Senators don’t usually make news when they speak from the floor.

By the time a Senator gets to the chamber, their remarks are typically so watered-down that they make a joke of the Senate’s reputation as the “world’s greatest deliberative body”.

According to Jonathan Tamari of the Inquirer, however, yesterday Sen. Pat Toomey chose to take to the Senate floor to defend the actions of law enforcement in the aftermath of the death of Freddie Gray and the riots it sparked.

“My concern specifically is over the growing scapegoating of police officers in America today,” Sen. Toomey stated. “If you listen to many of the police critics that we hear from today, you’d think that there’s some sort of epidemic of crimes perpetrated by the police and that … I assure you is not true.”

The Senator seemed disturbed that the public might believe the recent string of police controversies as indicative of a trend.

“Far from the epidemic of police misdeeds that some claim to be happening out there, I think just the opposite is true,” Toomey said. “The overwhelming majority of police are honest men and women. They have very high ethical standards, they don’t have a racist bone in their body.”

Pennsylvania’s junior Senator went on to lament the fortune of Officer Darren Wilson, who shot and killed Michael Brown but was not charged by authorities.

“He ended up having to leave his job on the police force … he ended up having to move out of his home and go somewhere else and he’s only 28 years old,” he remarked.

“What I’m simply trying to point out is that these police officers have human faces, are human beings and these officers are going to go through hell whether they deserve to or not. Their lives will never be the same whether they are guilty or innocent.”

Sen. Toomey finished by expressing his hope that the next demonstration will be to honor police officers for their work and dedication.