Posted on 12/08/2005 9:51:16 AM PST by talkshowamerica
by J.R.
As many of you already know, a passenger on an American Airlines jet was shot and killed by an Air Marshal, when the male passenger stated that he had a bomb in his carry on bag. The Air Marshal attempted to apprehend the man who then ran out of the plane toward the airport terminal, when the Air Marshal caught up to the man, the man reached into the bag and was shot and killed by the Air Marshal.
It was later learned, unforunately, that the man did not have a bomb in his carry on, and that the man had a mental condition and was not taking his medication.
Unfortunate or not, the Air Marshal did the right thing here...his job. The Air Marshal had no way of knowing whether or not this man had a bomb, or whether or not the man had a mental condition, even though his wife reportedly was stating that he did. For all the Marshal knew, the wife could have been part of the plot to dentonate the bomb.
Certainly if the man had stopped and put his hands in the air he would not have been shot. He chose to run toward the airport and the Marshal certainly had no choice but to pursue him. When the man was finally caught up to, he reached into the carry on bag. The Marshal did not have a choice now but to use deadly force to stop this man from possibly detonating a bomb.
Everything the Marshal did here was correct and necessary to protect the public. As a 25 year veteran police officer and certified defensive tactics and use of force instructor, I concur with the action taken by the Air Marshal. In fact, had the Air Marshal not been able to catch up with this man, he would have been forced to make another decision, to shoot the man in the back to stop him. If this man had a bomb and was able to get into the terminal he could detonate the bomb in there. Under these circumstances the Marshal would have still been justified in doing so, even though the man may not have reached into the bag.
Law Enforcement officers may only use deadly force when they are confronted with a situation where a suspect poses a threat of death or serious bodily injury to the officer or the public at large. This suspect certainly posed that risk to both the officer and the public based on the information the Air Marshal had at the time that he made the decision to take action.
The Air Marshal was justified in using deadly force regardless of whether or not the man reached into his bag. The shooting may have been unfortunate, but it was justifiable under the circumstances.
Can anyone find any connection beween the purported wife of the man--and either the ACLU or the Communist Party?
Just a hunch.
All the man had to do was STOP running. Why wasn't this man on his meds if he were bipolar like his wife said he was? In about a year, the wife will find a shyster lawyer and sue the govt. Hail to the Air Marshal who did his job!
Any prominent libs out there saying otherwise?
They're just generic losers. He worked at a Home Depot, she was a social worker and worked for some "mental illness advocacy" outfit, and presumably had trouble keeping a professional distance from her clients (i.e. ended up unwisely marrying one).
The air marshall is a hero in my book.
The Air Marshall did the right thing but it's unfortunate that he has to live with the knowledge that he killed a man.
I doubt it. And while I agree that the wife bears a lot of responsibility for this tragedy, I don't think there's a system in place for formally notifying airlines of mental problems in passengers, and there really ought to be. Not all mental illness can be reliably controlled by medication, and it's not reasonable to ban all mentally ill people from flying. But they really should be explicitly designated in advance, like unaccompanied minors are, so that the crew, and air marshals if on the flight, will be aware of the situation and react accordingly to bizarre behavior (and they should have the right to subject the passenger to physical restraints and a gag, at the first sign of behavior that would cause alarm to a reasonable passenger.
Where did he hit the scum? Double tap?
Yes, that's true, even though he was certainly justified, it is difficult to take a life, and probably more difficult when you find out the threat really didn't exist, unfortunately.
I see the dead man as both perp and victim. Innocent but at fault. The air marshalls had no other options.
"she was a social worker and worked for some "mental illness advocacy" outfit"
PRECISELY my point.
suicide by cop.
Ceratinly an interstesting possiblity.
I am not saying that the man did not pose a threat as my piece states he most certainly did, I am saying that the Marshal having to take a life is tough for him to deal with after, it must be even harder to deal with knowing only after, that the man didn't have a bomb.
Better to start checking connections to al-Qaida or other terrorist organizations.
I wouldn't worry about him too much. With all the time and money the government spent training him to kill, I'm sure they found time to include a class or two on coping with the act of gunning down civilians.
Hey, the feds at Ruby Ridge and Waco were just doing their jobs too.
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