Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
A Denver police officer has been suspended after allegedly brandishing his gun at a McDonald's restaurant in Aurora after his order took too long to fill...A spokesperson for the Aurora Police Department said they plan to present the case -- now classified as a felony menacing incident -- to the Arapahoe County District Attorney's Office Thursday for possible filing of criminal charges.
Here's what allegedly happened:
Sources familiar with the case, and the fast food worker's account of what happened, say two off-duty Denver police officers placed an order from their car in the early morning hours of May 21. But once at the drive through window, the employee said the men became agitated and angry at how long their food was taking. The men thought they were being ignored, according to contacts familiar with the worker's account. The male clerk then said one of the officer's flashed his police badge and pointed a pistol through the drive through window in a threatening manner, before driving off without paying.
Mr. Scalia, would you like fries with that crow?
Politics
Comments
I don't see what the big deal is. I mean, how many of us can honestly say that we've never pulled out our piece and came within an inch of blowing some kid's head off when our burgers took a little longer than we would have hoped?
Cops have a stressful job. I say let 'em off a fast food worker once in a while.
Posted by: Skip | June 24, 2009 10:42 AM
I want a goddamn liter of cola, not a large farva.
Posted by: Ben P | June 24, 2009 11:08 AM
And if the worker had been shot to death, you know what the story would be:
"How dare you not stand up for our officers of the law! The employee posed a threat to the safety and well-being of the police officer, and acted in self-defense of his urge to satiate his appetite immediately! No scummy McDonald's employee has the right to threaten an officer in such a way. What are you, soft on crime? The employee's family should be fined for the bullet and imprisoned."
Posted by: Chuck | June 24, 2009 11:49 AM
I'd guess it isn't a lack of training or even setting expectations. Some people's egos should disqualify them from even owning weapons let alone jobs in law enforcement.
I can imagine a scenario where the officers were of one skin color/ethnicity and the clerk of another and then some level of unmet expectations causing a problem. Sadly this happens all too often but I'd like to be able to approach an officer to address that problem rather than having him escalate it.
Posted by: MikeMa | June 24, 2009 11:54 AM
I dunno, McDonald's kinda makes me want to shoot people too. Although in that case, it's not so much the service as the food quality... If I'm going to be a party to the environmental disaster that is our modern American factory farming practices, I at least want it to TASTE GOOD, goddamit!
Posted by: James Sweet | June 24, 2009 12:04 PM
Figuring out who is qualified to be a cop must be really hard. You probably get a zillion applications and then you have to figure out which ones are responsible adults and which ones are there because they like the idea of carrying a gun, breaking traffic laws, and ordering people around.
Given the number of people in the world who fit the latter profile, it's probably like finding a needle in a haystack.
Posted by: Troublesome Frog | June 24, 2009 12:11 PM
"then you have to figure out which ones are responsible adults and which ones are there because they like the idea of carrying a gun, breaking traffic laws, and ordering people around"
And then the city/county/state hires the latter.
Posted by: Nan | June 24, 2009 12:47 PM
are there because they like the idea of carrying a gun, breaking traffic laws, and ordering people around.
The problem is, nearly everyone who wants to be a police officer fits this category. I don't know any responsible adults who would want to deal with the b.s. of being a police officer.
Posted by: Owen | June 24, 2009 1:43 PM
Ben@2 -
If you're channeling Sheriff Buford T Justice, the quote is:
I want a Doctor Pepper and a Diablo sandwich and make it fast, I'm in a goddamn hurry.
Posted by: Pineyman | June 24, 2009 1:47 PM
I'm not familiar with the Scalia reference. Someone fill me in, please.
Posted by: TGAP Dad | June 24, 2009 3:20 PM
Well, that sounds rather like 1) steroids 2) meth (or a prescription equivalent) or 3) both.
Posted by: usagi | June 24, 2009 3:21 PM
TGAP Dad-- this may help.
Posted by: Gretchen | June 24, 2009 3:24 PM
Speaking from experience, Aurora cops are assholes anyway. My sister once got busted for underage drinking by a couple of Aurora cops.
The thing is, she was asleep at her friend's house for a slumber party. The cops got a noise complaint and broke into the (dark/silent) house and woke everyone up to breathalyze them.
Assholes.
Posted by: Damien | June 24, 2009 4:46 PM
Posted by: WScott | June 24, 2009 6:00 PM
At least it wasn't Wienerschnizel; definitely would have been shots fired.
Posted by: j a higginbotham | June 25, 2009 12:30 AM
What would D-FENS do?
Posted by: ??? | June 25, 2009 11:09 AM
True, but I didn't say anything about "qualified" applicants. In fact, I'm pretty sure that qualified applicants are pretty hard to come by. The ideal police officer is somebody with the social skills to succeed in management, excellent physical fitness, good problem solving skills, and a willingness to risk getting killed at work. That's pretty hard to find at most prices.
If all you're looking for is the "cars, guns, and power" variety of applicant, I'd be shocked if they couldn't find a thousand of those to put on the streets of any city in a heartbeat. Filtering them must be a nightmare.
Posted by: Troublesome Frog | June 25, 2009 11:28 AM