A police officer, Anthony DiPonzio, was shot on the streets of Rochester. Yes, it's an awful situation. Yes, a person who would shoot a cop is despicable.

But I'm really bothered by the premature declarations of Tyquan Rivera's guilt. So far the boy, and at 14 he is just a boy, has been indicted. No hearings, certainly no trial. The facts - not just a basic narrative, but the facts - and the evidence haven't been made public. We didn't even know that Officer DiPonzio was shot with a .22 caliber rifle until the criminal complaint was filed in Rochester City Court last week. And as of today, we don't know what charges a grand jury will indict him on; we won't know until later this week. Police initially charged Rivera with second-degree attempted murder and first-degree assault.

And yet we get statements like this from Rochester City Council: "The fact that a 14-year old child has no qualms about shooting a police officer, and worse yet, is able to access a gun with very little trouble, is an absolute outrage."

There isn't even a shred of innocent-until-proven-guilty in that statement. That's the absolute outrage. And similar statements, particularly from the public, have been commonplace.
I'm not saying that, if he's guilty, the courts should take it easy on the boy. If Rivera is found guilty or pleads guilty, by all means, throw the book at him. In the meantime, we need to back off and allow justice to take its course.