Democratic House candidate Kim Olson If people loot so what? Burn it to the ground

The Democrat Party is getting more deranged by the hour. A vote for a Democrat in November is a vote for anarchy.

The party of hatred, destruction and death.

A leading Democratic candidate in a closely watched House race brushed off looting and arson that occurred during nationwide unrest during protests about racism and police brutality sparked by the death of George Floyd.

“What the hell you got snipers on the roof for in a peaceful march? Even if people loot, so what? Burn it to the ground, you know, if that’s what it’s going to take to fix our nation,” retired Air Force Col. Kim Olson said during a live digital event on Tuesday, shown in a clip obtained by the Washington Examiner.

“I don’t think people want me to say that,” added Olson, a Democratic candidate in Texas’s 24th Congressional District, which covers much of the suburban area in between Fort Worth and Dallas.

Olson, 62, made the comment during a several-minute answer to a question about what she thought about far-left calls to disband or defund police departments.

Olson started by saying that while “defunding” is a “tough word,” explaining that she supports prioritizing funding services such as rehab centers and social workers.

“You can’t just tackle the police, you’ve got to tackle some of the social injustice issues that are going on within our justice system,” Olson said. “You can’t train racism out of folks.”

She criticized highly militarized police forces, leading into the criticism of snipers on the roof during a recent march in Dallas and then making the comment about looting and riots.

“This quote is being taken out of context,” Rachel Perry, Olson’s campaign manager, said in a statement to the Washington Examiner on Wednesday. “As a combat vet, Colonel Olson knows first hand the human heartbreak of violence. She knows we cannot use force to fix a systemic problem of undue violence and discrimination perpetrated by those who are sworn to protect and serve. We have to rebuild from the ground up a color-blind public safety institution across America.”

Democrats consider defelonizing assault against law enforcement officers

Virginia Senate Democrats have published a list of 28 proposals for reforming the Commonwealth’s police and criminal justice systems, including a measure to downgrade the charge of assault on a law enforcement officer to a misdemeanor offense instead of a felony.

Under current law, anyone who is convicted of assaulting a law enforcement officer is guilty of a Class 6 felony and is subject to a mandatory minimum term of confinement of six months, according to Virginia code.

This same penalty applies to anyone who assaults a person they know, or have reason to know, is a judge, magistrate, prison guard, firefighter or some other criminal justice administrator or first responder.

The proposal is listed as “defelonize assault on law enforcement officer (return to misdemeanor offense).” It is just one of many proposals by the Senate Democratic Caucus that could be considered at a special session on criminal justice reform legislation planned for August 2020 in Richmond.

State Sen. Scott Surovell (36th District), chair of the Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus’s ad hoc subcommittee on police reform and criminal justice, explained the defelonization proposed in a column published by Fort Hunt Herald on July 1: “In 1997, our legislature made assault on a law enforcement officer a felony. This means that touching a police officer without the officer’s consent can result in felony charges. I have seen people charged with this for slapping an officer’s wrist as the officer hands over a speeding ticket or bumping into an officer and walking away from a vehicle. Officers often use this charge when an officer’s misconduct could be alleged. We need to return this to a misdemeanor offense as it was for 200 years. Serious injuries can always be charged as felonies.”

In 2019, one law enforcement officer was feloniously killed in the line of duty and another 1,939 were assaulted, according to data released in May by the Virginia State Police. Of those assaults, most incidents (1,327) did not result in a significant injury to the officer, but other incidents did result in the law enforcement officer sustaining minor injuries (497), major injuries (22), broken bones (7), severe lacerations (6), and potential internal injuries (4).

Democrats consider defelonizing assault against law enforcement officers

The list of measures was drafted in the wake of mass protests against the killing of black people by law enforcement officers, specifically George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. However, the Senate Democratic Caucus notes that it has been working to reform the policing and criminal justice systems for years, including 16 recent Senate Bills that were passed by the chamber but not presented to the Governor.

“The deaths of Floyd, [Ahmaud] Arbery and Taylor have awoken Americans and Virginians to long-standing problems in policing in America,” the Virginia Senate Democrats stated in a press release.

“After people are arrested, additional damage is done by a criminal justice system that has been streamlined to produce convictions and punishment instead of rehabilitation and justice.”

Democrats consider defelonizing assault against law enforcement officers

The Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus’ list of proposed reforms includes:

• Prohibit No Knock Warrants (Breonna Taylor)
• Ban Sex With Individuals Arrested by Law Enforcement*
• Prohibit Hiring of Officers Fired or Resigned During Use of Force Investigations
• Create a Decertification Procedure for Law Enforcement Officers*
• Ban chokeholds and strangleholds (George Floyd)
• Require Attempts at De-escalation Prior to Use of Force
• Require Warnings Before Shots Fired
• Require Law Enforcement to Exhaust All Other Means Prior to Shooting
• Create Duty to Intervene by Fellow Law Enforcement Officers
• Prohibit Shooting at Moving Motor Vehicles
• Require Departments to Create a Use of Force Continuum
• Require Comprehensive Reporting by All Law Enforcement Agencies Including Use of Force Data
• Defelonize Assault on Law Enforcement Officer (Return to Misdemeanor Offense)
• Cancel HB599 Funding (Virginia supplemental funding for local police departments) After Local Police Have Disproportionate Use of Force Incidents in their Jurisdiction
• Create Local Authority for a Marcus Alert System – System to Report Acute Mental Health Crises
• Create Local Option for Citizen Review Board Empowered to Investigate, Fire and/or Discipline Officers
• Confirm Prosecutors’ Authority to Drop Charges*
• Enhance Courts’ Ability to Expunge Charges for Dismissed Charges, Substance Convictions and Pardoned Offenses*
• Prohibit Searches of Person or Vehicle Based on Odor of Marijuana Without Probable Cause for Other Offenses*
• Prohibit Stops for Equipment Violations Not Covered by State Vehicle Inspection
• Secondary Offense For Dangling Objects, Extinguished Tag Light, Tinted Windows or Loud Exhaust
• Jury Sentencing Only at Option of the Accused*
• Eliminate Commonwealth’s Right to Demand Jury Trial When Jury Trials Suspended for State of Emergency*
• Require Agencies to Determine Cost Savings for Introduced Criminal Justice Legislation
• Allow Earned Sentence Credit for Good Behavior During Prison*
• Create Discretion for Compassionate Release for Terminally Ill or Permanently Disabled Prisoners*
• Virginia Rental Assistance Fund for Families Economically Impacted by COVID
• Require and Reimburse Localities for Postage Prepaid Envelopes for Absentee Voting*

*Represents legislation introduced in prior sessions

Democrats consider defelonizing assault against law enforcement officers

The Senate Democrats’ measures would need to be considered and passed by the Democratic Party-controlled House of Delegates and signed by the Democrat Governor Ralph Northam to become law.

The Virginia State Police recorded 24 officer-involved shooting instances in 2019, all of which were found to be justified.