Poll: Was this police shooting justified in your opinion? (Graphic)

[Daystar Clarion]

im kinda curious as to when you people will actually learn that a human life has no greater value than a pig/dog/fly/ant any other organism. What makes a human life more valuable? We provide nothing to anyone we simply take and take. Not single one of you will be missed when you die and no one will care when you are born. It all makes me sick seeing this crap. Im sorry the kid died. bull shit you dont care. Just like every one of those support the troops stickers and all the athletes that "support the troops". just because you say it doesnt make it true.

you all make me sick.

Well aren't you a bundle of joy.

You're also wrong. Very wrong.

OT: I'm against the idea of normal police having guns at the best of times, however, I've come to accept that America is completely different from the UK in terms of gun crime, and as such, it would be unfeasible for US police to not carry guns.

In this situation, going from what I've seen, I think it was justified.

 

[jklinders]

Based on the video, I'm inclined to believe it was justified. An article on the incident confirmed that police tried to taze him but it was ineffective. It is not usual to fire only once, though 10 shots is a little extreme. That should be investigated. He was within striking distance of one of the officers and was acting aggressively.

Seems pretty open and shut.

Also I see no relation between this and the incident at Vancouver airport referenced early on in this thread. That poor bugger was unarmed and no threat at all.

 

[jdun]

Here is an idea for criminals. Don't fucking attack a cop and you won't get shot.

You fuck up you man up. You take responsibility for your own action. Responsibility is something that liberals needs to learn.

 

[Kopikatsu]

An article on the incident confirmed that police tried to taze him but it was ineffective.

You can actually see it happen in the video, shortly after the guy walks out of Jack Jr. The guy pulls the prongs out of his cheek and isn't phased at all.

 

[jklinders]

An article on the incident confirmed that police tried to taze him but it was ineffective.

You can actually see it happen in the video, shortly after the guy walks out of Jack Jr. The guy pulls the prongs out of his cheek and isn't phased at all.

Good catch. The quality was too poor for me to see that. All I saw was a guy hopped up on some crap trying to ruin that cop's shite. Looks to me like the non lethal options were exhausted in this case.

 

[caviar1]

10. they fired ten shots into this guys. i can understand one or two to save your buddy but if youre in that situation, the guy youre shooting is incapacitated after one shot. they shot him ten times. they shot five until he was on the ground and then shot him five more times. thats the line to me, while the offender broke the law, a normal person isnt getting away with plugging the guy ten times, especially with so much backup.

 

[caviar1]

10. they fired ten shots into this guys. i can understand one or two to save your buddy but if youre in that situation, the guy youre shooting is incapacitated after one shot. they shot him ten times. they shot five until he was on the ground and then shot him five more times. thats the line to me, while the offender broke the law, a normal person isnt getting away with plugging the guy ten times, especially with so much backup.

 

[blindthrall]

Should've released the hound on him. Even if he does kill the dog-it's a dog. Happens in traffic all the time. At the same time, if the dog killed him, I wouldn't be shedding any tears. Wasn't a fair fight, only problem I have with it. Gun=/=crowbar, crowbar=attack dog.

 

[senordesol]

Should've released the hound on him. Even if he does kill the dog-it's a dog. Happens in traffic all the time. At the same time, if the dog killed him, I wouldn't be shedding any tears. Wasn't a fair fight, only problem I have with it. Gun=/=crowbar, crowbar=attack dog.

Why should police be obligated to fight 'fair'?

 

[whiteshark12]

I don't think that police should have authorisation to use lethal force unless their lives are in immediate danger.

Do you think being about 2 seconds off taking a crow-bar to the face doesn't count as being in imminent danger?

 

[Frost27]

The cops tried a less lethal option. If you watch the video with the sound up a bit you can hear the "crack crack crack" of the taser right before the tool shooting the video says something like "Damn, right in the face". The guy then reaches up and I assume feels the taser darts in his hood. Then he turns on the officer who tasered him who at this point is likely going for another taser cartridge or his sidearm and che goes after him with the crowbar.

The officer with the K9 then shoots him down. This was textbook and entirely justified.

There is no such thing as a law enforcement officer "shooting for the leg" or shooting to wound in any way. It just does not happen. In a shooting situation an LEO falls back on training which is to shoot center mass and continue firing until the threat is down.

If the individual had been arrested without incident, if he had used the crowbar on anyone prior to that point, he would have been charged with assault with a deadly weapon. Meaning, the use of a 5 pound steel bar is considered lethal force. The police responded in kind. To fantasize that the cop should have holstered hs weapon and begun a sword fight with the perp using his baton is unrealistic to the point of dumb.

The only thing questionable to me is the second set of five shots heard after the first. I can't see what is going on behind that car but I can only assume he was trying to get back up.

The cynic in me is glad the officers were able to scoop yet another turd out of the gene pool without hurting any bystanders.

 

[chadachada123]

Not justified, but not police brutality like we normally see. Slightly on the "unjustified" side, but nothing I'd get riled up about. And I'm the type to scream "Fuck the police" at the top of my lungs in most of the cases that get brought forward.

They should be trained to act with a little more restraint, but the cops aren't murderers in this case.

Edit: I'd like to clarify, I'm not the type that goes "hurrr why did he shoot that many times? He should shoot to wound durrr." I understand that, when you shoot someone, you shoot to kill, always. I don't think that the cop *should* have fired as soon as he did, but I don't think he should be legally liable for it at all. It's justified in that capacity, in my eyes.

 

[MPerce]

They tried tasering him, and it didn't do anything. Then he started after one of the cops with a mallet (or crowbar, or...something. This video isn't very clear). That is deemed an acceptable situation to use lethal force.
Like everyone else said, leg shots don't work like that. It's just as lethal a place to get shot (there's a very important, very large artery running through there).
It's very sad that the kid got killed, but he should've known better than to charge an armed police officer with a mallet. That's just stupid.

 

[Gralian]

Is a human life really worth so little that a half a dozen police officers will not try to overpower and disarm one man with a crowbar?

I find it surprising you should ask that. Is human life really worth so little? Considering the way some cultures treat human life - particularly gang culture - as being nothing more than a complete joke that can be snuffed out at any moment without anyone giving a shit, i'd say so, yes. Just look at how many people in third world countries go to war or join cartels just for the kicks or a way to get through life. Think of how many people are murdered daily in first world countries because someone is down on their luck.

In fact, there was a court case a while back involving a black male taxi cab driver who was racing to pick up a fare. An elderly man was crossing the road, and the cab driver ran him over. And do you know what he did? He went on to pick up the fare. He didn't stop to check if the man was okay. He didn't call 911. He just kept going like he'd run over a fox or something and didn't look back. Now tell me whether you think people really put that much importance over the sacred cow that is 'human life'.

And hey, don't even get me started on first world countries that do not have national health care. Any government that does not put the welfare of its citizens above all else is a morally corrupt one as far as i'm concerned.

 

[GistoftheFist]

I'm sorry, but a Spec-ops soldier would have to have a pretty bad off-day for a drug-addled vandal with a crowbar to kill him.

I see that you've chosen to ignore the more salient point that Police are not SpecOps, and that even trained men can be caught off guard (like, say, the officer distracted with his tools).

When weapons are involved, shit can go wrong double quick. And when someone can shrug off a taser, that doesn't inspire much confidence in fisticuffs.

Finally, if someone comes at a cop with a crowbar and said cop has a gun; what happens to the perp is his fault for not only being violent, but stupid too.

Good. Shoot them for stupidity. That's the way to an enlightened culture.

I'm of course being sarcastic. How anybody can claim moral high ground while standing over a corpse is beyond me.

He was shot for attacking a police officer, he just happened to be stupid about his choice of weapon. How can I claim the moral high ground? I wasn't the one smashing windows and threatening police with a deadly weapon that's how.

The man could have ended this peaceably and WITHOUT INJURY any time he wanted (up until the point he was shot, of course).

I remember when I was one mistake away from going home in a body bag courtesy of the Martinez PD.

My friends and I were having ourselves a good old time shooting each other with Airsoft rifles. We were playing on public land, but could be seen from homes (not that we were doing anything wrong). These pellet weapons were modeled to look damn near authentic (and a few of my friends had painted the tips black).

Suddenly, we saw a squad of police officers armed with shotguns approach. How did we ever survive such an encounter? We DROPPED OUR WEAPONS AND PUT OUR HANDS UP. We allowed the police to feel safe and secure, calmly answered their questions, allowed them to inspect our weapons; and then they let us continue playing.

Shocking that even 13-15 year old kids were able to grasp that when the shotguns are out, you don't fuck around.

Someone make that last sentence a bumper sticker.

 

[Doneeee]

Well these are the facts. One officer tazed the man and he was unaffected. The other cop was already pointing the gun at the crook as a backup just in case he tried something. The guy then gets ready to strike with the crowbar and the cop with the gun shoots him. The cop was just doing what he was there for which is why I feel it was justified.

 

[Something Amyss]

Eh? As soon as the thug turned his back on Officer #1 to intimidate #2, #1 could have taken him. Brought him down to the ground before he even had a chance to swing the crowbar.

Everybody's a Monday Morning Quarterback, as the saying goes.