I'm not saying that his actions were ethical. They were not. I am saying that ethics are not absolute and that there is a point where they simply become irrelev

I'm not saying that his actions were ethical. They were not. I am saying that ethics are not absolute and that there is a point where they simply become irrelevant and can and do depart from "civilized humanity". Ethics and morals can in extreme cases become opposites. The civilization happens when we get them to align and keep them that way. Allow me to use the Godwin accelerator to draw it all the way out: "Ja, Herr Kommissar, I saw Frau ten Boom sneak half a dozen Jews into her attic on Tuesday" is the ethical answer. It is the only answer that satisfied the answer's requirements under the law of that time and place. But ethics had ceased to matter, civilization had already failed. Morality was all that was left. There's a continuum, and being poor, black, and living in Compton in 2003 pushes the puck down the line a little towards uncivilized, into the space where morality starts to hold as much or more sway than ethics. We're just arguing about the amount.