On the day after Christmas, at least a dozen officers surrounded a 38-year-old man on St. Charles Avenue, a famous thoroughfare of mansions, live oaks and streetcars. As a civilian videotaped the scene from a window above the avenue, the man walked about slowly, waving both hands at his sides. In one hand, he held a 6-inch "Army-type" knife with a 3-inch blade, Adams said.
"They ordered him to drop the knife, and he just kept backpedaling," Adams said. "Then he lunged at an officer, who had to step back to avoid being stabbed in the chest." That's when police fired. The man suffered multiple wounds, and 10 shell casings were recovered at the scene, Adams said."
this would have been a perfect scenario for a taser. perhaps NO's police force doesn't have them?
I heard it was 7 shots, oh well. He attempted to kill an officer on duty. Damn, it isn't like they saw a knife and opened fire. He attacked and got retaliation for his attack. An officer shouldn't have to worry whether he/she can use lethal methods when being attacked by a potentially lethal weapon.
As for the retired teacher, wasn't there and don't know the full story, but it does seem like excessive force was used in that instance.
[size=92][color=#0000FF]Hugh Hefner for President[/color][/size]
Granted they should have tazers and such, but given the situation I dont see them in the wrong. Its too bad for them it had to happen at this point, but its not something I can condemn.
If the officer really did have to make an effort to dodge the stab, a stab to the chest could be fatal. All things considered, you aren't really thinking about shooting the man in the leg after watching him lunge at your friend and/or co-worker in an attempt to possibly kill him.
Edit: Also, they didn't just shoot him out of no where, the article says they tried pepper stray first. I'm against police brutality, but in this case it sounds like standard procedure. You have to remember that they're human too...it's really easy to sit behind a computer and say they should have aimed for the leg or used a taser.
Edit 2: It's also a shame that this will likely be spun in to a racial issue when it's obviously not. A white guy would have been shot as well.
Kills On Site wrote:n officer on duty. Damn, it isn't like they saw a knife and opened fire. He attacked and got retaliation for his attack. An officer shouldn't have to worry whether he/she can use lethal methods when being attacked by a potentially lethal weapon.
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wrong - the police may NOT retaliate - at least not in this country - they're only supposed to fire to protect themselves or members of the public - other than that it looks like thats excatly what they did - just in the typical US fashioln of overwhelming force -
also shooting to wounhd is never part of firearms training (again at least in the UK) - firearms officers are trained to shoot to neutralise a target - that generally means a shot to the torser - and therefore most likely death
Kills On Site wrote:I heard it was 7 shots, oh well.
there have been conflicting reports. of the three articles i read, one said 9, the other said 10, now you state 7. *shrugs* either way, the guy's history.
i think a few bullets in the legs or something would have been sufficient. since the guy did lunge at an officer with a knife, i'm not condemning shots being fired, but i am left wondering if these guys should be equipped with tasers.
not sure why only the SWAT team is allowed a bean bag gun either
If you try to kill a cop, you deserve to get shot 10, 20, 50, 100 times. Tazers are for bullshit rent-a-cops. You're out there everyday putting your life on the line just so some head case with a knife can try and kill you, but you have to tazer him? Fuck that. I wouldn't take any chances if someone were trying to kill me.
Kills On Site wrote:I heard it was 7 shots, oh well.
there have been conflicting reports. of the three articles i read, one said 9, the other said 10, now you state 7. *shrugs* either way, the guy's history.
i think a few bullets in the legs or something would have been sufficient. since the guy did lunge at an officer with a knife, i'm not condemning shots being fired, but i am left wondering if these guys should be equipped with tasers.
not sure why only the SWAT team is allowed a bean bag gun either
There are legitimate non-lethal options out there, and I think that this would have been a perfect opportunity to use a beanbag gun. Good thing GeeDubya has ensured that the money for DHS has been well spent.
Bean bag gun would have been nice. For that matter so would a lasso.
I don't condemn the cops for shooting him, because he was obviously trying to stab an officer. But with nearly a dozen cops encircling the guy, they couldn't find a better way to subdue him?
10 shots is not subduing a suspect - it's venting on him.
You give up your life as soon as you make a decision like that.
The guy knew he wasn't going to jail when he decided to lunge for an officer's chest with a knife.
Well, I don't see how your argument of using tasers and bean bags holds any water in this case. Yes, I agree that in a lot of situations they would be good alternatives to guns, but here the man tried to fatally wound a cop after repeatedly being told to put down the knife and pepper sprayed. What does it matter if it's 2 bullets or 10?
Last edited by Guest on Wed Dec 28, 2005 10:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ctrlnuke wrote:Well, I don't see how your argument of using tasers and bean bags holds any water in this case. Yes, I agree that in a lot of situations they would be good alternatives to guns, but here the man tried to fatally wound a cop after repeatedly being told to put down the knife and pepper sprayed. What does it matter if it's 2 bullets or 10?
Do you approve of a cop standing over a dead body and unloading his clip into it until he feels better?
the guy did not just threaten. He tried to kill a cop.
Edit: And back to my point...you seem to be making a big deal of the 10 shots thing, which actually isn't a factor in this at all. Like I said earlier, what does it matter if the guy has 2 slugs in him or 10? There were at least 5 cops, at most 2 shots to the torso each. And it's not like they counted shots, 10 shots from that many cops would be off in less than 2 seconds.
