Saw this on CNN this morning, story about the situation in Philadelphia that kind of makes the Rodney King deal look like a day at the park:

I mean, the cops all rush over so they can kick these guys, prone on the ground. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that five officers have been placed on administrative leave; on CNN this morning both Mayor Nutter and police commissioner Charles Ramsay said the officers have been under stress lately - with the killing of one of their own last weekend - and while, yes, police officers are always under stress, they’re under even more stress now. And that, I guess, makes them stressed out.

All this said, it’s not as if the victims here were Boy Scouts; two of the three were out on bail, awaiting trial on other charges. And cops were looking for a shooting suspect at the time, shootings having been epidemic in Philadelphia over the past few years.

But none of that cuts it, of course. Cops get stressed and angry, but that’s no cause for vigilante justice, because if it is, we’re all in trouble. And now, of course, this becomes a racial thing. All of which is to say that Philly is likely to be a city on edge for a while now. And do you think Lancaster’s new police chief is thanking his lucky stars he bailed when he did?