I can tell you this:
If an officer tells a suspect to stand down, or get up aainst the wall with hands behind back, or get on the floor face down, its best that the suspect follow those directions.
Officers are paid and hired by our governments to keep the peace.
This young man did not follow directions, became more bellicose, and as a result was submitted to force which unfortunately proved to be deadly force in this case.
It is a tragedy. Police officers have to live with tragedy every day.
I am sure the officer would have done things differently in hindsight.
But the days of double teaming a perpetrator and tackling him down are over.Too many injured officers, ripped uniforms.( We used to have to keep two spare uniforms at the station and extra shirts in the cruiser.)
However , in Japan, the Tokyo police force is trained to be physically expert in physical restraint. So is the Strathclyde Police Force in Scotland. There are many other such departments as well. No tazers. Tazers were brought on by the dininuitive nature of women officers and new age police officers who are not trained in expert physical restraint.
If this young man had proper respect for the officers, he would still be alive. It is a citizens duty to respect officers and to follow their directions during an incident.
It is extremely unfortunate that such ignorance on the young man's part caused the loss of this young man's life.
But ask yourself this: What if the officers let the situation escalate? What would have happened then?
The officers would have been criticized for NOT acting soon enough!
I have been in similar situations, and when the dice are tossed, the outcome sometimes cannot be predicted, as was the case here.
Also the reason we have tasers is that there is little respect for the law these days, or indeed for any authority, young people are not socialized to respect authority anymore, in school or at home. This the need for "tasers".
Of course the officer not havin a taser could have decided to step in and hit the kid with a baton, or his fist, or put a reverse strangle hold on him.Then everyone present would have started screaming "excessive force."
I regret the loss of life in this incident. But if you have ever worn blue, you will understand how difficult and indeed hairy such situations can be.And officers frequently have to engage 3 or 4 of these on every shift. I worked with one old hand who was a gentle giant, who used to escalate the situation verbally by telling the perp to take his best shot, then they always went down, hard.No taser.But they were alive.
The officer did what he could in these circumstances. (You should look at the series of tazer deaths that have happened in Canada, where there have been so many.I do not like tazers either.)
Perhaps a good bop with a sap or a baton would be a lot better remedy in these situations, like used to happen in times past to those "resisting arrest."
“If this young man had proper respect for the officers, he would still be alive. It is a citizens duty to respect officers and to follow their directions during an incident.”
....you’re right, the kid precipitated his own death....I live in NC and this whole incident went on for a lot longer than the sound bite the media showed....the kid was given plenty of chances to chill out and comply....BUT.....we all know that when the inevitable law suit comes up the kid’s family will get a big pay day....a minority jury will give it to them.
Well said!