The privileged class - Officer Jason Matthew Brown

File this one with the other "only ones professional enough" cases. Derek Butler is the victim.

On the night of the crash, Brown was rushing to the 2200 block of Cedar Street to help an officer catch a fleeing drug suspect. He had on his lights and siren when he drove the wrong way down Dr. W.J. Hodge Street (formerly 21st Street) and hit Butler's Mitsubishi at the Market Street intersection. Butler, 38, of the 1200 block of South Floyd Street, died at the scene.

Stengel also said grand jurors were told of Brown's past driving record, which includes several traffic violations and a wreck in 1999 that killed 74-year-old William O'Bannon. Brown, then 17, was attempting an improper lane change when his pickup hit O'Bannon, who was standing behind his truck after running out of gas in the space between the merging lane on Watterson Expressway next to Crittenden Drive, according to the accident report.

Before becoming an officer, Brown was stopped by police four times between 1998 and 2001. He was charged with reckless driving, running a traffic light, disregarding a stop sign, having expired plates, failing to produce his insurance card and speeding. Brown pleaded guilty to disregarding a traffic light and a stop sign in separate 1998 incidents, and speeding 18 mph over the limit in 2001. A reckless-driving charge in 1998 was amended on the condition that he attend traffic school.

I don't hate cops. I hate that they're treated differently than you and I, because they're so professional and all. I'm not the only one:

"It seems like (police) get away with everything," she said. "I guess if you have a badge, you're qualified to kill anybody by any means necessary."

File under: Only Ones