What Killed Suzie Marie Pena?

(Courtesy of Michelle Malkin.)

A few weeks ago I was shocked and saddened by the killing of a toddler by LAPD during a hostage incident involving her illegal-alien father.

Loving daddy-dearest Jose Raul Pena held the cops at bay for almost 2 hours, using little Suzie Marie as a Kevlar-vest substitute. Of course, it should also be noted that he was firing a stolen pistol and that he was either dealing in or using some of that healthy yéyo prior to or during the standoff.

Obviously, the kid didn't stand a chance in the crossfire: not all police forces can have access to a Barett .50 cal. Shit happened and now L.A.'s finest are under the proverbial gun yet again (remember Rodney King? Sure, you do...) with finger pointing everywhere. The activist industry over in SoCal went into overdrive attacking the cops over anything and everything from excessive use of force to racism.

Now this is where things managed to get a bit too interesting, since an autopsy found that Suzie Marie had some of that white stuff in her system.

What does that say about the environment in which the kid was raised? What does that say about her mother who would lead a crusade against these "baby-killers"? And what does that say about those who thought that the late Mr. Pena was such a saint?

At the same time, I find it very hard to rationalise the actions of a reprobate deportee. Had he simply surrendered, none of this would've happened. But he fired away for quite some time, wounded an officer and would up dead alongside his daughter.

And I bet that just as many people feel sorry for the "responsible" mother who lost her child, they should feel equally sorry for the man who had to make his own life/death decision - the one who wore the LAPD uniform.

Had he hestitated a little more before shooting, he would've been dead. If I were in his position, I'd choose survival over martyrdom and fire my waepon at the person trying to kill me - and deal with the consequences later.

And right about now, he's probably feeling like shit over poor Suzie Marie Pena. But at least he survived, if only to face the repercussions over an arrest gone horribly awry.

If the cops aren't checking into these various issues, they should. As many have noted, a good defence requires a better offence. And the lifestyles of the Pena-Loez family would be a great place to start, since...

For it turns out that the real “brutality” against baby Pena even preceded her father’s decision to use her as a human sandbag. (...) Add the cocaine poisoning to the multiple fathers that have contributed children to Lopez’s family, and you have a portrait of classic underclass dysfunction.

So sad. So terrible. So there you go.