After seeing what pissed-off citizens can do under dictatorships in the middle east, it’s no wonder that North Americans are seeing public protests as a viable means of expression for their distaste with corrupt authorities.

Last summer native wood carver John Williams was shot and killed by Seattle Police officer Ian Burk “mere seconds” after confronting Williams on a Seattle Street.

Despite an internal police investigation that ruled the shooting death of Williams “unjustified”, Seattle’s district attorney’s office announced they were refusing to prosecute Burk for the murder.

Has the shooting adversely affected former officer Burk?

Absolutely. I have no doubt that he’s suffered great emotional anguish over his hasty (and incorrect) decision to kill a man. Any reasonable man would.

But his feeling bad for what he did does NOT mean he should not be held accountable for his actions in a court of law.  “Feeling Bad” is not a pass for murder.  Or at least it shouldn’t be.

He killed a man without justification.  It doesn’t matter that he was a cop at the time.

He must still be held accountable for his actions.

Just like you or I would be if we’d been the ones to shoot and kill a man.

I can’t imagine the District Attorney’s office being reluctant to prosecute one of us were the roles reversed.  There would be no hesitation to prosecute one of us “regular folk”.

What the world has learned over the past few months is that unaccountable and corrupt authorities will no longer be tolerated in many parts of the world.  So it should come as no surprise to Seattle Police that the official refusal to hold one of their own accountable appears to come with some unintended consequences.

They should, along with the District Attorney’s office, begin acting like a legitimate authority and hold their own accountable no matter the cost.

Doing otherwise will mean that Sunday’s impromtu protest and anti-police sentiment will only get worse.  And we’ve seen what can happen when corrupt rulers insist they are above the law.

They may want to rethink that position if they don’t want their very own Cairo right there in Seattle.

Issuing statements that “the group did not have a parade or demonstration permit” is laughable.  That’s an odd time to decide to hide behind the “rule of law”, don’t you think?  When the DA is refusing to prosecute one of their own for murder?

Keep up with asinine comments like that, and I won’t be surprised to see larger demonstrations in Seattle… without “permission slips” from the state.