Letter: Water, donuts and a check of the penal code

I ate two chocolate-covered, devil’s food donuts at Tony’s garage while slurping coffee and listening. Then, my neighbor Wayne spoke over the fence for near half an hour before we both needed a cool drink of water.

In both cases, the conversation was about the recent outbreak of film from all over the nation, depicting a civilian police force murdering people for such offenses as suspicion of this or that, vandalism, burglary and resisting arrest.

I checked the Penal Code, and nowhere in that book does it grant local police the right to execute citizens on the streets for these crimes or suspected crimes.

Some of my neighbors said the deceased had it coming.

A television network spent a lot of money on detectives to find out that the executed people were not saints. Is this 1932 Germany?

— Lawrence F. Lihosit,

Madera

Author of the book,

“Neighbors: Oral History from Madera, California”