When thugs attack--one officer stands tall in the face of sixty cowards.

So once again, we have another law enforcement officer who is attacked and threatened with death by a crowd of lawless scumbags and gang-bangers, this time in Modesto, California.

A Modesto police officer had to pull his gun to keep a hostile crowd at bay early Sunday.

The officer sustained minor injuries in the southwest Modesto incident, said police spokesman Sgt. Brian Findlen. Police are not releasing the officer's name. The officer's dog was assaulted but not seriously injured, Findlen said. Police arrested several suspects in connection with the incident. A loaded assault rifle was found later at the scene of the struggle, which unfolded about 2 a.m.

Findlen said the officer pulled his gun only after other deterrents, including his police dog, failed to keep the crowd under control. "In a situation where you really feel that your life is in imminent danger, your options become very few," Findlen said.

Some members of the crowd told the officer that "he was not going to leave the scene alive," according to police.

The crowd of as many as 60 people included some known gang members, Findlen said. Police believe the group was gathered for a party in the 1700 block of Pelton Avenue. The officer happened upon the group when he was responding to another call in the area.

The officer saw several people assaulting one man, Findlen said. As the officer tried to break up the fight, the crowd's attention shifted from the assault victim to the officer. The crowd surrounded the officer. The officer sent his dog into the crowd in an attempt to stop the group.

The dog apprehended one suspect, who police later identified as 18-year-old Alfredo Espinoza of Modesto. As the officer tried to arrest Espinoza, the crowd pulled Espinoza away from the officer.

According to police, some in the crowd then challenged the officer to a fight. One suspect attacked the officer, police said.

The officer's two-way radio was broken during the struggle. The officer then used his gun to hold off the crowd as he tried to tell neighbors to call 911. Someone in the crowd had a police scanner, Findlen said, and told the rest of the crowd that other officers weren't responding to the scene. It was then that the officer was told he wouldn't be leaving the scene alive, according to police.

Backup units responded after calls from other residents.

Other officers responding to the scene stopped a vehicle and found Espinoza inside, Findlen said. The driver, 20-year-old Modesto resident Andrew Mitchell, and the passenger, 19-year-old Modesto resident Matthew Reyes, were arrested on suspicion of resisting and delaying a police officer, assaulting a police dog, and "lynching." Lynching is a law enforcement term that means forcibly removing a suspect -- in this case, Espinoza -- from police custody. Two police scanners were found in the vehicle.

Two other suspects were arrested at the scene of the struggle. William Rodriguez, 29, of Modesto was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer, false imprisonment of a police officer and lynching. Junior Suarez, 19, of Modesto was arrested on suspicion of resisting and delaying a police officer and lynching.

During a follow-up investigation later Sunday morning, police said, officers found a loaded, banned assault rifle that police believe was used at the scene of the party. Gabriel Avila, 21, of Modesto was arrested on suspicion of possessing an assault rifle.

Detectives are continuing their investigation. Anyone with information is asked to called the Modesto Police Department at 572-9500 or Crime Stoppers at 521-4636. Tipsters also can text information to 274637. Type "TIP704" with your message.

The article doesn't mention the fact that Modesto is home to a large number of illegal aliens, and it's on us to wonder how many in that crowd of gang members were here illegally with the full blessing of California's sanctuary policies and Nancy "Illegal Aliens are Patriotic" Pelosi.

But legal or not, there's no way that a bunch of savages should ever feel brave enough to attack and threaten a police officer in this country, particularly when that officer is simply doing the job that he was tasked with doing. This officer stopped to break up a fight and assist a citizen who was under attack, and his thanks is an all-out assault on him by five dozen mutts who obviously felt as if they were the law in that neighborhood.

Well at least it ended somewhat ok, with a few of the thugs in custody and the good guy and his dog going home safe, but that neighborhood needs to be seriously tuned up, and I hope that the police department gets some balls and goes in there full force to clean up it's backlog of outstanding warrants, and that includes the thousands of local immigration violators who have refused to leave our country after being ordered out by an immigration judge. You fools want to act like animals? Fine--we'll cull the herd and deport or imprison you, your friends and your relatives, and we'll hammer you like a gong until you get the message and learn to show the proper respect to the laws and law officers of this country.

This sort of thing is bullshit, and while it's sadly common now, it didn't happen on a daily basis before the Liberals took over and changed the focus from criminal control to police control. The American Snivel Liberties Union whines about police brutality, but back when police were allowed to kick a few asses and "hold court in the alley", the thug culture understood it's place and didn't feel brave enough to run wild like they now do. Thanks for nothing, ACLU.

Oh--and note the latest example of the trend of gang members to carry police scanners and use them to monitor law-enforcement response to crime scenes. That's almost routine now and it represents more danger to the police officers and the citizen victims of these criminals. This is why I support laws that criminalize the use of scanners in the commission of crime or their possession by known criminals, just like I support laws that ban the use or possession of body armor by criminal offenders. The whiny-baby police-haters may cry, but I support any law that makes our police and our law-abiding citizens safer, and if it makes those who chose a life of crime less safe, well that's just too damned bad.