“I see he’s got a gun in his hand. As he’s walking toward me, he racks the gun. My first instinct was to shoot him, but he’s got his gun out already and I can’t. He puts his gun to my temple and tells me he wants my money. I’m thinking I’m going to try to throw the money between his legs and make him turn around; then I’ll shoot him. But he gets nervous and says, ‘Don’t move. If you grab my gun I’ll shoot you in the face.’ I said, ‘What are you doing? I’m the police.’ But he started shooting. I knew I was hit but I felt no pain. I heard God’s voice tell me, ‘You won’t be hurt.'” – Detroit Police Officer Arthur Matthews  (above) [via officer.com]

50 COMMENTS

  1. “I don’t know if his gun jammed or if he ran out of bullets, but he stopped shooting. I told him ‘You just shot the police.’ Then I punched him in his face.”

    I’m sorry, but that is fvcking epic.

  2. That judge needs to loose his job, and hopefully the guards will make sure justice is served.

  3. Fourteen to 25 or life, per offense, and the judge gives just 14 each, concurrently? Wow. Wonder if the cops will start trusting the justice system as much as the rest of us.

  4. This is why I switched majors in college. I realized that I didn’t want to work in law enforcement and do a hard, thankless, frustrating job just to have some prosecutor work out a plea bargin or a judge hand down a ridiculously lenient sentence.

    I’m glad someone is willing to do work as a cop in Detriot. By all accounts that is one bad city right now.
    Thanks for your service Officer Matthews. Hopefully you make a full recovery.

    Also, the article said that the officer’s weapon was hit during the fight, but he still used it to shoot the perp. How much do you wanna bet that it was a Glock?

  5. This sentence is a joke but I find it hard to garner much sympathy for the police.

    Best wishes to Officer Matthews, though; I hope he makes a full recovery and gets to be there the day that punk comes out of prison (preferably with said punk on crutches or in a wheelchair).

    • “This sentence is a joke but I find it hard to garner much sympathy for the police.” HUH? Wow…the dude was off duty and was robbed/shot. It could have been you.

      • MotoJB,

        There are a lot of anti-LEO nutters in these comments. Ignore them, they’re failed humans.

        • Yeah, it’s pathetic quite frankly. Here’s a dude out protecting the public (likely a good guy with all of the right intentions) and just because his profession is Law Enforcement, there is little sympathy for him? I hope people with this attitude need a cop someday…and promptly learn some respect. This is the same off duty cop that would have put his life on the line to protect “LT” if he saw “LT” getting robbed at that station. Sad.

          • Here’s a dude out protecting the public (likely a good guy with all of the right intentions) and just because his profession is Law Enforcement

            Sorry, but those are pretty much mutually exclusive things. It’s pretty much impossible to find a good person who wants to protect innocent people serving in US law enforcement. If there were such people, we wouldn’t see the never ending stream of police harassment and violence against unarmed people that we do on a daily basis.

            Yes, I know, as a kid you were told that the police are the good guys. Guess what? Just like Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, and girls having cooties, that was a load of bullshit too.

        • I agree 100%. Those who do not fall to their knees to in reverence of those who wear State-issued costumes are clearly doing something wrong with their lives.

          Without the State, we are nothing. All hail The State!

          • What another nutter response and an epic fail at the understanding of my point. No one said to hail cops. It’s about respect towards fellow man, especially if what they do for a living is in service of others. Good luck.

            • It’s about respect towards fellow man, especially if what they do for a living is in service of others.

              As he said, worship of the police / state. You see multiple articles a day about how that “serving” cop beat some innocent and unarmed person to death, how they raped some girl who called them for help, or how they harass / assault people just for kicks, and yet you still say that everyone should worship them.

              Contrary to the lies your parents told you when you were a little kid, the police are NOT your friend. If you are not a cop, the police view you as an enemy, regardless of if you’re a criminal or not. The sooner you realize this and start treating them like an enemy, the better your chances are of not being assaulted / killed by a cop.

              • To twist what I said into worship of a police state is beyond dumb. By the way, hatred, discrimination and stupidity are NOT your friends either.

              • These are people who have issues with authority, usually the result of being raised by abusive fathers. The kind thing would be to hope they seek out proper psychiatric treatment.

              • So then, internet psychologist extraordinaire, maybe you could tell us what kind of household a person so willing to fellate an authority figure grew up in.

              • Usually, it’s one with a parent / other relative that’s a LEO, thus they fallaciously think that since they like someone (purely because they’re a family member) who is a LEO, LEO’s are be default good people.

                They’re incapable of actually stepping back from their personal views and looking at the evidence we see on a daily basis in the news (tv, newspaper, internet) and personal experiences.

              • No, I have issues with assholes who get to murder innocent people and not suffer any consequences for it.

                It’s disturbing that you belittle the people who are opposed to the rampant corruption of our police forces.

              • Your exact words were: “It’s about respect towards fellow man, especially if what they do for a living is in service of others.” (emphasis mine).

                You view the people who harass, beat, frame with false evidence, rape, and murder people on a daily basis as being “in service to others”. That’s worshiping your captor.

                Now if you wanted to say that about an EMT, 911 dispatcher, doctor or nurse, sure, I’d be with you 100% – they don’t have a record of committing crimes and murdering innocent people. They actually have a good record of HELPING people and providing a value for the money that they’re paid.

              • “You view the people who harass, beat, frame with false evidence, rape, and murder people on a daily basis as being “in service to others”. That’s worshiping your captor.”

                Huh? Dude, sorry…you’re just a dumarse. Any peabrain would know that it’s a small minority that can be classified as doing such across our nations police forces. To say anything else is against the laws of numbers, real statistics, real evidence and simply stinks of biased hatred. You sir need a serious awakening. You’re asleep at the wheel. Fine, you win. You’e a cop hating lunatic. Congrats.

              • ‘Multiple stories a day’ huh? proof please. And remember it has to be “multiple” “per ” “day”.

              • I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware that I was supposed to read the newspaper and watch your local TV news for you.

                Hell, on almost a daily basis we see at least one story about police corruption on TTAG – and that’s just a site about guns, not an actual news site.

                You’re very much aware of the reality, because I doubt you’re stupid enough to not pay attention to the news at all. You’re just too scared to accept that what you were told growing up is a lie.

        • There are a lot of pro-serfdom nutters in these comments. Ignore them, they’re failed humans who see a constant stream of abuse of power and continue to worship the same people who oppress them.

            • Sexual references will only excite them, and provoke forced homosexual interaction fantasies. Try to be understanding. 🙂

            • Actually, I’d shoot myself before having a kid. If my life is going to be wasted, I’d rather have my end be quick and painless instead of suffering for decades before succumbing.

              In regards to your implication, it’s foolishness like that that’s caused us to have such a POS nation today. Instead of promoting the people actually looking out for people’s rights, you belittle them and promote the very people making the world a worse place to live in.

        • The failure is yours in perceiving anything other than 100% support
          for all those in blue shirts with shiny pieces of metal on them
          because they must be good people in every action they take moral or
          immoral as tantamount to cop-icide. Nothing to do with this dude,
          but YOUR RESPONSE. This dude may be a good guy, but using his case
          to justify some sort of moral mandate to be nice to the police by
          respect of their station is just like the grabbers using spree
          killers to disarm rape victims.

  6. I recently heard someone end an article with the phrase, “Sometimes it’s a bad day to be a cop.” True that.

    That dirtbag should never be let out.

  7. 14 years? That makes me ‘effing sick. The judge should be fired. What an insult. Now the guy will be a hardened criminal once out of prision and will way more than likely rob, rape or kill someone else. Wow, let’s hope there is some prison justice that takes care of this scum.

    • Are you kidding? He shot a cop. He’ll be treated like a hero by the other inmates. Now, the guards on the other hand… 😉

  8. The shooter should have gotten a longer sentence. Not because he shot a cop, but because he shot a person.

    Cops shouldn’t get better treatment than “ordinary” citizens. And would-be murderers shouldn’t get a slap on the wrist.

  9. So let me get this right you get 20 yrs for taking a warning shot[not actually shooting at the person] at an abusive boyfriend but you only get 14 yrs for shooting a cop 5 times.

    /me sigh and shakes head
    facepalm

  10. Yes, the judge is a complete ass-hat. That said, the citizens of Michigan need to ask why their brain-stem legislators allow such wide discretion for attempted murder.

  11. I bet Officer Matthews will have a few conversations with the bulls who work at the prison Mr. Proctor will be attending.
    With a name like Proctor his little 25 year old butt will be grass about to be mowed.

  12. Keep this in mind the next time you get into an endless conversation on caliber and shot placement for self defense. Matthews was hit 5 times with a .45, including a round that shattered his femur, and was still able to fight and survive.

    God bless that officer.

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