Before I even clicked the link for this story I thought, "Off duty, no issue. On duty, problem."
First paragraph:
A photo of the incident is below. Notice who's kneeling and who's not. Does it look like the tense situation the lawyer's words above describe?The lawsuit says the agents were assigned to patrol the nation's capital during a period of civil unrest prompted by Floyd's death. Lacking protective gear or extensive training in crowd control, the agents became outnumbered by hostile crowds they encountered and decided to kneel to the ground in hopes of defusing the tension, the lawsuit said. The tactic worked, the lawsuit asserts — the crowds dispersed, no shots were fired and the agents “saved American lives" that day.
“Plaintiffs were performing their duties as FBI Special Agents, employing reasonable de-escalation to prevent a potentially deadly confrontation with American citizens: a Washington Massacre that could have rivaled the Boston Massacre in 1770,” says the lawsuit, which was filed by attorneys with the Washington Litigation Group.
Even if truly untrained, not sure I'd want agents who capitulate so quickly, and apparently take great joy in doing so. The lawyer making it sound like they saved us from the end of days isn't helping their case. They should be leaning into the lack of training, not making themselves out to be heroes who avoided WW3.
