Growing up, my mother often reminded me that there are always two sides to an argument and that a reasonable person would attempt to check out both sides before judging.
Commentator Michael Avery does not appear to agree with my mother. He presents one side of an incident and assumes we will simply accept his version of the truth ("Federal judges often let bad cops slide," July 22).
He described a Lakewood, Colo., case in which a disabled African-American woman, Latonya Davis, was terrified by police and physically abused and injured by them for a simple misdemeanor offense.
According to Mr. Avery, the police surrounded her car and beat on it with their batons while demanding she exit the vehicle. When she said she was afraid, their response was to smash the windows and drag her by her hair out of the vehicle causing multiple injuries, including glass to her eye.
She sued the police for injuries and excessive force. If the reader were to accept Mr. Avery's version as the "truth" this would be a horrible story.
However, I decided to look up the actual civil action. There one finds a very different story.
Ms. Davis had an outstanding arrest warrant, and the police told her multiple times to exit the vehicle as she was under arrest. She refused to comply with a lawful request by the police, and the police broke her car window in order to lawfully arrest her. Regarding her physical injury, there was no evidence showing glass in her eye or any other injuries. Her suit was dismissed.
When a person presents just one side to an argument and represents it as the "truth," there are often tragic consequences. There were riots in Ferguson when one side argued that Michael Brown raised his hands in surrender and begged the police not to shoot. A pretty horrific story. Unfortunately, it was not the truth, as multiple investigations proved. He in fact, actually attacked the policeman, who shot him in self-defense.
We can certainly recall the rush to judgment in many other situations: the untrue accusations against the Duke lacrosse team, the shame of the Tawana Brawley false accusations and others. Even President Barack Obama is guilty of just looking at one side of an argument and acting like he knows the truth. For example, Mr. Obama proclaimed that Cambridge police "acted stupidly" in the Henry Louis Gates arrest, though it was later proved they acted responsibly.
In all these incidents, innocent people were deemed guilty and had their lives disrupted because some people showed no concern or desire to review all the facts.
I acknowledge that some police act irresponsibly, abuse their authority and deserve punishment. And, I am not taking a position in the Latonya Davis incident. I am however, warning that it is wrong to present one side of an argument and incite others to action before all the facts are in. I can just imagine my mother, if she were still alive, lecturing Michael Avery for his one-sided analysis.
John W. Egan, Hunt Valley