OMG, He Killed Kenney!

(Sorry, couldn't resist the title.)
A cop died in Franconia, New Hampshire this weekend. The bare bones story is that a cop, Bruce McKay, stopped a speeder named Liko Kenney. Kenney shot and drove over McKay. A passing motorist, former Marine Gregory Floyd, stopped to give aid and defend the officer. Floyd grabbed the officer’s gun and shot Kenney. The officer died, Kenney died, and the District Attorney will not prosecute Floyd.

The story has gotten more complicated. Kenny and McKay had a history and McKay was supposed to call for backup before dealing with Kenney. On the other hand, Franconia has a very small police department and McKay may not have had backup readily available. No matter what issues were between the two men, Kenney had no right to shoot the officer. Floyd did what needed to be done.

That hasn’t stopped a small number of moonbats in Democratic Underground. Someone nicknamed Krispos42 mentioned the case and supported Floyd as did a majority of other posters. But the minority really shows their craziness by calling Floyd a vigilante. Keopeli said, “I find it odd that a passerby would stop, take the cops gun and kill the suspect, yet he's being portrayed as a hero rather than a vigilante. You can't take the law into your own hands and self-defense is a bit of a stretch given this man put himself into this situation.”

Wuushew topped that with, “Justice is not achievable through actions of individuals, only through the complex actions of the gestalt entity which is the criminal justice system. As a system it is molded and controlled through the civil and political institutions of our society. Behavior can be codified, predicted, analyzed and modified. Vigilantism introduces unpredictable [sic] and chaotic elements which in no way will achieve professed societal aims…. I am just irritated at what I perceive as in inappropriate assumption of authority to which the only response should have been a collectivist one.”

Why am I not surprised someone tossed collectivism into the argument.

I probably shouldn’t point just to Democratic Underground. The Boston Globe sponsored a reader feedback board on the story and some posters came up with their own doozies along the same lines. You can almost always predict statist rhetoric (although the person who said Kenney was unarmed because he was reloading his gun really needs to get a checkup from the neck up).

What is gratifying is that most posters on Democratic Underground and Boston Globe’s bulletin board agree that Floyd took the right action. Still, a dismaying number though called Floyd a vigilante. Nothing could be further from the truth.