[GrandEagle]

The deadly "utility knife".
For your comment...

[zeugma]

If I shot someone eight times and claimed he'd lunged at me with a 'utility knife' (box cutter?), I'd be very suprised if more didn't happen to me than getting rewarded with a couple of weeks of paid time off.

[newgeezer]

A man is dead after Mobile police open fire in a crowded shopping center parking lot.

Sensational TV news copy at its finest.

[17th Miss Regt]

But now, that woman is demanding justice: saying a small man with a box-cutter posed no threat to the officers.

If I take a utility knife or box cutter and cut about an inch deep into someone's throat, I guess there must be no real danger. Think Mohammed Atta.

[Feckless]

Stewart pulled out a carpet-cutter and lunged towards them

Here's you answer: Dumb@$$ relative brought a carpet cutter to a gunfight with two cops. If breathing and heartbeat required conscious thought he'd a been dead long ago.

[WV Mountain Mama]

Hey, police in my home town shot a man dead who was armed with a steak knife. The officers ween't within 20 feet of the guy, but they killed him. I guess the guy looked hungry.

[Blood of Tyrants]

But now, that woman is demanding justice: saying a small man with a box-cutter posed no threat to the officers.

The 9/11 hijackers were armed only with utility knives. A razor sharp utility knife can easily cut someone's throat.

[sergeantdave]

As a former MP I can assure you that we would have the guy with carpet cutter down and handcuffed in about one minute. We had to wade into situations where fists, feet, knives, bar stools and beer bottles were flying. We worked as a team and jumped in and settled the matter without pulling our 45s and blasting away.

To assess a situation and use deadly force as the first option when presented with a threat is an indication of poor training. The guy with the knife should be sitting in a cell right now - maybe with a few body parts not feeling too well - not laying on a slab in the morgue. What these cops did is inexcusable.

[coloradan]

When they attempted to calm him down,

You! Changing your tire! Yes You!! CALM DOWN! NOW!!

[Sloth]

Sounds like a situation for a tazer.

[Cap'n Crunch]

We recently got tazers. Really good when they work. About a month ago some nut showed up on a guys porch with a large ax. Said he was going to kill the guy because he made fun of God. Our guys got there and sarge tazed him. Didn't completely work and the guy held onto the ax.

About a week ago some guy dragged one of our guys in a car for awhile and then there was a car chase. When they finally surrounded him they had to taze him. Didn't work. Barbs stuck in his coat and he was still able to fight.

I've seen what a box cutter can do to people. You wanna chance a tazer that doesn't work all the time? Or take a few zips across the face and throat by a razor?

Come at me with a razor and I'm emptying my full mag of .45, I don't care if he weighs 50 lbs.

[Cap'n Crunch]

I think it was Street Survival that used to show an autopsy of a cop stabbed to death with a table fork. I saw the pictures.

[EAGLE7]

It is apparent that most of you do not understand how dangerous knives can be. It takes approximately 3 seconds for a person with a knife to reach a target 21 feet away. Real life is not Hollywood where armed thugs are disarmed without a shot being fired. Moreover, if you knew anything about guns you would know that it often takes more than one shot to stop a perpetrator. Especially a drunk emotionally disturbed one. I'm surprised that these good officers fired ONLY 8 SHOTS. Must of hit a vital area. If these officers did not use deadly physical force and decided to handle it 'the liberal way', they would have been seriously injured and possibly killed. It does not matter the size of the perp, he was emotionally disturbed. Got it, you Monday morning quarterbacks?

[Indie]

As an ex-Dallas PD officer, any respectable officer that knows how to use their baton, or even fight for that matter, should have been able to deal with this efficiently without using deadly force...8 times????? Geez. ~sigh~

Hope they can live with what they did. It won't be as easy as you might think later on.

A well-conditioned young man picked up a 10 GAL jar of change [full!] during a family disturbance and raised it over his head and threatened to throw it at us. Did we frickin shoot him?? HEDOUBLEHOCKEYSTICKS NO! Could we have legally? Yes.

[newgeezer]

The moral of the story: "Never bring/swing a carpet knife to/in a gun fight" (especially when it's you vs. eight cops). Duh.

This reminds me of the local high-on-methamphetamine, disarmed punk "victim" who was recently shot dead by a LEO as the punk was attempting to drive off in the LEO's squad car. The LEO was deemed justified by some investigative body. The dead man's family remains p*ssed.

Sorry, folks but, I have nearly zero sympathy for a crazed, intoxicated idiot who tries something stupid within shooting range of an officer who's sworn to protect the citizens.

Do your drugs at home, and stay there. Otherwise, if anybody's going to end up dead, it had better be you.</rant>

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Sounds like suicide by police officer to me.