Video of the incident at the link.
I agree with you.
Two tours in Iraq as a Marine, combat, and a Purple Heart.
It looks like he is a brave cop, and evidently made the right decision.
He’s lucky to be alive. He could have been a politically correct dead man.
Folks who aren’t willing to pull the trigger when appropriate shouldn’t carry a gun. That boy needs to find another line of work.
There goes another $50,000/year to imprison this guy for the rest of his life.
He could have saved the tax payers sooooo much money!
I say he retreated for far too long.
I’m sure it wont be long before the narrative is” “Well, if the suspect had been black instead of white,.....”
He’s lucky. If you wait till you see the gun, you will most likely see what comes out of it, too....
He was focused and ready, and relied on his skills to maintain the advantage should the situation have further deteriorated.
I would suggest that his combat experience was a factor. Every suspicious move is not an aggressive move.
I’m disappointed in some of the comments.
I thought we wanted our police to show judgement, courage, and the ability to discern threats...
Sheesh, dogs have more of a right to live than the perp.
I say it's the cop's call because it's his life. And in this case, he has serious combat experience and knows when things click and when they don't add up. To him, something didn't quite add up to the level of pulling the trigger. He literally saw things lesser experienced people would miss, and those things told him the guy was not the threat he ws pretending to be. And he was right - and it wasn't luck.
IMHO, this is the level of care that must be required of the police, precisely because they are not military, and we are not the enemy. And if it can't be achieved under current conditions, then we must change the conditions so that it can be achieved. The alternative is what we're seeing all around us - including machine gun mounted APCs. History is extremely consistent in showing where that leads.
Bad idea to publically release much less broadcast this encounter.
It could inadvertently become the “gold standard” for how a street officer is supposed to apply deadly force.
The defense lawyers and political activists are going to have a field day with this police body camera material. Not to mention all the absurd restrictions the district attorneys, police department legal advisors and trainers are going to think up based on these recordings.
The guy is a Marine with a Purple Heart. If trust his judgement based on that.
If the criminal had already killed 2 others with a HANDGUN, and had his hands in his pocket, while running at the cop, I would have shot, had I been the cop.
That’s not the whole story.
Dispatch advised the cop the suspect might be wanting the cops to kill him. The officer trained his eye on the suspect’s right hand which was in his pocket. The cop was ready to open fire and within a just 10’ or so from the suspect.
The cop showed much restraint here.
I’m not going to fault him and even his Chief praised the officers actions.
Dispatch advised the cop the suspect might be wanting the cops to kill him.
In addition, the suspect yelled multiple times, “Shoot me”.
I think the officer figured out what was likely happening, and his boss agreed and even did the interview with the officer.
I agree. the cop is very lucky that he’s alive right now.
textbook would say to shoot the suspect.
Textbook doesn’t cover every single potential case. Not all cops are equal or identical.
Cop is lucky. Suspect/criminal is very lucky.
In this case it may be right. If he would have shot him, in this specific case, I’d have said he was right, too.