St. Petersburg, FL: A man brandishes a gun at someone who he (says he) believed was menacing him in traffic, is charged with aggravated assault, and goes to jail. No shots fired. Road rager admits that it has taught him to be polite to other drivers from now on.
Seattle, WA: Police officer fires at a panhandler, allegedly tells him twice that she was going to kill him. Internal affairs finds that the panhandler's version of the story is the more credible, and that he had been made to "suffer an assault on the street, followed by his wrongful arrest and booking into jail." Despite being found to have fired her weapon, no assault charges filed, aggravated or otherwise. Officer penalized with a 15-day unpaid vacation.
And people wonder why I'm cynical.
