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

[Thaluikhain]

Ok, I can sorta understand people thinking shooting at legs is a good idea, or that you can shoot once or twice and sit back and wait and see if he's going to stop before shooting some more. It's completely wrong, but I can see how you'd make that mistake.

But...how do you not know that you can kill someone by hitting them with a sledgehammer?

 

[AngloDoom]

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.

Not all life is equal, just as how not all humans are equal. If all anteaters died out it wouldn't make as much of an impact as if all humans died out.

What makes a human life more valuable? We provide nothing to anyone we simply take and take.

What about people who give to charity to help other living creatures, or try to protect animals against things which are naturally occurring? Not all extinctions are man-made, and some are being prevented or delayed by human intervention. That is us giving.

Not single one of you will be missed when you die and no one will care when you are born.

I've seen people cry over the dead, and I can tell you I'm going to be upset when Stephen Fry and David Attenborough die. I imagine the people who say they enjoy my company will be sad when I die and I'm sure the people who enjoy your company (since you're probably not so 'dark and mysterious' off of the computer) will be sad when you die.

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.

For 'pretending to care'? Even if you believe we don't care, surely the fact that we're pretending to is better than just sweeping the guy into a bonfire and calling it a day?

You just make us all laugh. Don't devalue humankind simply because we act like every other animal out there but do it much better.

 

[shoreleave]

Justified.... But after 3, the preceding 7-8 rounds you put into the man I wouldn't consider defence anymore. However, he did what he had to do to protect his partner. I would think there's a higher incident rate of officers hesitating to do what is necessary to protect others.

Also, that guy was a beast. Taser to the face and he just waves it? Damn!

The last 7 or 8 shots were probably from adrenaline.

OT: I'm placing a little blame on the cop who got way too close to the guy. Not to distract from the guy with a pipe, things might not have escalated so quickly if the cop had kept his distance. The shooter was just protected his partner.

Ok, I can sorta understand people thinking shooting at legs is a good idea, or that you can shoot once or twice and sit back and wait and see if he's going to stop before shooting some more. It's completely wrong, but I can see how you'd make that mistake.

But...how do you not know that you can kill someone by hitting them with a sledgehammer?

I don't mean to single you out because a lot of people jump to a legshot or something. You NEVER shoot to maim. Guns are a lethal means of dealing with a threat in real life.

 

[Kiardras]

From what I could see, he was tasered in the face, which then caused him to try and take a swing at the officer behind. At that point, dog cop opened fire. Possibly excessively so, but its easy to say that when I'm sitting at a desk and not in the rain hyped on adrenalin with a man about to crowbar my friend.

So all in all, its a shame the taser didn't work enough to put him down, but at the point the officer fired, I do believe he was justified.

 

[natster43]

Justified, but a bit excessive. When someone is coming at you with a crowbar, after being tased and not going down, you are going to shoot him to make sure he goes down.

 

[Toaster Hunter]

The suspect was about to attack a police officer with a weapon, while other officers had drawn guns on him. What did everyone think would happen?


By the way, there is no such thing as "shoot to wound" like hitting him in the leg. Just ask any firearms instructor, soldier, or police officer. That is for movies. One of the basic principles of firearm use is that guns cannot reliably inflict non-lethal injury. If you shoot someone, you shoot to kill, or not at all. Also, you shoot until the suspect drops/is no longer a threat.

 

[Steppin Razor]

He swung a weapon at a cop after shrugging off a taser. Considering that the shooting officer's choices consisted of a) shoot perp, or b) watch co-worker have head taken off, I think he made the right choice.

 

[Akio91]

Saw this on WorldStar last night. Totally justified. The man was clearly on PCP or something. You can see that in the way he literally shrugged off those tasers.7 shots is a bit excessive though.

 

[The Funslinger]

I came to this fully expecting a clear-cut case of police brutality/overreaction. However, the guy who was shot got what he had coming to him. His body language was aggressive, he was armed with a deadly weapon, and the officer was within reach. The armed man was a fool, plain and simple.

I came in expecting the same thing. And with his talk about half a dozen officers you wouldn't realize that at the moment only two seem to be withing a close distance. And worse still he doesn't even mention the fact the guy pretty clearly looked like he was about to attack one of the officers. Biased OP is biased...

Exactly. While I believe a lot of killing in the world is wrong, and to take any joy in it regardless of the circumstances is always the hallmark of a monster, sometimes it has to be done. While I certainly hope that the officer who fired the shots reflects on his actions, he deserves no loss of sleep over what happened.

 

[Bloodtrozorx]

Were there other ways to handle it? Perhaps in hind sight. However a human being in such a situation will react and the reaction is not always pleasant or preferable. I do believe the police acted as best they could, I feel a strong revulsion for the people filming. It was as the OP said treated like a Call of Duty Kill-cam.

 

[Jonluw]

The man charged at a police officer with what looks like a fire-axe from a few meters away. If all you've got in your hand at that moment is a pistol, you do what needs to be done.

And no, you don't aim for the legs. It doesn't work like that in real life. Police is trained to aim for the center of mass for the sake of stopping power and accuracy.
Apparently, the police had already tried the non-lethal approach in the form of tasers. If he attacks you after that, you're fully justified in doing whatever you want.

Oh, and I resent the fact that whenever the police uses force a shitload of people jumps in to defend the criminal twerp and go demonize the police, going "we live in a police state, man. Excessive violence, man".

 

[Signa]

I hate the cops as much as anyone when they get away with irresponsible shit, but this is cut and dry. The perp deserved it without any question. The only question is how much a cop can take a swing of a crowbar over the perp taking like 8 bullets, but I just really don't care. If you're stupid enough to attack a cop, WHILE BEING AIMED AT, you need to be put down.

I should also point out that this guy was threatening other people too. This isn't the Seattle woodcarver that was just walking on the street minding his own damn business. This guy is exactly why we need cops, and the cops did to him exactly what I want them to do to people like him.

 

[Eri]

YOU CAN'T SHOOT SOMEONE IN THE LEG OR HAND WITH ANY DEGREE OF ACCURACY. Stop saying this crap, Jesus Almighty.

 

[gideonkain]

Wow, that is some crazy video. They could have subdued the suspect without unloading a clip into him. But, they did so that's that. It should have been a nonlethal takedown. Officer did his job, but could have done it without being a killer.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Ok, I can sorta understand people thinking shooting at legs is a good idea, or that you can shoot once or twice and sit back and wait and see if he's going to stop before shooting some more. It's completely wrong, but I can see how you'd make that mistake.

But...how do you not know that you can kill someone by hitting them with a sledgehammer?

I don't mean to single you out because a lot of people jump to a legshot or something. You NEVER shoot to maim. Guns are a lethal means of dealing with a threat in real life.

That's what I meant...stupid movies.

Likewise, hitting someone on the back of the head (or, for safety reasons, usually the shoulders) hard enough to render them instantly unconscious, but soft enough not to harm them. That is a very specific level of hard.

...

Actually, I can remember one incidence of police specifically aiming for the legs, in the North Hollywood Shootout as the criminals were wearing body armour. The guy bled out from leg wounds before the ambulances got there.

Most of the police, of course, fired centre of mass like they were trained to, but couldn't penetrate to any great degree with their weapons.

 

[shoreleave]

Ok, I can sorta understand people thinking shooting at legs is a good idea, or that you can shoot once or twice and sit back and wait and see if he's going to stop before shooting some more. It's completely wrong, but I can see how you'd make that mistake.

But...how do you not know that you can kill someone by hitting them with a sledgehammer?

I don't mean to single you out because a lot of people jump to a legshot or something. You NEVER shoot to maim. Guns are a lethal means of dealing with a threat in real life.

That's what I meant...stupid movies.

Likewise, hitting someone on the back of the head (or, for safety reasons, usually the shoulders) hard enough to render them instantly unconscious, but soft enough not to harm them. That is a very specific level of hard.

...

Actually, I can remember one incidence of police specifically aiming for the legs, in the North Hollywood Shootout as the criminals were wearing body armour. The guy bled out from leg wounds before the ambulances got there.

Most of the police, of course, fired centre of mass like they were trained to, but couldn't penetrate to any great degree with their weapons.

Sorry, I just re-read what you wrote and it appears we were already in agreement. And on top of that you proved me wrong. Good show, sir.