Posted on 05/12/2005 11:02:33 AM PDT by jb6
No, because I might be out dancing. Or out visiting. Or not wanting to answer the phone.
Interrogating innocent, law-abiding citizens is FAR less dangerous than actually preventing crime. Heck, you can always claim you saved a cop's life that day.
The point isn't that he couldn't get to the door, it's that he probably didn't get there fast enough.
WSOCTV.com
Standoff Killing Of Adoption Advocate Stuns Friends
POSTED: 12:28 a.m. EDT May 12, 2005
Charlotte, NC -- A state legislator and other parents said Wednesday night they were shocked to hear about the death of Alex Ehrenburg, shot to death by a police SWAT officer during a standoff in east Charlotte.
Police said Ehrenburg barricaded himself inside his house and pointed a gun at the officer before being shot.
State representative Jeff Barnhart of Cabarrus County said he was saddened by the death of Ehrenburg who helped arrange adoptions for Barnhart and many other parents.
Ehrenburg worked for a group which placed children from Belarus with local families.
Ehrenburg's wife was in Belarus Wednesday working on an adoption.
A family friend who is a doctor said Ehrenburg suffered from kidney failure which sent toxins circulating throughout his body, causing hallicinations when they reached his brain.
Sick man. He could have been taken down by non lethal means.
Question from Philosophy 101: If somebody is shot by a barricaded man with toxins circulating throughout his body because of kidney failure, is the person shot any less dead because the perpetrator was suffering from hallucinations?
If the SWAT team had not been there the old man couldn't have pointed a gun at them. Why didn't they simply leave?
So if I am in my own house minding my own business beating my wife and someone else calls the cops and I tell them to go away, they are supposed to do it?
The cops were called on a complaint of a man with a gun menacing medical emergency personnel.
Do you dispute that?
Where things got screwed up is the guy told them in so many words to leave him alone.
They should have done just that!
You don't need a warrant to enter on a welfare call. The man's personal safety was in doubt. The fact that he pointed a gun at the firemen, and then the police is why he's dead, most likely just as he wanted.
End of story regarding Constitutional rights.
He was unwilling or unable to answer the door ~ we don't know which. The emergency aid folks had a lawful obligation to enter on the call, and did so. He held a gun on them.
Now things get murky. They left but they reported the event to the cops. The cops came and shot the guy.
The cops may or may not have had a right to shoot him, but they did. His widow may get a handsome settlement. Some of the single guys here might like her name and phone number eh?!
Time for dialysis guys!
That is really not the context of this event. This is not a case of a man sitting at home and suddenly the police appear for no reason. The police had a legitimate reason to be there. Look, this is tragic, but the man is at fault for pointing the gun at the officer. A doctor would not just call the police out to someone's house without a legitimate belief that something was amiss. Perhaps his doctor thought the man was intending to kill himself. Had he not pointed the gun, he would be alive today. The police are authorized and may legally enter someone's home when they have reason to believe that someone inside is in danger, either because of a suicidal intent, or because of other reasons. You can't see the forest for the trees.
The police had a lawful reason. A call for help was made.
They called him several times and he hung up. Apparently it was believed he intended to do himself harm.
You got that right.
So, where did you get your legal training? Stalin U?
Well, isn't that nice. Next time I want somebody killed, I will just call the police and ask for a welfare check.
Oh, I get it now! Call a doctor and instantly you surrender your constitutional rights and police surrender all their obligations under the law. Okay, makes perfect sense.
In a nightmare it does.
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