Cleveland police officer shoots 12-year-old boy carrying BB gun

Cleveland.com ^ | 11/23/14 | Corey Schaffer

[gogeo]

I think any reasonable person would conclude pulling a gun from one’s belt after that command is a threat.

[MeshugeMikey]

No BB gun from my generation.... looked anywhere nearly as much like an “authentic” pistol as the toy this kid was “packing”.

[MeshugeMikey]

I have NO IDEA of what the kids body language “expressed” when he pulled THE TOY...or what he may or may not have said.

Sadly the Police are walking TARGETS in SO many neighborhoods today that this doesnt surprise me in the least.

I won’t second guess the cop because i didnt witness the entire event.

[unread]

"Lots of older BB guns still remain in circulation

Even new "BB guns" do not have orange tips.... Soft air guns perhaps, but not .17cal. BB guns....

[NYRepublican72]

Rookie cop. Terrible rookie mistake. Terrible tragedy.

[pleasenotcalifornia]

I hope that was the case in this instance. It may well be.

[Leaning Right]

And in not a single report did anyone say that the kid pointed the gun at the police.

That's the key point right there.

[Celtic Conservative]

Quick, split second is the gun real?....BANG! You’re dead. That is how much time cops have to decide.

[MeshugeMikey]

I wish I could more accurately and thoroughly recount the little experiment I mentioned. Percpetion under extreme stress is far from perfect.

[COBOL2Java]

Here’s an idea..if you don’t want to get shot..don’t point a gun at cops..gee, logic, who knew!

Sad thing is, in the urban black culture, the whole idea of something we used to call "common sense" is never, ever inculcated. It's probably a direct side-effect of the "nothing is ever my fault/everything is whitey's fault" attitude.

[VerySadAmerican]

“When an officer gives a command, we expect it to be followed,” Tomba said.

“Give me your papers! You have a gun? Drop it or I’ll kill you! You have a permit? I don’t give a damn I’m still ordering you to drop it! I can’t wait to shoot somebody!”

[re_nortex]

The lamestream media refer to him as a “child”. I’ve seen plenty of 12-year olds, especially holder’s people, that look much older. Your characterization is spot on, he was a just another thug in the making and his parents (if any) voted for hussein — probably several times.

[VanShuyten]

It looks fair like a CZ75. Does this mean you only fear guns you can recognize?

[Celtic Conservative]

Rookie cop. Rookie gangsta. Completely predictable outcome. Still sad, but the kid had his life in his own hands and chose unwisely.

CC

[gaijin]

"See these hands? I'm gonna F*CK you up..!"

Very gradually beaten to death, calling out for help from his sheriff dad.

ALL the cops got off --no jail time, nothing. The beating happend ON VIDEO, in the most public place in that city.

No cops spoke out about it, and the PD first tried to simply imagine the disaster away. The Blue Wall of Silence --the police reaction to the beating-- is much more important than the fact the beating took place in the first place.

The ONLY reason why there was a dramatic public outcry was the dad had the presence of mind to snap a PHOTO while at the morgue --no other reason.

You guys are bullies, plain and simple. And you target PROPERTY.

Increasingly, the robbers ARE YOU, the threat IS YOU.

[killermosquito]

Did the kid get swatted?

[Leaning Right]

Don’t forget the cases where the citizen/suspect is given several contradictory commands at once.

“Hands up!” “Put your hands on your head!” “Get down on the ground!” “Turn away from me, and walk towards the sound of my voice!”

[VerySadAmerican]

I find it interesting that the 15 year veteran didn’t feel the need to shoot first and ask questions later.

The rookie told the kid to raise his hands. How do we know he wasn’t doing that? His hand was on the gun. We know this because the cop said he saw the kid put the gun in his waste band. So maybe he was taking his hand away from the gun in order to raise his hands. Whatever happened to “Drop the weapon! Drop the weapon!”

If cops are that jumpy they don’t need to be cops.

But, there’s no good thing about this. At least no puppies were killed.

FLAME AWAY!

[First_Salute]

Whether or not the shooter is/was a police officer, the shooter did not properly wait to determine if the boy was a threat.

Even if you are a police officer, you *do* have to wait, you *do* have to determine if a person with a gun in their hand is gesturing threateningly, and/or making sounds or speech (of some form) that is threatening, and/or acting in a direction - on a vector with weapon raised - to do harm.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

I need to go to downtown Cleveland on Tuesday to see my Chinese herd doctor. Chinatown is intermixed with the ghetto. I’ve had problems before, parking on a side street. I will be carrying.