The trial of Cameron Broadwell (pictured above) ended with a guilty plea. He will not serve any time in prison for terrorizing Kyron Hinton, but he will never work as a law enforcement officer in North Carolina again. He will do 200 hours of community service and serve 12 months of unsupervised probation. Is this enough? No. Is it a start? Yes.
America has been conditioned to see bad law enforcement officers, like Broadwell, escape any punishment for terrorizing the community and abusing the powers citizens give them. So, the admission of guilt is an important symbolic step. It is important that other law enforcement officers see negative consequences for mistreating citizens. District Attorney Freemen is to be commended for taking the necessary steps to bring this criminal to justice.
On the other hand, the dismissal of the felony charges and no prison time for a vicious attack on an unarmed man is not even remotely comparable to the punishment a private citizen would have received for a similar charge or conviction. Our criminal justice system is biased towards law enforcement. That is evident by the outcome here. But, this is a good first step towards shining light on the bias and, eventually, eliminating it.
Lastly, police accountability is closer today than it was yesterday. That makes today a win.