The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

‘Evil Can Never Be Dead Enough’

Posted on | September 11, 2021 | Comments Off on ‘Evil Can Never Be Dead Enough’

Brevard County, Florida, is known as Florida’s “Space Coast” because it is home to Kennedy Space Flight Center at Cape Canaveral. The population is about 600,000 and is 74% white, 10% black and 10% Hispanic. About 25% of the population is retirees. It’s a peaceful and prosperous place, with beautiful beaches that attract many tourists annually.

On Monday, August 30, however, Brevard County was the scene of one of the wildest police shootouts ever caught on camera, when two deputies were ambushed by 38-year-old Paris C. Wilder:

Wilder was a registered Career Offender with 40 previous arrests including 23 felony arrests for charges that included: Robbery with a Firearm, Aggravated Assault with a Weapon, multiple narcotics offenses, Battery of a Law Enforcement Officer, and Attempted First Degree Felony Murder. Wilder was out on bond for two felony drug charges and had two active felony warrants at the time of the incident.
The preliminary investigation has determined that on Monday, August 30th, at approximately 1:00 p.m., a deputy conducted a traffic stop in area of I-95 and SR 192 on a vehicle in which Wilder was a passenger. During the traffic stop, an additional deputy arrived on scene and began assisting with the three adult occupants of the vehicle. When the suspect was asked to exit the vehicle, Wilder immediately opened the door armed with a rifle and began shooting at the deputies. Deputies returned fire in an effort to save their own lives, as well as the lives of others at the scene, which included a 2-month-old infant located in the rear of the suspect vehicle. During the exchange of gunfire, one deputy was shot in the lower leg and sustained a non-life threatening injury. The injured deputy was also attacked by Wilder with multiple strikes to the head with the butt of the rifle. As the attack on the injured deputy continued, the original deputy was able to end the threat by using deadly force and shooting Wilder.

In a Friday press conference where he released dashcam video of the incident, Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey called Wilder “a useless thug” who was “a perfect example of what is wrong with our criminal justice system,” asking: “Why is a thug with this kind of criminal history even given a bond where he can be out on our streets to harm someone else?” A total of 61 shots were fired during the incident. After the suspect’s gun jammed, he used the butt of the rifle to bash the head of Deputy Brian Potters, whose life was saved when Deputy Tyler Thomas was able to gain “a tactical advantage,” as the sheriff said, coming up behind Wilder and emptying his pistol into him:

“Let there be no doubt, this individual got exactly what he deserved,” the sheriff said. “And to those out there that might be foolish enough to ask why we shot him so many times, the answer is simple: evil can never be dead enough.”

Your damned right, Sheriff! Watch the video:

 

In case any reader was wondering, Sheriff Ivey is a Republican. A career law enforcement official with some 40 years experience, Ivey was first elected sheriff in 2012 with 67% of the vote — 11 points more than Mitt Romney got in Brevard County that year. Ivey was unopposed for reelection in 2016, but in 2020, he was challenged by Alton Edmond, a Democrat criminal defense attorney running on a Black Lives Matter platform. How’d that turn out? Sheriff Ivey won with 66% of the vote, about 9 points better than Trump, who beat Biden 57%-41% in Brevard.

The idea that tough law enforcement is unpopular, that Republicans should be afraid of looking “racist” if they criticize the Black Lives Matter movement, is contradicted by such data. Law-abiding citizens, whatever their race, do not want to live in a community that lets dangerous criminals roam the streets. Most citizens understand the dangers that law-enforcement officials face in their encounters with criminal suspects, and agree with Sheriff Ivey that something must be done to keep violent thugs like Paris Wilder behind bars. When a routine traffic stop turns into an ambush and a shootout, everybody should be cheering for the cops to win. And by “win,” of course I mean, shoot that son of a bitch dead, because truly “evil can never be dead enough.”




 

Category: Crime, Florida

Comments

Comments are closed.