One day after the on-duty murder of Tampa Police Cpl. Mike Roberts, the St. Petersburg Times actually published a story bemoaning the killer’s hard life.
We learn that Humberto Delgado Jr. had insomnia, was good at fixing things, was a dad just like Roberts — well, not exactly, because he didn’t support his children and he murdered a police officer, but the Times is nothing if not relentless in its efforts to assert that offenders are as much the victims of the crimes they commit as the people they choose to victimize:
Delgado wore dreadlocks. He spoke of peace, and God, and looking at the bright side. A neighbor said he limped on a cane.
His family said his medications didn’t alleviate his pain. He would work jobs for a week or two, but said his injuries didn’t allow him to stay.
He used to live with his girlfriend and son in North Carolina, but left because he was unable to provide for them, [Omairie] Hurst [his cousin] said. He felt powerless. He moved to Florida and lived with his uncle in Oldsmar for a while.
He felt so powerless he abandoned a third child and acquired a bagful of guns.
In recent weeks, Delgado told a friend that his uncle was pressuring him to leave. He told his cousins that his uncle didn’t want Delgado’s pet pit bulls in his yard and disapproved of his long hair. His father and stepmother said he left because he wanted independence.
He wanted independence. People were keeping him down. They didn’t like his hair. They wouldn’t give his pit bulls a place to live and were tired of paying his rent. He couldn’t hold a job, but he could design a Facebook page and fill it with self-aggrandizing claptrap. He was mad at the VA because he didn’t like the type of housing they were offering him. He didn’t have a car and had to use public transportation.
Delgado’s family certainly wasted no time going public with their claim that this crime was society’s fault, not his fault, because society didn’t do enough to help him. The St. Pete Times mirrors this view with a long feature story detailing every boy scout badge Delgado earned despite the great odds against him:
A guy so smart, he could take anything apart and rebuild it.
Well, almost anything.
He needed help rebuilding his life, [his family] said. He never got it.
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The Tampa Tribune also ran a story about Delgado’s background that includes quotes from people who knew him, but it doesn’t paint the killer as a misunderstood victim.
Instead, the Trib offered this insightful editorial about the lessons we might learn from Cpl. Robert’s death. It deserves wide circulation:
A Hero’s Death and Painful Reminder
The Tampa Tribune August 21, 2009
Think of Cpl. Mike Roberts the next time you hear someone bicker about police being too quick to use deadly force.
The Tampa Police officer was shot to death Wednesday night as he tried to apprehend a man pushing a shopping cart along Nebraska Avenue and behaving suspiciously in Sulphur Springs.
The tragedy reveals the kind of life-and-death snap judgments officers often must make and why those familiar complaints about officers being trigger-happy are usually bunk.
This seemed a typical vagrant encounter at first. But the man pushing the cart was not some harmless transient. He was a former Virgin Islands policeman and Army veteran carrying a bag full of guns and apparently a heart full of rage.
The man attacked the officer. The 38-year-old Roberts did everything possible to subdue the man – even attempting to Taser him – without shooting.
The man managed to pull free and grabbed a handgun from the cart. He beat Roberts on the head with it and then shot him just outside his bullet-proof vest.
Now the father of a 3-year-old is dead. His family and fellow officers are in mourning and a community is in shock.
The term hero is used loosely these days. But Roberts truly was a hero. There is no telling what the assailant might ultimately have done with his arsenal, which included an assault rifle. . .
[T]here are evil, unpredictable people in our midst. Everyone must be alert, and when questioned by police, answer with respect and in a nonthreatening manner.
The challenges faced by Mike Roberts and all other officers merit greater public appreciation. Without warning, a routine call can demand a split-second decision that determines who lives and who dies.
What they said.