A friend of mine was a police officer. We talked about this last night. He said it was completely justified.
I believe him.
I do not believe the media.
There were a couple here who told us that since a Tazer is a one-shot dealie, the officer should have known he was no longer being threatened.
I’m not buying that either.
I agree. I looked at the video and concluded the same thing, it was completely justified.
After you have wrestled with police, and then you are running away, any threatening movement you make becomes a credible threat, particularly when that involves pointing some kind of weapon at the police. That act negates any past or future “running away”.
There is a phrase to describe cops who just assume there is no danger in that situation - dead cops. You can’t assume it is a taser. You can’t assume he had no other weapon on him. He has already overpowered you and now he is threatening you with something in his hand. Even if he turns to run again, you don’t know if he’s going to turn and fire again after that.
Good shoot.
In fact, very good shoot.
I had that same conversation with a cop buddy. He’s a white cop in a majority black large democrat city with plenty of protests.
I’ve also see the full 30 minute bodycam video. The guy went psycho with no warning and stole the officers Tazer. To a reasonable observer, his shooting was perfectly justified.
Freepers who think otherwise need to examine their premises.
What did he say about them shooting a guy in the back, whom they could have just chased down and caught?