Prejudiced Police officer

Recently, I found myself in the waiting room of a hospital, where I bore witness to a rather peculiar incident. A young kid in the room had clearly taken a beating, and the story he recounted was just as baffling. According to him, he had gone from his middle school to a friend’s high school not to start a fight, but merely to have a conversation with some people who were bullying him.

However, the officer handling the case seemed convinced otherwise. With a touch of cynicism, he remarked, “This isn’t my first rodeo, kid, so stop trying to deceive me. You went there to fight.”

Adding to the complexity of the situation, the young boy’s mother didn’t speak any English. She had to rely on a translator to communicate with the police officers conducting the investigation. Her stance was clear: her son had not gone to the high school to start a fight. According to her, he was trying to help a friend.

The kid, too, staunchly denied any involvement in initiating a fight. He asserted that he had been the one assaulted and urged the police to investigate this aspect. Despite his pleas, the police officer handling the case continued to display an astonishing level of dismissiveness, ultimately holding the kid responsible for the beating he endured.

This apparent indifference on the part of the police officers left me in a state of uncertainty. I couldn’t help but wonder how to interpret the entire incident. While I understood that they dealt with deceitful individuals regularly, simply branding this young boy as a liar without a hint of empathy felt ethically questionable to me.