There has been many people who are defending Andy and there are many people who are defending the police officer on this issue.
People have posted on the Internet that the police officer did the right thing and that he should be commended. Some have gone all out and attacked Andy and said he got what he deserved.
People from across the country have posted their support for the officer stating that we were not there to see what really happened and shouldn't question his actions. The officer is considered a hero on many blogs.
Lets take a look at this so called hero, this officer that is being put on a pedestal for his so called off duty heroics. I'm leaving out all the extra curricular activities, the rumors, the chisme, the he said she said stuff.
Lets take a look at some facts. It seems that some new information has come out in the last couple days. Here is a Notice of Suspension for officer Jorge Gonzalez. Seems that he had 10 violations on this suspension alone. Officer Gonzalez was put on an 80 suspension for lying about what happened when he pulled over a man who was speeding to his business because of a security alarm that went off. Read the document yourself and ask, Could this officer have lied to cover up what really happened?
It was hard for me to justify a yes answer before this document surfaced but now it I can easily shout HELL YEAH he might have lied about what he did to Andy. I can't gurantee he did but the odds are definately stacked against him on this one.
There are plenty of hard working, respectible police officers on the force. Unfortunately this is not one of them. Good officers have to work twice as hard to get half the respect they desrve because of bad apples like him. Let's toss put the bad apples.
From Theresa Caballero's blog "Justice and Reform"
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theresacaballero.com/
El Paso Police Jorge Gonzalez shoots Andres Cortez, Press does not ask ????
April 4, 2010, 4:00 pm
The El Paso press, including Chris Lopez, editor in charge of the news section of the El Paso Times, and members of the so called TV Media let yet another shooting by an El Paso Police Officer of a citizen go by without asking the obvious questions. It was reported in the El Paso Times and tv media that off duty El Paso Police Officer Jorge Gonzalez shot 20 year old Andres Elias Cortez in the neck on Thursday, April 1, 2010. They tell us that El Paso Police spokesman Mike Baranyay says that Andres Cortez hit a car with two off duty police officers, Jorge Gonzalez and Machelle Gonzalez, in it. Baranyay says that Cortez tried to get away and in doing so he hit Machelle Gonzalez and then was going to try and run over her again at which point Jorge Gonzalez shot Cortez in the neck. (She has non-life threatening injuries. Did he really hit her?) They say that Cortez is in the hospital and will most likely be a quadraeplegic. Cortez may also face charges of aggravated assault on top of it all. Furthermore, Baranyay, after giving the above rendition of events, says that the case will be investigated by the police (who is he if not the police?) and by the District Attorney's office (which will no doubt, based on the past, be a whitewash). The question is, police spokesman officer Baranyay has already told us what happened so what are the investigations for if he has already figured it all out? And how did Baranyay figure it all out, if it hasn't been investigated yet? This is an obvious question that has not been answered or probably even asked or thought of by Chris Lopez and other media outlets, who have a duty to ask. Why have they not asked this question as well as others? This is the second cop shooting of a motorist in less than one year. Sgt. Lewis Johnson shot and killed a motorist last year.
The press tells us that the officers identified themselves to Cortez as police officers. Why were they identifying themselves as police officers if they were off duty? At what point did they do this? Which of the cops got out the car and when? Did they both get out? If they both got out of the car, why did they both get out of the car? Who was driving? Whose car was it?
What time did the accident occur? How bad was the accident? What do the cars look like? Who in fact hit whom? Why have we not seen pictures of the cars? Why were the officers together? Are they friends? Married to each other? Married to other people? Relatives? Where were they going? Where were they coming from? Had they been drinking? Was the gun a service revolver or Gonzalez' personal gun? If so, does he have a permit?
Did both cops pull their guns? At what point was the gun pulled, or guns pulled? When they were approaching Cortez? Were both cops armed? Was Cortez fleeing people in plain clothes who had guns pulled? If so, should that have bought him a bullet in the neck and a lifetime condemned to a bed?
Continuation of Theresa Caballero's blog post on the shooting of Andy Cortez:
ReplyDeleteWhat is Cortez' criminal history if any? The police always IMMEDIATELY pull out criminal histories of people they shoot to show how dangerous they are. Since we have not heard of any history can we assume that there is none? Is Cortez just a regular old 20 year old who had the bad luck of coming across the path of two El Paso Police Officers who come from a department that is notorious for its poor training?
What are the records of the cops in question? Have they been disciplined in the past?
Why are the police shooting at motorists instead of at the tires of the vehicle?
Is this another example of poor training of our police?
Why does the press allow the police spokesman to get away with declaring what has happened and then in the next breath let him claim it is under investigation?
Why does the press not ask questions of Mayor Cook and city councilmen who are accountable to the voters for the actions of the police? Why does the press not ask questions of our worthless city manager Joyce Wilson who has positioned herself to be in charge of our police department, a woman who is from out of town (We can't find anyone locally who can mismanage our money as gloriously as she can. We are 18 million in the hole and counting) and who draws a fat cat salary of $250,000/year? At the very least we should be able to expect some answers from the overpaid Ms. Wilson regarding this great tragedy. But then that would require an intelligent press that understands its role.