Posted on 12/27/2005 6:19:46 AM PST by Triggerhippie
NEW ORLEANS - The city's embattled police department will have another internal investigation to face after a swarm of converging officers gunned down a man brandishing a knife.
A police spokesman said the officers who fired on the man Monday will be reassigned pending the outcome of the probe, but he defended their response, saying at least one officer's life was in danger just prior to the barrage of gunfire.
"You have a subject who's lunging at them with a knife... swinging wildly at them and they're fearing for their life," said Officer David Adams, a police spokesman. "They had no other choice but to resort to lethal force."
Officers repeatedly asked the man to drop the knife and used pepper spray to try to subdue him, but he used a cloth to cover his face and was still able to walk toward an officer and threaten him, authorities said.
"Evidently the pepper spray had no effect," Adams said.
A businessman had called police after a confrontation with the 38-year-old victim in the Lower Garden District west of downtown. The shooting occurred on St. Charles Avenue, an important thoroughfare in the city, famous for its historic green street cars and Mardi Gras parades.
Adams said he did not know how many officers fired shots or how many shots were fired. Witnesses said a half dozen or more shots were fired.
Phin Percy videotaped a portion of the incident from his father's second-story apartment. "The cops kept telling him, 'Lay down! Lay down!' This went on for about three minutes," he said.
Trey Brokaw, a patron at a nearby bar, said he saw the victim with a knife in his hand shortly before the shooting. "I didn't see anyone near him," Brokaw said. "It didn't seem like anyone was going to get hurt to me."
Brokaw said he did not see what happened in the final moments before the shots rang out.
The victim's name was not released because his family had not been notified.
It was the first shooting of any kind involving a New Orleans officer since the city was officially reopened after Hurricane Katrina damaged many neighborhoods and displaced tens of thousands of residents nearly four months ago, Adams said.
Since the storm, the police department has struggled to rebuild its ranks and address questions about officers' conduct.
Hundreds of police left the city without permission in the days after the storm. There were also allegations of theft and looting by officers, and the videotaped beating of a retired teacher by police in the French Quarter. The police chief resigned a month after the storm.
Two of the officers accused of the beating were fired; a third was suspended for 120 days. All three are scheduled to be tried next month. The allegations of looting and theft are being investigated.
21 foot rule....
Looter Guy? Hope not!
What's the 21 foot rule?
The police chief retired? Now, WHEN will the mayor and governor do the same...?
A knife wielder can clear 21 feet fairly quick.
In knife fighting, if you can be within 21 feet of your gun wielding opponent, you odds of killing him before he gets you are better than even.
Courts have consistently applied this rule to LEO shootings for knife wielding perps to determine whether the shooting was justified.
The perp chose... poorly.
Suicide by cop. I feel bad for the cops, not the perp.
Perhaps a Vegas vacation is in order....
Justified, in this case, unlike after their poor Katrina performance.
Real bullets from real cops or ghost bullets from ghost cops.
I know. . .let's rebuild New Orleans!
...and since then LEOs have consistently claimed to be inside 21 feet after shooting a knife wielding attacker.
I don't know that...I'm just being a smart a$$.
Anyone who would go up against several cops with a knife is obviously mentally ill. They should have holstered their guns and removed any thoughts of violence from this victims mind and gone to him with open arms and hugged him. A hug goes a long way with the mentally ill.
Horse Hockey..
Night Stick, Baton, Billy club, whatever you wish to call it..
Strike the knife, hand, wrist, fore-arm, and the subject is disarmed..
These officers are Damned Lucky I'm not the Judge overseeing their investigation into the shooting, because they would all go to jail..
All of them.. Every Damn One..
Shooting the suspect from a distance has become SOP over the last 10 - 15 years or so..
I very rarely see an officer carrying a police baton or nightstick any more in these instances..
Pepper spray has become the new nightstick.. And while it probably has it's place, fear of a Rodney King incident has made the use of a baton practically non-existant...
This just *isses me off..
Sure...appeasement would have worked easily in this case. Maybe a few cops would have been stabbed or maimed but hey...think of the valuable contributions to society that this violently mentally ill man would have made just so that he could perform future duties with the DNC.
/Sarc and LOL both!
I am not sure which cop fired the shots. After he lunged at the officer, you pretty much knew how this was going to turn out. That being said, I think some better trained officers could have disarmed the guy fairly easily.
These officers are Damned Lucky I'm not the Judge overseeing their investigation into the shooting, because they would all go to jail.. All of them.. Every Damn One..
Spoken like someone who knows NOTHING about the subject.
Simple solution: Don't lunge at cops (or anyone with a gun, for that matter) while carrying a knife.
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