Law in Order

Up here in Maryland, we hear wonderful things about our Carolina cousins, North and South. Plenty of nice people are from there, have moved there, and are making great lives for themselves there.

But how crazy is it that South Carolina has a program that allows a volunteer citizen to carry a gun and shoot people when acting in the role of "volunteer constable"?

You might have seen this on the news. A man down there named Christopher Bachochin, who is a PHARMACIST, was riding along with two officers who pulled over a motorist in Florence, S.C.

The motorist is Brandon Fludd, 28. From the body cams worn by the real police, we see them talking to Fludd after they made the stop. They ask him to step out of the car and he refuses, which might have something to do with the odor of weed that the police say was evident. They are dealing with him, he puts the car in gear and goes to drive away, and since proper police training forbids shooting at moving vehicles unless a grave danger to life exists, they are apparently ready to deal with him at a later time and another place, seeing as how they have his tag number and will surely remember his face.

Pharmacist on the left. Real police on the right.

And then the PHARMACIST with his own gun shoots at Fludd EIGHT times for a minor traffic offense and possible possession charge.

Eight bullets, three of which hit their target. Fludd took one each in his knee and one arm. Another bullet is still lodged in his chest.

They found the car right around the corner, abandoned and bloody inside.

The REAL police are then seen on the cam asking Bachochin what he was doing, shooting at the man, risking the lives of four people over some marijuana.

"That (expletive) about ran me over," replied the pharmacist, who went on to say that the car backing up was a threat to his well-being, even though he and the two police stood to the side as Fludd drove away before getting shot.

"That scared the (expletive) out of me," Bachochin said. "He about run us ... over."

Now the matter is the subject of a brewing brouhaha down in S.C. With some justification, people are wondering about the logic of a program that entrusts the right to use lethal force against the citizenry to people who are not sworn, trained police officers.

I know I run the risk of seeming like fancy Dan from the big city when I tell people in South Carolina that 2018 might be a good time to stop using 1918-style law enforcement tactics.  "Volunteer constables," "sheriff's posses," and the like just conjure images of the town's top cop ripping off a chaw of Red Man and growling, "Bring 'im in, boys!" and seventeen of the town's best men hopping into their pickups and tearing down Nine Mile with clouds of dust and lots of whooping.

Oh, and there was this from the newspaper accounts of the incident...

As the real police were trying to sort things out, one of their supervisors asked an officer where Bachochin had gone.

"He's sitting in my car," the officer said.

"That's the best place for him," the supervisor said

Or, sitting home watching "Mannix" reruns.