Yesterday we looked at the story of how the Blue Lives Matter website was probably going to be shut down because the idea of supporting the police and reporting on incidents of violence toward them was so “offensive” to certain people. Well, less than 24 hours later, the site is gone. Any links going to particular articles on the site redirect to a statement explaining why the site is “stepping back” to retool their operation, but they plan to return on a different platform in the near future.
That’s a shame, because they were covering a lot of stories that don’t get much oxygen in the mainstream press. Fortunately, I was able to cache one of those before they went dark. It’s a rather horrifying story that took place in Gwinnett County, Georgia. Three people, two of whom had previously been arrested and released at George Floyd protests, tracked down the identities and addresses of two police officers who were working at the protest sites. They then traveled to the officers’ homes and damaged or destroyed their squad cars by throwing Molotov cocktails at them. Thankfully, witness testimony and surveillance footage allowed the police to locate and arrest all three suspects.
Three people tracked two Georgia law enforcement officers to their homes and set their patrol vehicles on fire using Molotov cocktails on Thursday night.
The first incident occurred outside a home in Duluth sometime after 10 p.m., WSB reported.
Police received a 911 call that a Gwinnett County Police Department car was on fire at that location, but it had successfully been extinguished by the time officers arrived.
Witnesses told police they spotted three black males running away from the scene, WXIA reported.
Shortly after the attack in Duluth, another patrol car parked at an officer’s house in Lawrenceville similarly had a Molotov thrown at it, but that time the criminals missed their mark and didn’t end up doing too much damage to the vehicle.
The initial report of “three black males” running away from the scene turned out to be incorrect. It was actually two males and a female. Alvin Joseph, 21, Lakaila Mack, 20, and Ebuka Chike-Morah, 21, were all subsequently located and arrested on a variety of charges. Felony charges of attempting to destroy a government vehicle using a firebomb are pending.
That’s one of the more frightening aspects of this current trend of rioting and going directly after police officers as opposed to criminals who simply come into contact with the police after committing other crimes. People who put on the badge and accept the job of protecting and serving the public know that they face potential danger every time they step out the door to go on duty. But they don’t traditionally expect criminal violence to follow them home, endangering their families and property when they’re not on the beat.
The sad reality is that there are too many of these stories taking place around the country to easily keep up with all of them. That’s why a site like Blue Lives Matter is such an asset for those of us interested in and following up on news involving the law enforcement community. Hopefully, they can work out their “issues” and get back online in the near future.
