An Ohio sheriff is doubling down on a promise he made to unruly protesters that his officers will shoot back if fired upon.
“Pretty simple,” Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones told Fox News’s Bill Hemmer when asked about the controversial statement he made last week warning rioters his police will shoot back when provoked by gunfire.
“If you shoot at the police, we will shoot back,” Jones said. “And we had an instance where we were shot at last week. We shot back. Any time we’re shot at, anywhere in the country, the police are under attack. Make no mistake about it, Bill. They’re under attack all over the country. We will shoot back.”
Jones continued: “If you come at the police with knives, that’s deadly force. If you throw bricks, and you have a brick in your hand, and you’re going to hit a police officer in the head or anywhere, a brick will kill you. This isn’t … a novel idea. Police are under attack. They’re allowed to go home. These politicians are putting police out there as targets, where they can have projectiles thrown at them, fireworks, professional fireworks shot at them. Knock their eyes out. Assault them. And these police officers are under the supervision of police chiefs. They all have bosses. And they’re put out there, and they have to take it.”
Jones added that police across the country have not been strong enough and pointed out New York City as an example when pressed by Hemmer.
“Everywhere in the big cities,” Jones said. “New York. They’re not even allowed to — they take and throw buckets of water on their head, and they have to run or get back in their car and leave. They stand out. They take bricks. They put fences up. They don’t go in and make massive arrests, which they’re supposed to.”
“It’s the leadership,” Jones argued. “[It’s] not the police officers, Bill. It’s the leadership. They’re not allowed to — the police chiefs are resigning all over the country in big cities because they’re controlled by their mayors, their city council. They’re not permitted to do their job.”
Hundreds of police officers have been injured in the protests and riots throughout the country this summer, including at least 400 officers in New York City alone.
“I won’t tolerate it, period,” Jones said earlier this month. “You shoot at the police, expect us to shoot back. I will not allow my deputies or any law enforcement officer in Butler County to take the abuse I have seen over the past several months. If you come to this county expecting a free pass to harm one of my men or women in uniform, keep in mind, nothing in life is free.”
