common sense

Why does the Occam’s Razor answer (aka common sense) always appear at the end of a newspaper article?

Eugene O’Donnell, a professor of police studies at John Jay College, said a high number of shots fired underscores the threat the officers felt.

“The only reason to be shooting in New York City is that you or someone else is going to be killed and it’s going to be imminent,” he said. “It’s highly unlikely you fire a shot or two shots. You fire as many shots as you have to, to extinguish the threat. You don’t fire one round and say: ‘Did I hit him? Is he hit?’ ”

Because it’s the sensational gist (Officers Fire 50 Bullets and Kill a Young Groom on His Wedding Day)—and in this case the immediate conspiracy-theory angle proffered by the appearance of Al “I’m Here to Advocate on Behalf of Black People Hurt by Racism” Sharpton—that makes it a media story, that’s why.

Roughly 300 protesters gathered at a fiery rally led by Mr. Sharpton in front of Mary Immaculate Hospital yesterday, where Mr. Benefield and Mr. Guzman were recovering from their bullet wounds. Some protesters called for the ouster of Mr. Kelly; others demanded that the five officers resign.

Malcolm Smith, a Democratic state senator from Queens, urged calm, saying an impartial investigation was under way, but was drowned out by a chorus of shouts and boos. When Thomas White Jr., a councilman who represents the 28th District in Jamaica, said “We are not going to be angry,” the crowd roared back: “Oh, yes we are!”

Many at the protest saw parallels between Saturday’s shooting and the death of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed Western African immigrant who was fatally gunned down by police officers in 1999. One sign read, “41 now 50,” a reference to the number of shots fired at Mr. Diallo and the number fired Saturday night.

Here’s where the conspiracy angle starts to fall apart, or to heat up, depending on your point of view:

In Mr. Diallo’s shooting death, though, the four officers who fired at him were white. The undercover officer who fired the first shots Saturday was a Hispanic black, according to the police. Two other officers who fired at the Altima were black, and another two were white, one of whom went through one clip and reloaded his pistol, firing a total of 31 shots.

Let’s see. On Saturday there were five cops. The first one to shoot (the one who started the “contagious shooting” in the theory cited by the Times in the first article linked above) was black. Two others were black. (That’s three out of five, including the first one to shoot.) The two others were white. Of the 50 shots fired, a white cop fired 31 shots.

The “contagious shooting” theory would seem to indicate that the white guy who fired 31 times was acting pretty much on reflex after getting the danger signal from the first (black) cop.

Not a very sexy story, is it? Conspiracy theories (in this case, racism) are so much more satisfying. As stories, that is. Problem is: when we buy in to them, we perpetuate them.