The Privileged Criminal Class Called "Government"

by Will Grigg
Mar. 31, 2014

Charlottesville, Virginia resident Gerry Mitchell , who is confined to a wheelchair, was run down by a driver while trying to use a crosswalk. A few days later, while recuperating in a nearby hospital, Mitchell received a visit from the Charlottesville Police. He might have expected them to be there to take a statement. Instead, they issued him a citation – despite the fact that the driver was at fault.

The driver, of course, was a fellow cop, Gregory C. Davis of the Albemarle Police Department. The ticket was eventually dismissed, but Davis wasn't charged with an offense.

More than four years after this incident, it was revealed that at the time of the accident Davis was texting and distracted at the wheel – an offense far graver than a common traffic violation. If a citizen had been similarly distracted while running down a police officer, the offender would be charged with aggravated assault, or perhaps even attempted vehicular homicide.

Rather than seeking to make restitution, city and county officials used every dilatory and procedural tactic at their disposal to frustrate Mitchell's effort to hold Davis accountable and receive redress. Such are the ways of the privileged criminal class we call “government.”