Cops accidentally kill 300 citizens annually

Columbia Chronicle ^ | 12.8.2003 | unknown

[CHICAGOFARMER]

Cops accidentally kill 300 citizens annually

Editorial: Nonlethal weapons a better approach

http://www.ccchronicle.com/back/2003-12-08/opinions2.html

Here lie the casualties of an epidemic that has been increasingly gripping American cities since the early part of 1990:

·Steven Curry, 21, shot and killed by an off-duty Chicago police officer, Nov. 25, 2003.

·Michael L. Jacobs, 37, shot and killed by a Shreveport, La. police officer, claiming self-defense, Dec. 2, 2003.

·Courtney Mathis, 12, shot and killed by a Cincinnati police officer, Sept. 1, 2001.

·Timothy Thomas, 19, shot and killed by off-duty Cincinnati police officers, April 7, 2001.

·Ahmed Diallo, 22, shot 41 times and killed by New York City police officers, Feb. 4, 1999.

·Robert Russ Sr., 22, was one of two unarmed civilians shot and killed by Chicago police in a single week, June 1999.

·Gonzalo Martinez, 26, shot and killed by Downey, Calif. police, Feb. 15, 2002.

·Nathanial Jones, 41, died after being beaten by Cincinnati police, Nov. 30, 2003.

These cases are only a small percentage of the more than 300 unarmed citizens killed each year by police officers who claim they had no other option than to use a service firearm or other means of lethal force.

“Other options,” however, to bring people under submission have been made available to various police departments across the country. In the western United States, there is a sweeping trend by police districts to adopt nonlethal weapons.

According to the San Diego Tribune, more than 1,200 policing agencies have begun using PepperBall guns.

The PepperBall Gun is a semi-automatic, high pressured-air launcher that fires balls containing the strongest, hottest pharmaceutical-grade irritant available.

In October, San Carlos, Calif., police began carrying taser guns, opposite their firearms. The taser sends 50,000 volts of electric shock into the nervous system, completely incapacitating a subject. Officials from the Phoenix Police Department began using taser guns in 2002.

Since its implementation, there has been a 50 percent decrease in the number of shootings by police officers. And in San Diego, where officer-involved shootings are among the highest in the country, police districts are retraining their officers in sensitivity and deployment of nonlethal weaponry.

Nationally, only 1,000 of the 18,000 police agencies currently supply nonlethal devices to officers based on a variety of poor reasons. Major cities of the Midwest and Atlantic regions argue they are sticking to their guns, no pun intended, due to tight city budgets, the lack of training and most importantly, doubt.

Its troubling when the use of nonlethal weapons becomes an oxymoron for police in cities such as: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, Providence, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., where police-involved deaths continue to rise. It seems those sworn to protect and serve are ignoring a proven remedy.

According to a 2002 Associated Press report, a majority of U.S. law enforcement agencies do carry Mace or pepper spray. But officers believe the chemical aerosols don’t pack enough punch to subdue suspected criminals. So, are police trained to believe that the only alternative is to shoot or pound the culprit to death?

Part of the problem lies in the lack of training in defensive tactics and nonlethal artillery. Officers often reach for their holsters because training goes out the door during challenging confrontations. Police must be properly educated in understanding how to best handle all situations. But perhaps the ultimate cure is in the eradication of police officers who sidestep proper training practices. In any other profession, the incompetent are let go. Unfortunately, in law enforcement, someone has to die before incompetence is realized.

[NMFXSTC]

Exactly...why was a cop called, what circumstances? Seems to me if a cop is called and needs to pull a firearm, something is up other than 65 in a 45.

Ever been in a gun fight, all you cop bashers? See...the bad guys don't use tasers and pepper bullets...they use hi-cap 9mm, Sigs and Tec-9s...big diff!

[Cultural Jihad]

... it is like that mini series "V" with the lizard people.

So you say, while the Weekly World News says ...

... so who are we to believe?

[carlo3b]

(1,1439,000 violent arrests) = 1,439,000 sheesh, even I'm getting nuts with the numbers

[Porterville]

Just be aware, the justice system, especially in California, where I live, is sick to the point of mob rule.

[narses]

Now that's what I call cooking!

[Papabear47]

I am not in law enforcement however I have forty-nine years of firearms experience both civilian and military and I cannot agree with a no bullet in the chamber (simi-auto or auto) or no bullet in the chamber under the hammer(revolver).Why, modern semi-autos used by police have many safety devices that will prevent a true accidental discharge(I will get back to this)and if a weapon is chosen by a department that does not have these devises,safety slide,decocker,grip safety or in the case of the Glock a safety trigger(sorry there are always mechanical failures)they must be held liable. Revolvers of recent design(at least the past fifteen years) have a safety transfer bar to prevent an accidental firing.The real problem is that many police training facilities behave as if they are training soldiers (paramilitary)not civilian law enforcement personnel,Two to the torso and one to the head is a common theme,after all no witness no explanations and probably no law suit.An accidental shooting is one in which a firearm is dropped,malfunctions unexpectedly or someone is trying to wrest it from an officer.When a LEO points his weapon at a suspect finger on trigger and the weapon discharges and injures or kills someone it is not an accident,or tragedy,it is a homicide.March 1992 a police SWAT team in Everett,Washington killed Robin Pratt,she was shot while on her knees begging "Please don't hurt my children" deputy Anthony Aston shot her in the neck, she was alive for two or three minutes but could not talk as her throat had been destroyed,she was then handcuffed lying face down.This was a no-knock raid and the allegations on which the warrant was based turned out to be false.www.powernet.net/~eich1/noknock.html.While I agree that LAO's shoot to kill all to often and for the wrong reasons the time needed to rack a slide or the diminished firepower of one less round could cost a LEO or innocent civilian their life.If Law Enforcement Officers (LEO's) were no longer trained to believe that civilians are the enemy and can be shot for any real or imagined provocation and with statutory immunity to prevent their prosecution for wrongful injury or death we all would be better off.

[metalurgist]

Part of the problem lies in the lack of training in defensive tactics and nonlethal artillery. Officers often reach for their holsters because training goes out the door during challenging confrontations.

The real problem is hiring small cops with a large attitude. Alligator mouths with canary assholes. Not a single diplomatic bone in their scrawny bodies. Constantly have to prove how tough they are. When people they confront take exception to being called names and screamed at their only recourse is to pull a gun or get their ass kicked.

We need to go back to height and weight requirements. A big cop is an intimidation factor and a little diplomacy will diffuse a lot of situations. It never used to be this way until BS liberal PC started. PC kills.

[narses]

California is a former territory of the United States, now a banana republic. So sad. Move while you still can.

[Cultural Jihad]

... the justice system ... is sick to the point of mob rule.

Uh-huh.

[Porterville]

Is that Arnold holding up Gray's head????

[dasboot]

I never intended to imply that the 3% were the types to kill someone accidently.

[tpaine]

Homepage of the Free Republic:
"Free Republic is an online gathering place for independent, grass-roots conservatism on the web. We're working to roll back decades of governmental largesse, to root out political fraud and corruption, and to champion causes which further conservatism in America. And we always have fun doing it. Hoo-yah! "

What am I missing??? The Police are off limits??? So I can't say anything at work, at school, or in public about my feeling about the sickness of liberalism, unions, nepotism, and government corruption, and now you say I am wrong to mention here??
126 Porterville

---

Rooting out political fraud and corruption is not the same thing as saying that the whole system is corrupt.

We are using the system to root out corruption.

By your ideologue-addled definition that is an impossibility since as you claim the whole system is corrupt.
131 -cj-

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The whole political system IS corrupt, cj. -- You are just incapable of seeing that truth.

Read the Milton Mayer excerpt on Porterville's home page. It may wake you up a bit to what is happening in this country.


I doubt it though, because RINO jihadics like you are the main problem we constitutional conservatives have in trying to fight socialism ..
You have your head struck in the sand of your own "ideologue-addled definitions".

[HardStarboard]

I got a list for the next 300 accidents. but they never ask me.

[Porterville]

Wow, you can sure say a lot on the subject in a few sentences... very Hemingway-esc

[carlo3b]

Hahahahhahahaha.. bingo!

[narses]

"The whole political system IS corrupt, cj."

The WHOLE SYSTEM? Juries are all corrupt? Judges, everyone of them, are corrupt? All the cops too? Every mayor, town councilmember, state legislator, member of congress, ALL CORRUPT?

I need a drink.

[Cultural Jihad]

Is that Arnold holding up Gray's head????

Are you trying to equate the French Revolution to the California special recall election?

[narses]

I could make a lot of jokes. Donuts. Lard. Oh my, pork. But no.....

[Cultural Jihad]

The ideologues have to think that the whole system is corrupt, for why else would the sheeple shun their wise and benign guidance?

[narses]

More like the LA Riots. Remember Reginald Denny? Damian "Football" Williams? The Terror was real. California is disfunctional.