Frightened drivers in downtown Columbus, Ohio were calling 911 in order to get help as they were being harassed by protesters. One of those who called 911 says that he was told that they were under orders to stand down and allow the protesters to do anything they wanted to. Democrats don’t need to defund police. They can just order them to stand down and no one would be able to tell the difference. There is however disagreement over whether a stand down order was really given.
One driver had the following exchange with a 911 dispatcher allegedly:
“We were told by our mayor to stand down, so the mayor has given them full reins of the street,” the dispatcher said, according to the station.
The caller replied, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Nope,” the dispatcher was heard answering, “we were told to stand down.”
The police issued a statement disputing the alleged stand down order:
“CPD officers have not been asked to ‘stand down’ to protesters. No direction that Mayor Ginther has given to Chief [Thomas] Quinlan over the last three days would have prevented police officers from intervening in a situation where a car or a person within it were being attacked. If people or property are threatened, there are many tactics at the disposal of police to address the situation. However, the incident described does not sound like one in which tear gas would have been considered appropriate before this week’s direction.”
Notice anything about the denial? They denied they were under a stand down order but offered no explanation about why they refused to help the motorists. That seems a little odd to me.