Political Gumbo: Stop Evading the Police

A video made the rounds last week, for whatever that’s worth, of a local cop fleeing the scene after a California Highway Patrol stopped to question him in another jurisdiction.

Three people sent me texts asking me for my opinion.

It was incredibly stupid.

A few people seemed to want more, but one person in particular responded … “And?”

And what?

It’s illegal to evade police.

In this case the CHP officer appeared to suspect Sgt. Michael Gilgorjevic was intoxicated. At one point there was a dispute over who had been driving the vehicle.

Gilgorjevic said his friend was driving and had left the scene. The CHP officer accused him of being behind the wheel.

Gilgorjevic fled on foot. CHP officers searched the area but could not find him.

The Sergeant in question was suspended in 2020 when the situation went down under then-Chief John Perez.

I probably would have taken more action, but nobody pays me to lead the city’s police force. It was not my decision to make.

For those keeping score, I have now written that I am not the city manager, city clerk, mayor or the police chief.

Maybe I’ll let people know I am not the housing czar next week.

Back to the issue, yes, this is fodder for the anti-police crowd and Chief Cheryl Moody and the command staff should use this moment for some common sense training.

If you don’t know what that is, don’t bother looking it up. Ask somebody.

Before you submit your comment card to demand the officer’s firing, remember an employee may not be twice disciplined for the same offense.

Calling on the City Council or Chief Moody to now fire the officer is a waste of time. Even if Chief Moody wanted to take additional action, she cannot. Neither can City Manager Cynthia Kurtz and as of March 21, the City Charter has not changed and neither the mayor nor the city council can fire police officers.

Most likely, some people will make those calls anyway. But that’s just like saying I yield my time at the end of public comment.

It’s futile.

This one is a done deal unless DA Gascón decides to take some action and based on recent letters between Gascón and the city, he’s kind of busy.

It does not matter if you are Black, white, activist, journalist, blogger, police officer, civilian or elected official, etc. evading the police is illegal and yes in some cases the decision has led to tragic results.

While some like to play loose with the laws when it comes to civilians and the police, the law is the law.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t like the police or if you’re drunker than Cooter Brown, as my mom used to say, that’s the law.

And every one on both sides has to live with it.