It is because the Baltimore Sun is just about the only place that you would read this kind of trash. When the cop killer in Seattle was gunned down after a manhunt, I don't believe the Seattle Times dedicated column inches toward allowing the family of the killer slander the police officers involved and suggest that the officers had done something to provoke their own shooting. Not to mention the fact that while many readers recognize this garbage for what it is, there will be some citizens out there who will read this and think that that family's ignorant comments are the gospel truth. The Sun spends a large portion of their crime "reporting" ripping apart police officers, sometimes justified, sometimes not. Articles like this just stoke public resentment toward police officers, making their jobs that much more difficult (as if getting shot in the face is not bad enough). It is one thing to report on legitimate police misconduct, but to dedicate ink to the very people who raised this guy to be a cop shooter so that they can whine about the police department in the hopes of scoring a big payday in a civil lawsuit is not journalism. No wonder the Sun is shedding subscribers at a great and rapid rate.

...nobody is perfect in this world...

In my family, we say that to excuse those who are chronically late. Matter of perspective, I guess.

Look, I get that your job is to report all aspects of the story, but I wish you'd let these people grieve without the spotlight that they seem to be demanding. When your mom told you that there are some things that need to be ignored, she was right. Despite their tacky behavior, this man's mother and grandmother have to deal with the fact that all of their absolute belief that he wasn't a bad person and that he could become the person they knew he was able to be is not going to happen.

I have to agree with the person who says that there are somethings that are better left ignored. This family is going through an immense amount of grief that likely prevents them from viewing the situation rationally. Broadcasting their comments now is taking advantage of this time of reduced judgment and causing them to look like people unsympathetic to to police and blind to their child's shortcomings. It would have been wiser to wait for some time before seeking out their comments.

their are no winners in this horrific crime. just another broken inner city family who may never know the truth. police are way to aggressive. every car you stop is not a gang member car pool. every person you slam on the ground with out warning. is not a criminal.

I am disappointed that this criminal and his family are given the spotlight instead of the courageous officers who risk their lives to clean up the streets of Baltimore.

How telling that the grandmother "challenged the the police commissioner to fight." No wonder the family doesn't see anything wrong with the shooter did - Violence is apparently their norm.
To the BCPD - Thanks and Be Safe!

When the can overflows, it's time to take the garbage out. I say good riddance. The family didn't know from early on that this "child" was a problem? Give me a break; YOU MESS WITH THE BULL, YOU GET THE HORNS!!

Dear Citizens of Baltimore

The article stated"

"The mother, grandmother and cousin of Thomas Tavon Miller -- who police said shot two officers early Sunday on McElderry Street during a traffic stop and then was killed by the officers -- were angry at the way their son was portrayed and that the city's top cop called him an "idiot." (The 80-year-old grandmother challenged the police commissioner to fight!)"

To the mother, grandmother and cousin... You probably think the sun rises and sets on your sweet little boy. HE'S A STINKING CIMINAL!!!

I agree "IDIOT" was a poor choice of words. So let's try LOW LIFE, JIRK, MRDERER, THIEF, THE GUY’S IN THE GAME... Well, that's a start anyway.

I call on the Citizens of Baltimore – the police need no justification to exterminate this type of vermin.

If the mother and the grandmother were better parents maybe the incident would never have occurred? The responsibility rests squarely on your shoulders not the police. Of course, I guess you could find some sleazy ambulance chasing lawyer to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the police. Don’t waste your money. The judge will throw it out of court.

The members of the Baltimore City Police Department are hard working people willing to risk their lives 365 days of the year and the mother and the grandmother want to punch out the commissioner. The police need your help in light of the proposed cuts in the city budget. Visit your local police precinct give them your help and support.

Whether Mr. Hermann is trying to make this individual out as a hero I will set that issue aside for another day.

If you don't look at BOTH sides of any event/issue sooner or later people will get sloppy with procedures. You couldn't pay me enough to be a cop, but they are not perfect ! I wish them a speedy recovery. I lived in Baltimore for 42 years.

Personally, I think these kind of stories are important so that readers understand just what kind of bizarre mindsets the quasi-criminal residents of Baltimore have when the police are dealing with them.

Reading all this, I just wonder where is Thomas Miller's father in all of this. Did you try to interview him along with the other guys in the car? Just wonderin'.

Dear Citizens,
I am the cousion of Thomas Miller. I have viewed your comments, be them good or bad. It has nothing to do with parenting, anger or grief, it's about finding out the truth of what happen to Thomas. With everything theres cause and effect. Because whats being said doesn't add up, and are conflicting to what witnesses observed happening. And when things don't add up you investigate. Bottom line, it's about chooses we make in life. And Thomas made the wrong choose, he is loved and will be missed. All things done in the dark soon come to ligth.

The fallacy here is that Mr. Hermann was attempting to cover all "sides." The family here doesn't have a "side" to the story. They weren't present. They didn't witness anything. All they are doing is spitballing and speculating, either because they don't want to believe their relative did something so heinous or because they want a payoff from the police department. The only persons who have actual "sides" to this story are the dead shooter, the three cops, and the two witnesses in the car. Giving press coverage to angry people who don't actually have the first clue about what happened is just an attempt by Mr. Hermann to generate controversy so he can pat himself on the back for doing "hard journalism." A great journalism professor I had in college told our class that good journalists report the news, they don't create it. By providing these fools with a forum, Mr. Hermann has come perilously close to that line, if not crossing it completely.

To state that "the police need no justification to exterminate this type of vermin." is just plain wrong, Concerned Citizen.

Police officers take their responsibility seriously and your comment tends to paint them at your level. Citizens are not "vermin" and humans beings are not "exterminated." Those ugly references were used by the Nazi's in pursuit of genocide.

The men and women who serve our city deserve more credit for judgment and discretion than you suggest.

Esther is exactly right. It supports my comment from yesterday when I wrote that this is a situation of a reporter needing to hit a deadline. When the real facts don't create enough lines of print to fill the paper up, many of today's reporters fill up the story with points that have no real bearing on the facts and, in the end, are not news. In this case, it gave face time and a public forum to people who didn't deserve it. That's just poor journalism. Today's "news" is too often just filler and fluff with no real news value. The filler came back to bite this reporter on the butt.

Dear Esther and Dana,

If I understand it correctly the police did not fire at innocent citizens. They were being fired upon by individuals who were carrying illegal firearms and were into drugs and drug dealing and have no regard for human life.

I do not advocate indiscriminant violence on the part of the police or anyone but when criminals attempt to MURDER the police. And you know very well THAT is what I mean. Self defense was warranted. This CRIMINAL was not going to “come peacefully.”

A person is innocent until proven guilty but when Mr. Miller attempted to MURDER the police officers - at that moment he lost his rights. The police had not choice but to do what they are trained to do and protect themselves from assassination. I believe the shooting board will classify this as justified.

If you haven’t noticed and I am certain is has escaped you the City of Baltimore is a war zone.

In 2009 there were 238 people homicides committed in Baltimore; that averages out to 19.83 homicides per month; 37 homicides per 100,000 Baltimore City residents; this equates to 4.58 homicides per week; 80 percent were African American with an average age of 29.1 years of age and 46 or 19% were less than 21 years of age.

You want to condemn me – fine – but when your family is brutalized, tortured and murdered and the criminals are or are not taken down you may think a little differently. Ask the families of the 238 victims what they think.

Now the city is proposing that the police department may be short 120 cops.

This is a challenge to you and to the cousin of Mr. Miller - Join a neighborhood group and participate in COP walks to help fight crime. Visit your local precinct. Talk to the police; become a partner in fighting crime not a bystander.

Concerned Citizen, if you will read what my comment actually said instead of what you imagine it said you will note that I never suggested that the police are not entitled to defend themselves.

All public evidence suggests in this case that they were doing the job we entrust them to do. I was not criticizing the police CC, I was criticizing you, alone.

Your suggestion that the use of deadly force does not need to be justified ("...the police need no justification to exterminate this type of vermin.") shows an ignorance of the law and a silly view of police officers as cowboy vigilantes. They are not. And as I said earlier, your use of the words "vermin" and "extermination" are reminiscent of Nazi propaganda.

I read Peter Hermann's column so I hardly need your googled repetitions of Baltimore crime statistics.

Dear Concermed [sic] citizen: Did you read what I wrote? I am supportive of the officers' actions and believe they acted heroically. I am not supportive of a "journalist" who gets off on creating controversy to make himself feel like a big important writer and who gives the ignorant family members who raised him to be violent a forum to libel the cops involved. Maybe you should read more carefully before you reply.

As Peter explained, he highlighted the family's comments because it shows the opinions and attitudes that exist in some of these more troubled communities. You also have to keep in mind that we do only have one side of the story at this point, though there does not appear to an alternative account. Either way, it's hardly an endorsement or a deliberate attempt to generate controversy. -Justin

All these comment show the pure ignorance of the human being. Speaking about something you have no knowledge of is ridiculous. I knew Thomas Miller and in no way was he right. And I feel the BCPD took an action that was necessary. But in no way is the family looking for publicity. The newscasters have been trying to hunt down everyone that has any relevance to this story. The family is trying to grieve and all people can do is bash. You have no idea what happened to make him feel he needed to take the actions that he did and need to back off. Its bad enough they have to deal with the loss of a family member, now they're being ridiculed for wanting answers. They just want to know what happened to their loved one. None of you know and cannot speak to his character.

well I knew Thomas & he was not the person U all are making him out to be...... Granted wrong choice. He was a very smart Man. Not a Thug! Nobody's perfect!!!!!! Thomas Baby U will Be MISSED!

To attack the character of a young man that isn't here to defend himself to those that obviously did not know him is a very low blow. I have known Thomas over 14 years and he has never been a thug. He, like most of us have made some decisions that were less than positive. But keep in mind Mr. Miller was a father, a son, and a very intelligent young man. I am highly offended by the stereotypical opinions that have been aired so freely by those that know nothing about Thomas other than what has been printed by the media. And I can only imagine the additional hurt and pain that such opinions have caused his family. To question Mr. Miller's upbringing is really a question of your own upbringing, what type of parenting could have produced such self righteous and ignorant people? This murder, I am going to call it what it was is another example of what has plagued the Baltimore City Police Department and has cast an overwhelming shadow of all the good the BCPD has to offer.

Blame the BCP, for the action of this young man,, there is alway a cause I don't know , but somewhere he lost respect for our police and so have many others in our communities. Why because the majority of officers does not give respect to the citizens and some are idiots,thugs, cold blooded murders, liars, and thieves. There have been plenty of unjustified killings by the BCP and it is covered up. As for those of u that like name calling I'm sure that some of those names fits one of ur family members ,infact name calling is what we teach our children not to do. Lets focus on what we can do as a whole to improve the relationship between the police and the community, there is two sides to every story it is what it is. LETS create ways to solving the relationship between BCP and our communities in effort to gain trust and respect among one,another , so we can all feel safe.

People on here are delusional. If there is a long standing recent criminal record then yes he is a criminal. Having a record doesn't make you evil but pulling a gun and trying to kill 2 people does make you evil. The cops were completely justified. I think that is obvious since one was shot in the face and the other in the hand. Any traffic stop in the city is so dangerous because at any moment someone could pull a gun or attack. To all of us with family in law enforcement it is one of the most terrifying things to think about your loved one doing on the job. I pray for the officers families. To all you people who seem to think every cop is dirty, get a life. And by that I mean please get educated so you never make such asinine statements again.

I also Knew Thomas and he was a very caring and loving individual. To all of you who think that the police actions are justified are wrong. People go through police harrassment everyday and so many police out here get away with their stupid actions because they are the boys in blue. We do not know what transpired between Thomas and those officers and while I wish the officers the best, I am not able to do the same for Thomas; he is gone. Police can be just as corrupt as other people and I know from experience. If the "Rodney King" beating was never recorded everyone would've believed the story of the cops.