Teen Killing

Why are people so shocked that a teen got killed by police? People aren’t nearly as shocked as when others get killed by teens. Only last January were teens arrested for taking the life of an elderly man in Marchand. Just last March teens took the life of a shop owner in Cedars. Teens have been taking quite a number of lives in recent times. It is no wonder that in some cases, police are proceeding with force when dealing with teens, whether they are dangerous or not. Teens who were never really thought to be dangerous are sometimes the ones taking lives. Teens can be as dangerous as the rest of humanity, so don’t be so appalled when you hear that a teen gets killed by police.

It is always a tragedy when innocent people die. But the life of one is not more precious than the life of another. Innocent teens are living in the same world as guilty teens who give the entire world of teens a bad reputation. That is unfortunate. But are the police supposed to see ‘teen’ written on the face of an individual inside a vehicle at 10:30 pm on May 22nd?

Would we have been less shocked if the occupants of the vehicle were all in their thirties? Would we have been less shocked if the individuals had served time in prison for various acts? We can also ask, would the police have used such force had they known that a 17 year-old-son of a friend and high ranking officer was on board the vehicle? Would they have used such force had their own son been on board the vehicle? They probably would have used the same level of force for the simple reason that they could not have known the identity or age of the persons inside the vehicle.

But let us be serious for a moment. Do we believe that the police would drive around and open fire on a vehicle just like that? If the driver of the car had stopped without any resistance when asked by police to do so, would the police have rewarded his compliance with bullets? If these are the circumstances under which the teen was killed, then the officers involved would need psychiatric evaluation.

Let us be more affected by the circumstances that claim life rather than the age of the life that is claimed. Not all teens are innocent. We feel that the young are more entitled to life than the old and that is why premature and unjustified loss of life is always perceived as a bigger tragedy than death which occurs later in one’s life. Condolences are never truly comforting, for what we really need is a change of circumstances which lead to the protection of life, no matter a person’s age.