Here's my issue with cops using deadly force. Police have to be in an immediate threat of danger to use deadly force. If a cop has his gun drawn and a criminal is say five or ten feet more away with a knife in his hand that is not an immediate threat. There is still time to de-escalate the situation. Now if he charges at the officer he becomes an immediate threat and deadly force would be acceptable in my opinion. I think the same thing applies with a gun although the distance of an immediate threat would be different obviously because a gun can be deadly from a longer distance. But say someone has gun in his waistband. At that moment it's not an immediate threat but the second he reaches for it i believe it now becomes an immediate threat. But say cops arrive at a scene with a subject who has a weapon in his hand but its not directly aimed at someone. I still don't consider that an immediate threat. Now the second he moves that gun up like he's getting ready to aim and shoot, deadly force is certainly warranted. Of course the type of weapon matters too. If a suspect 8s holding a pistol by his side but its aimed toward the ground its not an immediate threat but if it's an AR-15 where the muzzle is aimed at an angle between the ground and perpendicular to the ground that's a more complicated determination of immediate threat. Now in the instance with the guy getting into his car, even if he says he's getting a weapon, he's not an immediate threat until the cops see a weapon in his hand and he makes a threatening move such as raising the gun to aim and fire.
ZACKLY!!!!! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!
THANK YOU!!!
IF ANYONE within this thread simply misses, or just flat refuses to realize and/or admit the basic logic within the overall point of crafty30's post herein, then we are simply on opposite sides, and NO, I will never "slide" y'all's way!!
Final point here: YES Jacob Floyd should have immediately dropped the knife and put his hands over his head and gotten down on his knees!! To that I concur 100%!!!
Now did he deserve to be SHOT IN THE BACK 7 TIMES, and did his 3 kids deserve to have that gun fired so close within their proximity as-well-as in their general direction??? H_LL F'n NO, and therein lies my problem/disagreement with the cop that pointed and fired his gun, in addition to any and everyone within this thread (as-well-as out in the entire remainder of the real world) that back/support/concer with the cop in reference as being correct and doing the right thing!!!
Bottom line here is the cop simply erred BIG TIME and went too far in firing that gun!! Point blank, end of story!!
In closing, looks like we'll see what we'll as this case progress in court over the next couple years!! It's good thing the Milwaukee Police Department in question have insurance for such cotastrophies; if they by chance do not have such, then all I can tell you is that it's most likely that bankruptcy is about to invade Milwaukee!!!
With that, my participation within this thread is now at it's end!!
A cada uno lo suyo. Nuestros lados son elegidos. Veremos lo que veremos, por lo tanto, ¡¡los veré a todos más tarde!! ¡¡¡Adios Amigos!!!