Fear and Loathing Make a Cop’s Job Harder

Last month, well before the news of the fatal police shooting of Ma’Khia Bryant, a 13-year-old boy, Adam Toledo, was shot dead by a police officer in Chicago. That the tragedy has faded from national consciousness makes it no less shocking or upsetting. Yet, when something horrific like this happens, it can be difficult to ascertain how exactly it came to pass when we, the jury in the court of public opinion, are presented with highly selective evidence, monolithically narrativized in an endless slew of “hot takes.”

There is a reason that real courts and juries operate differently — or, at least, are supposed to.