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On September 9, 2012 President Obama was in Florida campaigning, among his stops was a visit to Palm Beach County.
Following the President's appearance at the Palm Beach Convention Center his motorcade was traveling to another location, and as is normal protocol motorcycle police officers began to shutdown traffic entering the route the motorcade was traveling. Officer Bruce St. Laurent, a motorcycle officer with the Jupiter Police Department, was assigned to the detail and was stopping traffic at an assigned location on I-95 when he was struck by a motorist driving a Ford F-150 truck. Officer St. Laurent was transported to St. Mary's Medical Center but they were not able to save his life.
As I read the various news articles about Officer St. Laurent's death I saw something that angered me. Officer St. Laurent's untimely death should be seen as the tragic loss of a dedicated public servant, husband, father, member of the community, but it SHOULD NOT be seen as another opportunity to criticize President Obama. Comments were posted on line with the article criticizing the President because he did not stop at the crash scene.
When a dignitary motorcade (especially the President of the United States) is transitioning from one location to another traffic is stopped from entering the route ahead of the motorcade. This is done for the security of the dignitary and also for the safety of the other motorists, to avoid their becoming a victim should there be an attack on the motorcade. Officer St. Laurent was a part of the advance closing off the route ahead of the Presidential Motorcade when he was struck.
People that disagree with the President can find things to criticize him about, a lot of things from not keeping his promise to close "Gitmo" to the latest employment figures. However, the motorcade not stopping at the crash scene is not one of those things. The motorcade was correct not to stop and the President would have been wrong had he ordered it to stop. As was the case here the President could be briefed on the officer's condition, but his stopping would have been the wrong thing to do because once the motorcade would have stopped the priority would no longer have been rendering aide to Officer St. Laurent. The safety of the President is the priority and his being there would have distracted from the mission of rendering aide to Officer St. Laurent.
If you think that the President should have stopped let me ask you this, what would you have President Obama do if he had stopped? Is he a certified paramedic or medical professional that is qualified to render aide? One big problem on crash scenes that law enforcement complain about is "rubber neckers", those fighting to save Officer St. Laurent's life sure didn't need the President to become one.
When law enforcement officers go on duty they become non political and that's how their loss should be treated. Thought should be for the family, friends, coworkers, and community that has suffered another loss of a dedicated public servant, NOT how I can use this tragedy to say something negative about the President.
Below is a link to the Memorial Page that the Jupiter Police Department has put up honoring Officer St. Laurent's service to the community, I encourage you to take a moment and visit the page to learn a little about Officer Bruce St. Laurent.
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