COMMENTARY

MILT THOMAS

Baltimore has been in the headlines recently because of riots once again centering on the death of a black man at the hands of local police. We have heard this story repeated several times in the last year (Ferguson MO, Staten Island NY). The causes of these riots – poverty, racial discrimination, growing income disparity – are serious issues that need to be addressed more seriously.

But a police incident right here in Indian River County, though potentially life threatening, helps define why we choose to live in sunny, laid back Indian River County rather than Baltimore.

The incident, as reported here just yesterday from a Fellsmere police department report, began as a normal, average day and quickly turned potentially deadly.

…(Nicholas) Seuderling said he was waiting for the GoLine bus at the bus stop on N. Willow Street in front of the apartment complex…he was texting on his cell phone and when he looked up, the bull was “staring him in the face.” Seudering said he immediately got up from the bus stop bench and ran in to the Apartment Complex area.

No kidding. That’s what any red-blooded, adrenalin-infused human would do. He hid behind a tree and assuming he was not dressed in red, the bull lost interest in chasing him and headed towards a group of middle school-aged children waiting for a school bus.

This is clearly not humorous. Fortunately, a Fellsmere police officer quickly arrived on the scene and tried to distract the bull away from those children.

The bull turned and approached Officer Gibbs with its head down and began to charge.  Officer Gibbs waited until the bull was approximately two feet from where he stood before firing his pistol.  He fired three shots, striking the bull each time.  The bull then struck Officer Gibbs, knocked him to the ground and trampled him before falling over himself.

Did Officer Gibbs shoot too soon? Not if the bull was two feet away from him! Unlike Baltimore or Ferguson, the officer was clearly under direct threat from an animal the size of a pickup truck and needed to act quickly. But the encounter did not end there.

The bull then got back up and ran back to the east away from the children and behind building 9.  Officer Gibbs followed the bull to continue to protect the area, notified dispatch that shots had been fired at the bull and requested EMS for an injury to his ankle.

He would probably have more than an ankle injury when his family found out he was chasing a seriously wounded – and by now equally annoyed – bull that had just knocked him down. Even a toreador wouldn’t do that.

Officer Gibbs maintained contact with the bull as it ran behind building 9 at which time the bull turned, put his head down and charged him again.  Officer Gibbs fired his pistol four more times, killing the bull.

Fortunately, Officer Gibbs only sustained an ankle injury and the bus stop children who witnessed the encounter were offered counseling. If it goes to court, I’m sure Officer Gibbs will be found innocent of first degree taurus-cide.

The bull’s owner is not so lucky. He received a citation for violating an Indian River County ordinance (“failure to keep animal under restraint”) and had to remove the animal’s remains from the scene.

Just another day in paradise as a late friend of mine used to say.

Humor aside, this was, as I said, a potentially serious incident and Officer Gibbs ignored the threat to his life in order to protect the children. Nor should it in any way demean the seriousness of what happened in Baltimore or other cities where sheer numbers can escalate any incident into a major news story. It should be noted that the causes of mob violence, especially the poverty, exist right here in Indian River County as well.

And that’s no bull.