Monday, October 8, 2012

Alabama Policeman Shoots and Kills a Naked Unarmed Student

The Boston Herald reports

A police officer at the University of South Alabama has fatally shot a naked student whom authorities said repeatedly charged the officer.

University officials said the confrontation happened early Saturday morning when the officer went outside a police station to investigate a banging noise at a window.

Once outside, the officer was confronted by a naked man acting erratically.

Authorities said the man repeatedly charged the officer, who pulled his gun and retreated several times in an attempt to defuse the situation. When the man made a final charge, the officer shot him once in the chest.

The student has been identified as 18-year-old Gilbert Thomas Collar of Wetumpka.
This can never be justified. A naked, unarmed man should never be gunned down by anyone, it doesn't matter what he's doing.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

15 comments:

  1. What if he is chewing on someone's face?

    http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/05/26/miami-police-confrontation-men-leaves-1-dead-1-hurt/

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    1. Still not justified in Mike's world. Naked face eaters need to be coddled, not shot.

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    2. No, they need to be arrested without being murdered by the police.

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    3. Care to answer my question about a naked unarmed rapist? Is it justifiable for a woman/man to shoot a man who is raping her/him?

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    4. TS, I think you just want to bring up the inflammatory issue of rape rather than participate in the discussion.

      The discussion so far is about an armed man shooting an unarmed man rather than using some non-lethal means of stopping him.

      If an armed man sees a woman being raped he should stop the rape without shooting the rapist. Would that be so difficult? Can you really envision a situation in which shooting a rapist is the only way to stop him?

      This is why advising women to arm themselves against rape is bullshit. Most rapes by far are not done by a stranger leaping out of the bushes. They're done by acquaintances.

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    5. Mikeb, you live in a fantasy world in which violent people are actually weak and diffident. People who use violence against innocents have made their choice. We don't have to wait to be seriously injured or killed before we're justified in defending ourselves or others.

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    6. No, but your supposed to wait till you're reasonably sure there's lethal threat. That's where you fail. You wouldn't wait.

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  2. If an unarmed person who attacks an officer has a serious physical advantage over the officer, lethal force could very well be justified.

    It only takes one solid punch to knock a victim senseless or even unconscious. And if the victim is a police officer who is armed, they cannot maintain possession of their firearm in that situation.

    What we really need is a better defensive weapon that is easy to use and will incapacitate an unarmed attacker every time.

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    1. Tasers work sometimes, but peaceniks kvetch about even those.

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    2. Non lethal means are at the disposal of the police and everyone else. Shooting an unarmed man to death is almost never justified.

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  3. This is being investigated. Typical for you, Mikeb, you jump on the story before you know all the facts. This may or may not be a righteous shoot, but given the naked fellow's behavior, I won't be surprised if the autopsy shows drugs in his system.

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    Replies
    1. Like bath salts maybe?

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    2. Of course he was high. What's that got to do with anything? That bullshit about crazed drug addicts on angel dust having the strength of ten men is right out of the Reefer Madness days. Even an angry person who is raging can be dangerous. it doesn't justify filling him with lead.

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