Rantz: Tacoma cop who drove out of crowd was swarmed, threatened by mob

Graphic video shows a Tacoma Police Department officer driving out of a mob of people surrounding his car.

One person was taken to a hospital. He originally was reported to have just minor injuries but that statement from police has been walked back, according to KIRO 7.

But while the Tacoma News Tribune mischaracterized the video and plenty of Twitter users jumped to dubious conclusions, one police source provided a better explanation about what happened. The mob was a threat to the officer and he acted in self-defense.

A Tacoma officer drove through a mob surrounding & violently attacking his vehicle, threatening his safety, according to a source.

Watch the video below, then get the context from a police source in the next tweet. pic.twitter.com/qCrnysOvf7

— (((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) January 24, 2021

Mob was a threat to the officer

Police were called as drivers were doing illegal doughnuts and burnouts at the intersection of Ninth South and Pacific in Tacoma.

When one officer arrived, a mob surrounded his patrol vehicle, trying to block him from leaving. But they were also trying to break his windows according to a source.

“The crowd was violently punching and kicking his vehicle so much that it was rocking back and forth,” a Tacoma PD source tells the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH. “He was trapped. They surrounded the vehicle. He tried to back up but couldn’t. They were very violent. Some people were yelling to pull the cop out of the car.”

Fearing for his safety, the officer “inches forward to get them to get out of way activated his siren multiple times.”

But the mob ignored the officer and continued to pound on the car, posing a direct threat.

“He did not panic. He felt like his life was in danger and… [reasonable people would think] they were going to pull him out of the vehicle if they broke the window,” the source explains.

The witness who shot one of the videos confirmed to the Tacoma News Tribune that the mob of people swarmed the officer.

“A lot of people swarmed in that direction (of the police car),” the witness said. “They were intending to block him.”

More video from Tacoma. You can hear the witness say “Damn, they’re hitting the cop car.” pic.twitter.com/ZeRX1jM9zL

— (((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) January 24, 2021

Media, Twitter users react without context

Not understanding the context, Twitter users were enraged with what happened, as if the officer just wantonly drove through a crowd of innocent bystanders.

Not helping the situation was the framing by the Tacoma News Tribune. It’s extremely misleading.

“The video footage is clear, and hard to watch: a Tacoma Police patrol car running into and through a group of pedestrians,” Craig Sailor writes.

Except that’s not what the footage shows. It very clearly shows the mob surrounding the patrol vehicle, not a cop who was “running into and through” the crowd.

Other video has a witness literally saying, “they’re hitting the cop car.”

Really burying the lede of them RUNNING SOMEONE OVER.

— stanned by your man (@SemanaDeTiburon) January 24, 2021

Yeah, but what about the asphalt? Those burnouts don’t wash away easily. Police value property over people, so…

— vvorkingclass® (@vvorkingclass) January 24, 2021

@TacomaPD if that officer didn’t call for an ambulance while he was fleeing the scene then you all need to consider attempted murder, in addition to the dozens of charges for assault with a deadly weapon. @cnnbrk we know there won’t be an investigation w/o media coverage

— david zimmer (@ZimsZen) January 24, 2021

The lesson in all of this

The Tacoma officer was protecting himself from a mob. The video, out of context, doesn’t look good. Perhaps it’s why bad faith, anti-cop activists on Twitter don’t retweet the full video with more details.

As more video is posted online, we’ll get a better idea as to what happened. What’s clear is that the mob surrounded the officer’s vehicle, banging on his car. That is always unwise.

Thanks to anti-cop activists and some shoddy reporting, there’s been a wave of civilians mistreating cops. They seem to think that they can do whatever they want around an officer, perhaps thinking some local politician will have their back. Okay then. But keep in mind: when you go to war with a car, the car will almost always win.

When you foolishly decide to block cars, pound and kick, and pose a threat, it should not come as a shock to you when you’re treated as dangerous. You are, in fact, dangerous.

Don’t ever surround a car, whether it belongs to a police officer or anyone else. The civilians who were injured would have been better served abiding by this piece of advice.

Alternate angle and up close view of the crowd surrounding and beating on the police cruiser and it speeding up to avoid the attack. #Tacoma pic.twitter.com/yV0r6EDq2P

— Kitty UnShackled (AKA Boomhauer) 🍇 (@KBoomhauer) January 24, 2021

Listen to the Jason Rantz Show weekday afternoons from 3-6 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (or HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow @JasonRantz on Twitter, and Instagram and like me on Facebook. 

Follow @https://twitter.com/jasonrantz