Friday, September 17, 2010

Duluth Police Shooting Justified

There's a video and a blow-by-blow description. What do you think? Was there no other course of action?

I can see only two possible explanations for what happened. 1. The cop was frightened and panicked, or 2. The cop became indignant, thinking how dare this young punk do that.

Either way this was not justified. A bullet to the chest for acting like a drunk asshole is excessive in the extreme in my book.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

4 comments:

  1. Still acting like a drunk asshole after you've been shot is extreme too. The audio is very clear despite the video obscured by shattered glass--he's still swinging even after being fatally shot.

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  2. "A bullet to the chest for acting like a drunk asshole is excessive in the extreme in my book."

    It would be in mine, too. But what this young idiot was doing went well beyond "acting like a drunk asshole."

    Once he breached the window of the car with the bat, the officer's life was in jeopardy. The officer is not required, thank goodness, to take a couple "maple shampoos" before attempting to save his life. A bat being swung by somebody who is out of control and attempting to do you harm is a deadly threat.

    In that instance, I believe the officer acted correctly. Despite your attempt to paint it otherwise, this was definitely a justifed shoot, as it was reported.

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  3. Nonsense. The cop acted out of fear or anger. Either way he was wrong.

    "Maple shampoo," that's a good one.

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  4. Well, I would hope he was in fear.

    Somebody that close with a bat, and obviously out of control as that guy was, having just broke the window of the driver's side door after smashing the windshield--the officer probably was afraid. Which is the standard under which deadly force is appropriate.

    Deadly force is generally allowed under the condition that one fears for their life, or is in fear of great bodily harm.

    I reiterate:
    Once he breached the window of the car with the bat, the officer's life was in jeopardy. The officer is not required, thank goodness, to take a couple "maple shampoos" before attempting to save his life. A bat being swung by somebody who is out of control and attempting to do you harm is a deadly threat.


    In general, you are not required to take damage from an assailant in order to use deadly force. He doesn't have to wait until the guy hits him with the bat to prove that the guy intended to hurt him. The guy's actions up to that point were such that he was proving himself a danger to the life of the officer.

    Sorry, but this guy got what was coming to him. At about 1000 feet per second. It was a good shoot.

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