No you can not shoot someone just for pointing a gun at you without more probable cause than that.
The cop pulling a gun on you is IDENTICAL to anyone pulling a gun on you, including this kid.
There is PLENTY of reason to believe the cop is the greatest danger of all, because cops are well known for shooting hundreds of people who were not threatening every year.
Police are probably the single most dangerous classification of people there are.
Most are ex-veterans who have been extremely badly trained to shoot any possible threat from their military service, and veterans should be automatically disqualified for that reason.
And NO, this kid was NOT pulling a gun.
He already had it out, in the open, in his hand.
The cops should have seen it before even driving onto the grass.
It was the cops themselves who caused the situation to appear risky to them, so they then can not claim self defense.
You can not legally shoot your way out of a dangerous situation that you yourself caused.
They legally are required to have used due diligence perceive and avoid the situation ahead of time.
If the cops can legally shoot this kid, then I can legally shoot any cop who tries to draw a gun on me.
You are wrong on so many levels. First of all, when a police officer pulls a gun on you, you are assured it's not for a criminal act. If a stranger pulls a gun on you, you have no idea what their intentions are, and every reason to believe it's for an aggressive action. I am convinced you are not a CCW carrier because you seem to have no concept of the laws. People who get licensed are very informed about what the laws are.
Police do shoot hundreds of people every year. Shootings without justification end up with charges against the officer. There is no law anywhere that states a police officer can only use deadly force unless the adversary is also using deadly force. If some person twice the size of the officer attacks him or her, they can legally use deadly force even if they were unarmed. Again, you don't have a CCW or you'd know that.
At the grand jury, a video expert was summoned to testify in court. He gave an account of what the video showed frame by frame. In that explanation, he showed how Rice's shoulder lifted up as the officers were getting out of their car, indicating he was likely pulling up on something. He did not have the gun in his hand until they got out of their car.
Now, you don't have to believe me, but believe one of your own kind: CNN. Here is the explanation of what actually took place by the reporter. It's a short clip so it won't take up much of your time:
As she explained, when Tamir seen the patrol car, he stuck the gun down his pants. While they were getting out of the car, this enhanced video clearly shows him pulling the gun out, and that's when the officer fired.
Wrong.
Police are the most trigger happy people on the planet, and clearly have ingrained military training where they shoot first and ask questions later.
They are the most irresponsible, dangerous, and criminal people in the entire world.
When police draw a gun on people without reasonable cause like seeing a weapon, that is a criminal act.
It is called reckless endangerment.
That is because once you have drawn and pointed, any accidental stumble can easily cause the gun to go off.
Any cop who does that has made himself a clear and present danger, who should be shot and killed in self defense.
Police are the least trustworthy on the planet.
They are not only the greatest danger we face as individuals, but they threaten our entire political and governmental system as historically being the means by which all dictatorships always take over.
And clearly police already are part of the fascists dictatorship take over, because they enforce illegal things like Prohibition, the War on Drugs, 3 Strikes, ridiculous tax laws, etc.,
And no, you are wrong about the law.
I not only am a CCW, but had taken half a dozens classes and tests due to the many states I live in.
In general you are wrong when you say you can use deadly force if the other person is twice your size.
That is because size does not cause a physical attack to have deadly potential. The only times size makes a difference is with women, because they face the additional threat of rape. Even if a male attacking another male is twice the size, the risk is not deadly, you should be able to prevent deadly harm, so you can NOT accelerate to a deadly response.
The ONLY time a cop is justified in using deadly force on a physical attack is if there is a risk the attacker could get the gun from the cop. Defense of control over the gun could justify deadly force, but just barely.
As for the video, you are totally wrong because the boy is clearly not moving and facing the police car.
They could easily see everything, and if they felt at all threatened, they should not have stopped or gotten out of the car.
Again, police can not deliberately charge into a situation they know will then become much more risky due to their own actions, and then claim self defense.
If there was a single ounce of risk, it was all entirely their own fault for their own stupid and reckless conduct.
They should be arrested and charged for scaring everyone in the park.
And most likely the bored child would have thought they were just playing.
No one would believe these cops would have done such a stupid and reckless act unless it was deliberate play.
But I will agree I was wrong about Rice already having the gun out.
This video does clearly show he had put it in his waist and was starting to pull it out.
But that is never justification for shooting by the police.
He was only 9' away, and that is crazy.
The cop should never have gotten out of the car, the car never should have entered the park, and the police deliberately caused the entirely risk themselves.
