee Goode her life. And it might cost Officer Jonathan Ross his freedom eventually. And either way, this is going to follow him for the rest of his life.

2:57Based on my own personal judgment from what I've witnessed from that video that we've all seen, He should at least lose his job and be put on trial in front of a jury of his peers because law enforcement should be held to a higher standard than the rest of us, not the other way around, and that should go for our so-called leadership in Washington as well. Why? Because there's currently an incentive for law enforcement and leadership in Washington to take advantage of a system with zero accountability. Where else would the power-hungry madmen of your generation gravitate towards, given the opportunity?

3:31Come on. You have a federal law enforcement official engaging in federal law enforcement action. That's a federal issue. That guy is protected by absolute immunity. He was doing his job. But still, we've got people like J.D. Vance and a lot of other law enforcement worshiping bootlicker types who believe in qualified immunity where cops are automatically let off the hook simply because the nature of their work is often extremely difficult and they are bound to make human mistakes once in a while. Most people, I believe, understand that and that we love our good cops. We couldn't survive without them.

4:02But good cops also don't defend bad cops. And it only takes one bad apple to ruin the entire bunch. Bad officers and public officials should not be let off the hook. Accidents happen, but these are still people. And they at least need to be held to the same standards as the citizenry. Qualified immunity has no place in society with accountability in leadership. Because if you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear, right? That's the line they use against us all the time. But every time we see one of these bad cops execute somebody in the streets in broad daylight and on camera, they've always got the police unions backing the officer in question, which automatically puts the average citizen at a disadvantage for recourse in the court system, which is yet another layer of protection beyond qualified immunity, which shouldn't exist in the first place.

4:47Everybody deserves the right to protect themselves. But one side is fighting with the entire system protecting them, and the other is fighting with spitballs. Police of every kind imaginable are regularly trained not to put themselves in front of moving vehicles and then use deadly force as a result. The basic rule is simple. If a car starts moving, get the hell out of the way. Officers are taught that standing in front of a car and blocking it with their body or drawing a firearm while standing in front of it creates a predictable danger and removes all forms of safety. And when there's room to move, the expectation is to move aside.

5:24You're supposed to let the vehicle go and deal with the suspect later rather than escalate a traffic or enforcement situation into a lethal one, which is what happened here. This approach is reflected in DOJ training. It's an FBI guidance and state training programs just like Minnesota's. Deadly force is only justified around vehicles when there's an immediate threat beyond the car itself and no reasonable alternatives exist. And the courts are absolutely going to look into whether or not this officer's own tactical decisions created the danger that led to the shooting. Because if an officer voluntarily places themselves into harm's way, especially in front of a moving vehicle that could have been avoided, that's going to weigh pretty heavily against a self-defense claim.

6:06Regardless of what Trump or Vance say in their knee-jerk opinions, the reason this is drilled into recruits' heads is practical, not theoretical. Cars are common, drivers panic, and when officers create confrontations with moving vehicles, people end up dead. Unfortunately, Renee Good wasn't a criminal. She didn't even have a record. She wasn't a target of ICE either, and she absolutely did not deserve to die. But it also wasn't smart of her to put herself in that position either. She chose to insert her SUV into a federal enforcement operation and physically blocked armed agents operating under Trump's ICE, which by now everybody knows is aggressive, jittery, and quick to escalate.

6:47At least now we know, right? That does not justify what happened. But it does matter. You can criticize ICE. You can protest ICE. You can monitor them and vote against them. But physically impeding armed agents with your body or your car is gambling with your life. And tragically, she lost that gamble. That's why I think both tribes are wrong about this. And until we can do it again, it's Newsweek Radio. I'm Jesse Edwards. Catch you next time. Bye. And we say bye-bye. Newsweek Radio is a member of The Trust Project.