Denise Crosby: When stupid squabbles turn ugly lives are at risk

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Updated: March 13, 2012 8:09AM

In two incidents last weekend, we saw how, in the blink of an eye, an everyday situation can careen out of control.

Sometimes it ends tragically, as it did when a well-respected downtown Naperville bar turned into a bloody crime scene after a squabble got ugly — and a second-grade teacher was stabbed to death.

It happened again the following day, on Super Bowl Sunday, in an Oswego Wal-Mart, when an off-duty Kendall County sheriff’s deputy got into an argument in the checkout lane that resulted in him drawing his gun and aiming it at a customer.

Luckily, that second incident, as scary as it must have been for the hundreds of shoppers there at the time, did not escalate any further.

The Naperville stabbing, as we all know by now, started over something as ridiculous as a man teasing another about drinking beer out of a wine glass. The second fight appears to have started over something just as senseless: stepping out of a grocery line to grab a dozen eggs.

The man who went to get the eggs, Jason Thurmond of Montgomery, claims when he left the express lane, his very pregnant wife continued checking out items. That irritated the off-duty cop behind her, according to Thurmond, and he began verbally abusing the woman. When the husband returned and saw how upset his wife was, he got into an argument with the deputy and gave him a shove.

That’s when the officer drew his gun and all hell broke loose.

Like I said, everyone involved in this outrageous confrontation — including a whole lot of innocent bystanders — should count their blessings things didn’t go sideways. Instead, Thurmond got charged with misdemeanor battery for pushing the deputy (what are the chances that one will get tossed?); while the deputy is facing an internal investigation by the Sheriff’s Department, along with a whole lot of bad publicity.

Kendall County Sheriff Richard Randall couldn’t say too much more about the case except that the internal investigation is ongoing. “We will review all the facts before making any decision,” he noted, adding it’s not unusual for off-duty cops to draw their guns.

“It is,” he said, “the business we are in.”
The Kendall sheriff says deputies are required to carry weapons when not on duty. At the Aurora Police Department, however, that decision is left to individual officers.

According to Aurora city spokesman Dan Ferrelli, knowing when to respond depends on a number of factors, including safety while carrying; making sure the gun is out of public view; and assuring the firearm does not impede whatever activity is going on. And off-duty officers are not allowed to carry guns while drinking alcohol.

“The majority of these circumstances,” he said, “are dictated by the other person or people involved, rather than the officer.”

Ferrelli couldn’t say how often Aurora’s off-duty cops draw their weapons, but they must “be aware they are not readily identifiable as police or as equipped to respond.”

Which, I think, translates into: They better really have their wits about them.

Elgin police politely declined to comment for this column because the department has its own internal investigation going on. Officer Lance Adams pleaded no contest a couple weeks ago to a reduced charge of attempted resisting and obstructing an officer in Muskegon County, Mich. Lane was arrested last summer after he and a nephew became angry when they tried to board a ride at an amusement park there, but were stopped by a park employee who thought they were intoxicated.

According to Muskegon authorities, the park employee claimed Adams grabbed him by the neck and pushed him, and while the police officer was still holding him, the nephew hit him with a closed fist.

At least guns or knives were never involved.

Of course, plenty of witnesses will need to be interviewed — other than Jason Thurmond — to determine if the Kendall deputy’s actions in that checkout line were out of line.

There’s no doubt they were dangerous.

That’s because, when people become impatient and rude, tempers flare and folks get mouthy. Unfortunately, verbal can turn physical pretty darn quickly. After that? It just gets ugly.