protectionist
Diamond Member
- Oct 20, 2013
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Everyone seems to be saying that the shooting by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke of Laquan McDonald was unjustified.
I'm not so sure about that. Reviewing the video, it looks like the the kid WAS a threat to the cop. Through the whole video, the kid has his left hand in his pocket. No one can know if he has a gun in his left hand, inside that pocket. Suddenly, he spun around and took his hand out of the pocket. That's the way shooters do it (to conceal the gun behind their body just as they shoot)
What if the kid had a gun in that left hand and fired it ? (which the cop couldn't see). We'd now have a dead cop. Let's remember the cop has only a second to think, the kid engaged in a very threatening movement, when he suddenly turned around, and his hand was still in his pocket at the time of the turnaround.
The number of shots fired, does seem to be excessive, but let's not forget the stakes involved here for the cop, as we safely watch the video, that if anything goes wrong with this. Those stakes are his life.
I would be interested to see videos of other encounters similar to this, where a suspect with hand in pocket suddenly turns about and fires a gun, killing a cop. Then everyone says the cop should have shot him.
I'm not so sure about that. Reviewing the video, it looks like the the kid WAS a threat to the cop. Through the whole video, the kid has his left hand in his pocket. No one can know if he has a gun in his left hand, inside that pocket. Suddenly, he spun around and took his hand out of the pocket. That's the way shooters do it (to conceal the gun behind their body just as they shoot)
What if the kid had a gun in that left hand and fired it ? (which the cop couldn't see). We'd now have a dead cop. Let's remember the cop has only a second to think, the kid engaged in a very threatening movement, when he suddenly turned around, and his hand was still in his pocket at the time of the turnaround.
The number of shots fired, does seem to be excessive, but let's not forget the stakes involved here for the cop, as we safely watch the video, that if anything goes wrong with this. Those stakes are his life.
I would be interested to see videos of other encounters similar to this, where a suspect with hand in pocket suddenly turns about and fires a gun, killing a cop. Then everyone says the cop should have shot him.