Yes. And No. I know. It is I the cop hater. At least that is what the replies from certain people will claim.
Yes. Shooting a weapon wielding individual is justified to save life.
The problem is totality of the situation. Nobody was hearing the commands of the cop. He wasn’t the loudest voice there. The fighting girls didn’t even see him. Not because they were black. Nor because they were girls.
The term is situational awareness. It takes training to avoid the normal human tendency to focus on one thing. The tunnel vision. A vast majority of you will never have experienced it. But with training you can avoid that deadly mistake.
The girls fighting were seeing nothing but their enemies. Totally normal human reaction. They were not hearing anything. Much less the sounds of the cop shouting.
This is where you need something to startle them. Something to get their attention. A shot into the grass as one example. I watched the video once. My mind screamed fire a shot into the ground. It will startle the girls out of the tunnel.
When the cop fired. At that moment he had a choice. Let another person get stabbed. Wounded. Possibly killed. Or shoot.
I don’t find fault with the shooting at the time it happened. But here again is where my often advocated position comes in. A study into the totality of events. Alternatives that can be thought of. Alternatives that may be available to the next cop in the next situation. Alternatives that may save a life later. And there are always alternatives. There are always lessons to be learned.
The biggest thing is think. It is hard to think in a stressful situation. The ability to do so is invaluable. This is where training comes in. Teaching people to think when the stress is on. Teaching them to avoid that tunnel vision.
The more you know. The better you are. We should milk incidents like this for every ounce of information.
It was a justified shooting IMO. It was still regrettable. And I would like to think of ways to avoid it if possible next time. I don’t want to see anyone die. Cop or civilian. If it can possibly be avoided.
You know why you don't fire into the ground? One word: ricochet.
Also, startling someone who's already swinging a knife at someone is an excellent way to make them lurch forward and CONTINUE THE SWING. Ever hear of momentum? Ever get startled by a loud, unexpected sound behind you? Did you freeze, or did you jump? Moron.
Maybe YOU should try thinking before flapping your gob about things you clearly know nothing about.
You convinced me. The shooting was absolutely not justified. Try and convict him for murder.
Awww, is your feewings hurt? I guess you showed me by your vicious decision to "think" something at me. I am cut to the quick by your incisive willingness to hold opinions based on whether or not someone is nice to you about your ignorance, rather than based on facts.
Actually, I'd be really glad that I upset you with my utter lack of respect for you as a sentient being . . . if it wasn't for the fact that I don't respect you enough to give a shit either way.
Oh god no. What happened is again a Rabid Right Wing idiot spoke up. Want to know why Chauvin was convicted. Idiots like you who opposed every change. No matter how minor.
Idiots like you who oppose any reform insured that the cops would not lead the effort like they should have. No. No changes. So instead the cops are being fired and charged with crimes and sent to prison. The changes came no matter how much morons like you opposed them. Now. The changes are resulting in cops going to prison.
So for twenty years I’ve argued for common sense reforms. For that long I’ve written letters and talked to people. Those common sense reforms are about to appear in the rear view mirror. Radical changes are coming. And more cops are going to prison.
It isn’t my fault. It’s yours that the thin blue line wants their members to go to prison. It isn’t BLM or Antifa. It’s you blistering idiots on the right who act like the smallest change to anything is right out of the communist playbook.
So **** them. Let the cops go to jail and prison. It don’t affect me. I live way out in the country. Let you and the rest of the Suburbanites find yourselves overwhelmed by your own hatred. First you’ll blame the blacks. Then you’ll blame the brown. The Jews. And before long you’ll be drawing up lines based on religious affiliation. You idiots with tiny minds always do.
Next it is Kyle Rittenhouse who is headed to Prison. After him the McMichaels. And it is the fault of idiots just like you.
Chauvin was railroaded by an angry black mob. No one is swallowing this horseshit that the whiteman is responsible.
Chauvin was convicted by the thin blue line. Let me explain.
For two decades people have been raising issue with cops who are given passes for bad behavior. Anyone who mentioned reform of the protections enjoyed by cops was labeled as anti police and pro crime. The issue was worse than social security. Just to mention reform was political death.
Police intimidate and are hostile to people making complaints. The cops are caught in lies and nothing happens to them.
Supervisors swept the bad behavior under the rug. There are hundreds of videos of police reacting with hostility when someone tries to file a complaint. Yet Chauvin got 18 of them.
The defenders like yourself who object to repeal of the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights are partly to blame. Criminal conduct in many of those cases can’t be prosecuted if it is handled as an internal employment issue.
It isn’t the Blacks driving this. It is YouTube. Video after video of police abuse and brutality. Video after video of cops going way over the line has eroded not only the trust of LEO’s but the willingness of the public to accept the isolated incident excuse.
Maryland was the first state to pass the LEOBR. And this year they were the first to repeal it. How long before all of them follow?
Yeah. It was you guys supporting the cops who kept real reform from stopping Chauvin from developing a pattern of abusive and brutal behavior. It isn’t BLM. It isn’t ANTIFA. It was the stubborn idiocy of the I support the cops who prevented the reform.
Now that reform is rolling over the cops. Sending cops like Chauvin, Slager, and many others are rotting in the harsh and vindictive prisons you say is good enough for criminals.
That’s fine with me. Another couple hundred cops get convicted, and another few dozen multimillion lawsuit settlements and the changes will be forced on the cops.
Here is the rest of my prediction from nearly twenty years ago. Those changes that are forced on the cops will result in more dead cops. Instead of leading on the issue the cops counted on strong support. From idiots like you. More dead cops. And that is on you. More cops in prison. Also on you and your white wing conservatives.