I've never had a problem with a cop shooting someone trying to run someone (including himself) down, and can, as a matter of policy, excuse some collateral injuries.
I can even accept that some perps can bash themselves around and couse themselves severe injuries (even the occasional death), and can make allowances for that. However, shooting people like this goes beyond the pale - especially unloading an entire clip. Something reeks in this case.
But, he added, it is ''uncontroverted that while handcuffed, Taylor was able to pull a box-cutter with a 4to 5-inch blade out of his pocket.'' Stengel said that marks found on Taylor's body during an autopsy -- as well as witness accounts -- ''show that he was able to get his right cuff considerably up his arm.''
''This enabled him to have the boxcutter on his right front and allowed him substantial movement'' -- so much that one witness said he thought the cuffs had been taken off, Stengel said.
Stengel said Taylor refused several commands to drop the knife and continued to advance, even after being shot.
In the one-room apartment, it was only 11 feet from the foot of Taylor's chair to the farthest corner, where O'Neil retreated, Stengel said.
That's the part that the few who are defending the cop refuse to comprehend. The cop emptied his gun into a man, who's hands were cuffed behind his back. If he would have shot him once, maybe even twice, it would be a totally different story, although maybe still not acceptable.
First, they botch procedure. The man wasn't searched. Then, because they didn't properly disarm the man, a cop who appears to not have the intellect to be a cop, shoots the guy until he can shoot no more - all because the guy pulled a box cutter, while cuffed.