Archive for February 24th, 2009

I ran into this old 80′s TV series on YouTube the other day and thought I’d share it you. David Rasche played in Sledge Hammer! Quoting Wikipedia, Sledge Hammer TV series is about:

Inspector Sledge Hammer of the Los Angeles Police Department is a violent, sadistic, insensitive, yet oddly likable detective. His best friend is a .44 Magnum with a customized grip featuring a drawing of a sledgehammer. Hammer sleeps and showers with his gun, and even talks to it. Hammer believes in shooting first and asking questions never. In the pilot episode, he deals with a sniper on a roof by blowing up the entire building with a rocket launcher, then turns to the uniformed cops on scene and says “I thinkI got ‘em”; he also mentions that his favorite charity is “Toy Guns for Tots”. Hammers father was Jack Hammer, a legendary carnival trick shooter whose repetory of shooting tricks included catching a bullet in his teeth, which saved his son’s life in one episode. His mothers name was Armin Hammer.

His partner, Detective Dori Doreau (played by Anne-Marie Martin) has some karate skills evidenced by the perfectly executed chicken kick the the best of Sledge Hammer part 1. Inspector Hammer does what normal cops might like to do sometimes but cannot. He is kind of a funny Dirty Harry. Here is a clip I found. Afterwards I’ll examine police work a bit as it relates to self-defense and why cops use more non-lethal weapons today. 

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