“NYPD Blue,” “Law & Order,” “CSI: NY.” Man, NYPD cops have to cry when they see those shows. You know, because police officers on those shows are not scrutinized for arresting criminals.

The NYPD is under the magnifying glass yet again. About a week ago, I wrote a piece called COPS: Not As Seen On TV, which was about two cases where the NYPD is being criticized for arresting people who blatantly committed a crime. People were concerned with how the arrest was handled and how they are targeting blacks.

This week, the case of Eric Garner is still developing. If you are not aware of this case, check out the Wiki page here. You should familiarize yourself with it considering riots can break out in NYC at any time now. It’s kind of a big deal.

At any rate, NYPD officers have arrested the man that took the cell phone photos that went viral and have damn near turned this into a race war. Plainclothes narcotics officers charged the man with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon after they noticed the man putting something into a teenager’s waistband in an area known for its drug dealing. When confronted, officers found a .25-caliber semiautomatic in the waistband.

Those are the facts. Cops patrolling a high-crime area notice suspicious activity, find adult giving a minor an illegal gun and arrest him. It took no time at all for the conspiracy theorists to jump on board:

Is it possible that the NYPD conspired against this guy and planted evidence on him in retaliation to the viral video? Sure. Is it possible that the government planned 9/11? Sure.

This isn’t Hollywood, folks. Not everything that seems ripe for a conspiracy is. In fact, more often than not, the facts—as they lie—end up being the story. It’s called Occam’s razor: “…among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected. Other, more complicated solutions may ultimately prove correct, but—in the absence of certainty—the fewer assumptions that are made, the better” (Wikipedia).

No one is arguing that the NYPD officer in the original Eric Garner case used excessive, illegal force and should be charged with some form of homicide. It is pretty clear that what he did was wrong. However, since then people have been videotaping NYPD cops arresting black people left and write, often times using excessive force. Again, excessive force was clearly used, but that’s not the argument. The argument is that the NYPD is targeting black people.

Here’s a controversial statement: the NYPD is targeting CRIMINALS, not black people.

Every single case being cited involves someone that blatantly committed a crime. Even if the NYPD was shadowing the man who took the Eric Garner photos for revenge, it does not change the fact that he did in fact commit a crime. Same holds true for the two cases cited in the above article. Even Eric Garner had a history of selling individual, untaxed cigarettes. That’s why police approached him while Garner was breaking up a fight…it was allegedly over said cigarettes. None of these “victims” were your typical law-abiding citizen. They were known criminals or people caught in the act of a crime. Stop acting like the NYPD are targeting innocent minorities based on these examples.

Statistics reveal that the NYPD has arrested a disproportionate amount of minorities versus white people. To come to the conclusion that this is racial bias on the part of law enforcement is baseless when citing just the numbers. Any social economist will tell you that a variety of factors can be involved with that stat: culture, family, poverty, etc.

It is easier to blame a racist police department than it is to blame a problem with multiple layers.

I agree that the NYPD has a history of abuse, corruption and excessive force. I also agree that the death of Eric Garner is the fault of excessive force that should be punished with criminal charges. But before we start rioting every time a minority is violently arrested while resisting said arrest, let’s take a step back and analyze all the factors that led to that crime being committed.

Lastly, just because I’m a white male does not make my argument invalid. Everything I’ve said is based on the facts that have been presented to all of us—nothing more, and without presumption—and not accepting stats at face value. You should try it sometime.

UPDATE

The day after Orta’s arrest, his wife, Chrissie Ortiz, was arrested on assault charges. She was arrested and released on a desk appearance ticket, according to this website. Does this change the narrative? Slightly. I don’t believe in coincidences, and this has added another layer of strange coincidences that is making it more difficult to refute the claim that the NYPD is at least targeting this people.

With that said, there are some missing details before anyone can go beyond speculating what is going on here. Did someone call the police or did they happen to be there? Who is the other women that was assaulted? Did the other women feel assaulted? What is her criminal background?

That last question is important. According to the same news source, “Orta is a convicted felon with 26 adult arrests.” That makes it more likely that he did in fact commit the crime he was recently arrested for. Depending on what Ortiz’s rap sheet is, a similar comparison can be made. If she has a squeaky clean record, red flags will be raised. If she has a long rap sheet, she may have been under the NYPD microscope, but she did in fact commit a crime.

The far left is going straight to “they’re being framed” mode, which is dangerous considering the implications. This shit is about to get (more) interesting.