(January 6, 2012 at 12:54 am)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote: Unfuckingbelievable. I don't see a justification for a stop-and-talk, much less a fatal shooting.
That's right, because you can't see anything in that video. One possible reason to talk to the guy is that he resembled a wanted criminal. That sort of thing happens occasionally, unfortunately.
What happened next? We certainly can't tell from that video.
I'm going to use an example to illustrate a point, I'm not saying this is what happened. If you are engaged with a subject holding a knife, are alert for danger, and are ready to use force, how fast do you think you can respond when the subject attacks you? The subject has to be something like 30 feet from you if you'd like to avoid being stabbed. Again, not saying this guy had a knife.
I'm just trying to make the point that a serious discussion of suicide by cop, which is way more common than you might think, doesn't have to devolve into cop bashing. I'm not certain, but it certainly sounded like you were judging without any knowledge of why police procedure is the way it is. Most public outrage over officer involved shootings is based on our expectation that the officer be perfect. Sometimes you have a woman pulling out a cell phone and pretending to aim it at cops being saved by the rapid observation of the involved officers, other times you have a kid shot for brandishing a pellet gun, still other times you have police officers gunned down during a traffic stop.
Here's a video I feel is relevant: http://lcpubw04.lanecounty.org/informati...encies.wmv
Sorry it's a wmv and not youtube.
