http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43636474/ns/us_news-life/
So, if it was a civilian doing the shooting, what would people say? The posts by readers came down pretty hard on the cops. My posted comment there is below...
Assuming that he was drunk, threw a bottle at the Police, and charged them with a knife... For starters, don't bring a knife to a gun fight, that's just stupid.
Tazers are effective, but when you approach an ARMED suspect, they stay holstered. Even if the Tazer was out, a charging man still has momentum, and may well have fallen into the officer. Then what? Also, a vest is just that, a VEST. It is NOT body armor, and a Carotid Artery, Femoral Artery, or stab to the abdomen is likely to be fatal.
There is no such thing as "shoot to disable" in reality, or in any training program anywhere. Anybody who has ever had ANY firearm training is trained to shoot "Center Mass". God forbid the Cop aimed low and missed... The 9mm or .40 caliber round traveling 900-1000 feet per second would have traveled down the platform and killed somebody who actually WAS innocent. Then it would have been "Wild shot kills innocent University Student 300 feet away." Aiming at a leg 5 inches wide on a charging attacker 15 feet away is a trick very few of us would be capable of.
Second-guessing is easy, it's called Monday morning quarterbacking. Yes, there are bad cops. There are bad doctors, lawyers, priests, pizza delivery guys and everything else. They are BY FAR the minority, except maybe the lawyers These guys are doing a damn hard job, under constant pressure and scrutiny, and 99.99% of the time they get it right. You want perfection? Be perfect yourself first!
Sure, I wish the guy had gotten the chance to sober up and get the help he probably needed, but he charged two cops with drawn guns! Get real!
So, if it was a civilian doing the shooting, what would people say? The posts by readers came down pretty hard on the cops. My posted comment there is below...
Assuming that he was drunk, threw a bottle at the Police, and charged them with a knife... For starters, don't bring a knife to a gun fight, that's just stupid.
Tazers are effective, but when you approach an ARMED suspect, they stay holstered. Even if the Tazer was out, a charging man still has momentum, and may well have fallen into the officer. Then what? Also, a vest is just that, a VEST. It is NOT body armor, and a Carotid Artery, Femoral Artery, or stab to the abdomen is likely to be fatal.
There is no such thing as "shoot to disable" in reality, or in any training program anywhere. Anybody who has ever had ANY firearm training is trained to shoot "Center Mass". God forbid the Cop aimed low and missed... The 9mm or .40 caliber round traveling 900-1000 feet per second would have traveled down the platform and killed somebody who actually WAS innocent. Then it would have been "Wild shot kills innocent University Student 300 feet away." Aiming at a leg 5 inches wide on a charging attacker 15 feet away is a trick very few of us would be capable of.
Second-guessing is easy, it's called Monday morning quarterbacking. Yes, there are bad cops. There are bad doctors, lawyers, priests, pizza delivery guys and everything else. They are BY FAR the minority, except maybe the lawyers These guys are doing a damn hard job, under constant pressure and scrutiny, and 99.99% of the time they get it right. You want perfection? Be perfect yourself first!
Sure, I wish the guy had gotten the chance to sober up and get the help he probably needed, but he charged two cops with drawn guns! Get real!