Yen

As the daughter of a retired detective, I can answer that. It is impossible for me to separate myself from law enforcement -- they are like a second family to me, which is why I was so motivated to participate in the memorial ride last month. To me, I see each member of that family as someone's father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, etc. whereas most people probably just see a cop in uniform. It is impossible for me to NOT give them the benefit of the doubt. I know there are bad apples in every bunch, and they grieve my heart for the remaining 99.999999999999% who aren't. Growing up in a law enforcement family is unique -- most kids don't see their dad (or mom) come home from work and remove his gun and handcuffs from his waist and put them in a locked drawer, or wait for dad to come home on Christmas morning after having to work special detail all night. To me, they are very, very special and I would have to excuse myself from a jury if I were ever selected for a trial in which a police officer is a defendant. Depending on the offense, it would be very difficult for me to be completely objective... it's just too close to home.

They probably feared that that member of your jury pool would have a similar difficulty in being objective -- because he is able to see an officer as human, not just a person in a uniform to be feared.