The officer was knocked unconscious, and his supervisors say he was lucky he wasn’t killed. The detective decided to call for backup so that he could continue his robbery investigation while another officer handled the traffic stop.
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The Blaze.com reports a Birmingham, Alabama police officer hesitated to shoot a suspect who allegedly took the officer’s gun and pistol-whipped him with it, because he feared being in the media spotlight.
Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper told WBMA-TV the “nobility and integrity of policing has been challenged” and the U.S. has “allowed popular culture to draft a narrative which is contrary to the unbelievable work that so many officers are doing everyday across this nation”.
President of the Fraternal Order of Police spoke for the detective whose picture went viral after he was pistol whipped to the ground by a violent criminal and explained why the cop didn’t fight back.
According to the FBI, 49,851 law enforcement officers were the victim of line-of-duty assaults in 2013. The driver allegedly defied orders to remain in his vehicle and began questioning the detective about why he was stopped.
The site says that instead of helping, bystanders took video of the incident and praised the attack on the officer.
“Pistol whipped his ass to sleep”, one Facebook user had written.
Some Birmingham officers feel that “if the roles were reversed, there would be demonstrations” and an “outcry from the public”, Boackle said. And according to CNN, a possible motive for the suspect’s attack is retaliation against police brutality.
Cunningham was quickly apprehended after the attack and charged with attempted murder, the Daily News reported.
‘If the tables were turned, and that was a suspect lying there, they would be rioting. His mother hung up on a CNN reporter seeking comment, and a subsequent voice message left for her was not immediately returned.
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“I believe in God and I think that is the reason why the detective is still with us today.” said Heath Boackle.
