We journalists don’t write about things that didn’t happen. Our readers learn from us of events that took place. We share facts as we have them, verified by trusted sources. It’s our job. Our credibility depends on it.
Sometimes, though, what didn’t happen is as big and just as important as what did happen. A party in Hardin Township last Thursday night, and how law enforcement responded to it, is one of those times.
What did happen is that the Greene County sheriff’s office, with assistance from Boone and Carroll County deputies and a Jefferson police officer, broke up a party at a rural farmstead. There were an estimated 200 kids at the party, many of them underage. The party was reported by the mothers of two kids there. One mother said there was underage drinking and that kids had beaten someone. Another mother, who had picked up her son from the party, said there was alcohol, drugs, and possibly guns at the party.
A deputy’s affidavit filed in Greene County district court describes a chaotic scene, with deputies trying to round up underage drinkers as they tried to run. Deputies took turns watching kids who were detained in a Morton building while other deputies went looking for runners. Meanwhile, kids in a corner of the building kicked out a steel panel and ran, too. Deputies were able to detain about 50 of the 200 or so kids. Criminal charges have been filed against two of them; 21 kids were cited for possession of alcohol under age.
That’s what did happen, according to the court document and information from the sheriff’s office.
What didn’t happen is police brutality. Our deputies didn’t wave night sticks at anyone. No deputy pulled a 15-year-old girl to the ground and held her there, face down, with his knee on her back, waving his service revolver at people who approached. We know those things didn’t happen because if there were 200 kids at the party, there were probably close to 200 cell phones, most of them with video capability. If there had been questionable behavior from officers, we’d have seen it the next morning on social media.
A video posted to social media of officers in McKinney, TX, breaking up a pool party attended by about 130 kids June 8 is disturbing. It was daylight. A security guard at a pool called police after kids refused to leave when the pool was at capacity. The media has not reported that the guard said anything about alcohol or guns. The kids were wearing swimsuits and carrying towels.
But officers, one in particular, arrived in full adrenalin rush. The video shows the officer screaming profanity at teens, threatening them, and then taking down a bikini-clad girl and waving his gun around as he held her to the ground with his knee. The adults who showed self-control were the two or three men who talked to some of the teens and seemed to be turning them toward home. They didn’t escalate the situation by approaching the out-of-control officer. The story that did happen was an unnecessary use of force. The story that didn’t happen in McKinney was a full bore race riot.
Back to Hardin Township, where it was dark, there was a suspicion of guns, and even if the girls were dressed in summer style, the boys probably had on enough clothing to conceal weapons. It’s easy to imagine deputies going in with adrenalin pumping, maybe putting on some aggression to quell the crowd.
But that didn’t happen. The deputies did their job. Two deputies got bruised up some, but the kids weren’t manhandled. The deputies did nothing that prompted anyone to video record it for a Facebook post.
Police brutality in Greene County? I’m glad there’s no story to write. And I feel safer, too. If our law officers can respond to 200 drinking teens in the dark with the possibility of guns being there and not “lose their cool,” I think they’ll be able to handle anything else that happens.
