As June 12 was turning into June 13, an angry guy drove to Dallas Police headquarters in a newly purchased (Ebay) armored van, put down a few pipe bombs, and opened fire at the front of the building. When pursued, he rammed a cop car, fled in his van, was cornered in a restaurant parking lot, shot at police, and finally shot dead through the windshield by a police sniper. Luckily, he was the only one injured.

The guy seems to have had a lot of issues. For which his family had been trying to get him mental health treatment for years. Unsuccessfully.

He had ranted about police misbehavior in McKinney, raved about Jews and Christians, tried to choke his mother. Sometimes he talked about how he might shoot up a school yard – without actually hitting any kids – to prove to police that schools need armed guards.

Maybe he was maddest about losing custody of his son – to his own mother. He blamed police for this.

You wouldn’t think anybody would have a nice word to say about the guy.

But later on Saturday, June 13, a CNN anchor, Fredricka Whitfield, sort of did.

Whitfield was discussing the events with a CNN legal analyst, wondering whether there might have been other people involved. This was shortly after, and matters were still murky. She said, “…police express there might be four [suspects], and then they dialed it back to possibly one. But in your view, you still believe an operation like this has now spanned eighteen miles. It was very courageous, and brave, if not crazy as well, to open fire on police headquarters, and now you have this scene, this standoff. So you believe these are the hallmarks of more than one person’s involvement.”

It seems she was trying to link his behavior with the idea of a multi-person operation, in some unclear way. The legal analyst didn’t speak to that idea.

It didn’t go over well. The police were furious at calling an attack on them courageous and brave, and so were many other people.

On Sunday, Whitfield apologized on-air, between other things.

And yesterday, during a segment on the Dallas Police Department attack, I used the words courageous and brave when discussing the gunman. I misspoke and in no way believe the gunman was courageous nor brave. And I’ll be right back.

Misspoke is not a word that calms angry people. They tend to view it as a euphemism, a shoddy excuse, evasiveness. Misspoke is better used when you say “parapsychologist” instead of “parasitologist” – a mistake without emotional weight. Because, really, who needs ESP to know that cooties are making a comeback?

Nor did Whitfield seem to be taking the matter all that seriously. Her demeanor, with lots of eyebrow raising and pursed lips, seemed to have a subtext like ‘Oh, please.’

That’s what the Dallas Police thought, too. The Dallas Police Association released a long statement. Here’s the SorryWatch-ish part of it:

“However, instead of offering an apology to those who truly represent courage and bravery — the men and women of the Dallas Police Department — Whitfield spent only 13 seconds to simply say she ‘misspoke,’a weak and often-used term when backtracking from an offensive statement. The promised apology from Whitfield was never provided…. Frederick Frazier, Vice President of the Dallas Police Association [said] ‘…her flippant non-apology served as further insult. We call on CNN to offer a more appropriate apology for the offensive comments made by Ms. Whitfield.’”

On Monday, she apologized again, more fervently, more seriously:

Well, Saturday, during a segment on the Dallas Police Department attack, I used the words “courageous” and “brave” when discussing the gunman. I misspoke. Terribly. I misused those words. Terribly. And I sincerely apologize for making this statement. And I understand now how offensive it was, and I want to reiterate that in no way do I believe the gunman was courageous or brave. I sincerely apologize.

Did that work? Dallas police Major Max Geron said “I accept her apology. It’s in the past.”

Now, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick is still lashing himself into a frenzy. He publicly released a letter to the president of CNN saying Whitfield did not either misspeak. She meant every word. He said “She still has not apologized.” He demands that CNN fire her forever and that they apologize in writing to the Dallas Police Department, all law enforcement officers everywhere (hello Mr. Taliban!), and to everyone in Texas.

Oh, please.

Whitfield blew it. She had some idea in mind, never explained, maybe about how masterminds put the lone gunman up to the attack, and she used stupid words to try to get at it. This happens to be a peeve of mine – I think it’s bad ill-judged writing when reporters refer to a crime as a “daring caper,” for example – but it’s stupid to suggest that Whitfield actually admired the attacker.

Her first apology was bad. Her second was better – it’s interesting that she chose to keep “misspoke” but incorporate it into a more heartfelt apology. The Dallas Police accepted it. The Lieutenant Governor is just grandstanding. He spotted some public outrage and is trying to become its mouthpiece. (Hope it doesn’t work.) He’s wrong to say she hasn’t apologized. It’s also silly that he wants an apology in writing for an offense on a broadcast. That’s not how it works. You apologize in the forum in which you offended.

If you bungle on air, you should apologize on air, not on Twitter. If you get the facts wrong on the front page of a newspaper, you should correct it on the front page, not somewhere back in the business section. If you call someone an idiot in a caption on a blog post, you should apologize in a caption on a blog post. Should you wish to apologize.