The article talks about the testimony of rookie Officer Peter Liang who testifies on his role in the tragedy of man shot in the heart. Officer Peter Liang was doing a routine police patrol that simply went wrong. Officer Peter Liang explained that the area was statistically a high-crime rate area, so he held his gun unholstered. Officer Peter Liang claims that something went by to his left, maybe it did, and fired his gun. Officers are required to report any gun shots, but Officer Liang and his partner did not do so. It was only until a cry was heard that they knew somebody was dead.
The metaphor “breaks down” is used to describe the emotional state of Officer Peter Liang. He is a top graduate of the Police Academy. Perhaps down the line of his future, it would’ve been bright. But at the start of his career, an incident like this happens and he became anxious. During his testimony, Officer Liang squirmed. One look at the victim’s family caused tears to stream down his face. His mental state was broken down–his mind couldn’t stay strong any longer. It’s as if he was kicked in the back of his knees and he just crumbled.
I think the metaphor you chose is the right one. I think that the Officer Peter Liang was probably also emotionally torn apart from his experience or just to know that he has to live with the idea that his weapon is the reason someone is dead. It’s probably going to take him a long time to recover from his incident not only that but I’m sure if he was that emotional at court, he’s probably going to have other break downs along the way of his career, something like this is hard to surpass it.
“Breaks down” was a very good way to put the state Peter Liang was in. I thought it was great how you were able to recognize not only his emotional state, but how it effected him as a whole at that moment. He did not physically break down, but this metaphor shows that it is possible to break down in other ways, such as mental state. It is saddening to hear of his situation but also comforting to know people can see the pain he is going through as his emotions arise to surface level.