Written by You might have heard that police have no duty to protect you. It might come as a surprise though, that the laws says you have a legal duty to protect them.
A story out of Huntsville Alabama came across my path this morning about an officer who was attempting to subdue a suspect in a hit & run accident. Huntsville Police allege that Devonte Conerly struggled with the officer, and tried to get his gun. Police eventually subdued Conerly and took him into custody. He is now charged with both the hit & run, as well as felony assault on a police officer.
After the struggle, police asked witnesses why they did not intervene. The witnesses said they were too busy recording the struggle, and presumably weren’t exactly anxious to get themselves hurt joining a melee between two violent criminals. Especially if they didn’t know why the officer was attempting to effect the arrest, this certainly sounds quite reasonable to most reasonable people.
It’s also a crime.