A Killing on the Streets of Houston

by Katherine Scardino

There really is not much surprise in a killing on the streets of Houston. That happens almost every day here. Texas, probably not unlike a lot of states in America, has many parts where the old violent "West" still lingers. Only, now - it is not so quaint nor the violence so understandable. In 1800 plus years, the people here fought for causes - like freedom from Mexico and our last stand at the Alamo. We fought to keep rustlers from stealing our cows and horses, because we needed them to eke out a meager existence on the plains. We fought the Indians - sometimes rightly, but mostly not justified but always with some reason. We hunted animals to kill to eat now or to eat during the cold Winters when the weather was so cold one could freeze if we stayed outside too long and the dirt was as hard as our concrete parking lots. The western garb has been replaced with baggy pants falling just one zillionth of an inch above the critical part of one’s behind, and oversized t-shirts with some rap singer’s picture on it.

Last Sunday, on a muggy day in Houston, a good man - a Houston police officer - was gunned down while he was doing his duty. By all accounts, Timothy Abernethy was a highly respected police officer, family man, and citizen who did nothing to deserve the death he received at the hands of a thug. No citizens like to hear of killings of any type - but when it is one of our police officers who risk their lives every day to be sure that we are kept safe and sound in our homes - we tend to get a bit aroused. And, not only was Timothy Abernethy killed during a routine traffic stop, but he was killed by a man with a criminal history. The public wants to know why was this man on the streets of our city? Why was he not in prison? Why was he paroled from prison early?

The man who was arrested and charged with capital murder is hated in this city now. He is the felon who was walking our streets and shot a man who was helping us; a family man, a cop. Some of you may be surprised to hear me talking like this...what if I were to get a call to defend this person? He couldn’t be less popular around here if he were Satan himself.

You know what my answer would be? Yes, of course I would defend this person. I would visit with him in the jail. I would make sure that he was being taken care of just like any other inmate in the jail. I would be sure that he received all his constitutional rights. And, I would fight like a tiger if one of his rights were violated. Oh yes, I know - what about Timothy Abernethy’s rights? He certainly had his rights violated, and that he did. Drastically. So much so that he is no longer around to complain about it. But, I do not represent Officer Abernethy. I would represent the accused person. And YOU and your family - We want to be sure that these same rights stick around. We do not want different rules for different people. The rules are the same - whether you are the killer of a police officer or whether you stole a dollar from the convenience store - or whether you were arrested for driving erratic on the way home from work one afternoon after a beer with the guys or girls....

But, this incident begs another question. Why do we have someone like this young black male who is accused of killing this officer? Why has he been in prison twice and jail multiple times? Why is he not in school? Where are his parents? Where is his incentive to work, to be educated, to have his own family?

I believe that we have allowed a culture of people to exist alongside us who live by a different set of rules. We get upset when one of those people break one of "our" rules. But, they laugh at us. They do not live by our creed or ethics or laws or rules. They have their own. And, we engender this manner of existence by throwing money at them for "disability" payments, to pay for their fifth baby born while unmarried or to buy their groceries because they will not get a job. And, PLEASE, do not write me about being racist or sexist. I am neither. I do not care if you are black, green, yellow or purple; I do not care if you are male, female or a combination of the two. If your world is one where you can justify murder because you don’t want to go back to jail, or you can justify selling drugs on the street because you just need a little "extra cash", or you can justify not working for any million reasons, but the real reason is that you just do not want to, then you are one of those people I am talking about.

I want the world back that I remember as a kid. I want a world where the adults work, bring home a paycheck, pay bills, get married, have children, and live by a set of rules. Was that so bad? A world where you really did not have to lock your front door. There was not much crime anywhere. I want that back. Yeah, right.....

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