The fact is, there is a certain percentage of cops who are scum. Maybe 1%, maybe 2%. It doesn’t mean the rest are. But also just don’t **** with cops. They have been called to a man with a gun. They ask the man to get on the floor, and according to the eyewitness, he moved his arm instead. Now the eyewitness, from a couple of feet away, say there was no gun. How far away was the cop? 20 feet?
If a cop has been called to “guy in store waving a gun” call, and they tell you to get on the ground, I think it would be very sensible to do that.
Maybe they’re scum though.
But equally, how much should they put their life in danger? This guy moves his arm - how long should they wait to check & see whether there is no gun in it?
The “second volley of shots” is probably the most disturbing element of the story though.
ANY motion, including “getting down on the ground” would be taken by these officers as threatening and they would shoot. Once they have shot him once they have to finish the job so he can’t tell a story different from theirs. The constant flood of stories of cops shooting dogs who barked or who took no notice of the cops and the many women who get multiply “tazed” implies to me that people join the force with the expectation that they get to shoot or at least “taze” someone if they go out on a call. Maybe it is in the union contract. Hereabouts I would not hesitate to call police to a situation on the beach because the beach police are part of the tourist industry and don’t wish to scare off the tourists. In the burbs back of the beach I would not call a policeman to a situation for any reason. They do not feel constrained by the need to keep the goodwill of any tourists.
The cop was close enough to come up behind him and tap him on the shoulder! 2 of those responding had less than 2 yrs. on the force! Not exactly lots of experience there!
Both of my brothers were cops, in major cities, they will be the first to tell you there are a lot of yahoos on the police force. When you have to beg for recruits you don’t necessarily get the cream of the crop!
They ask the man to get on the floor, and according to the eyewitness, he moved his arm instead.
Maybe until they are reasonably certain there is an actual threat? That is the standard for deadly force in self defense and I believe it is universal to everyone, and in law there is no lower standard applying to police.
They accept a certain risk in taking that job and plenty of other jobs are more dangerous.
So far there has been quite a chorus of folks who claim to have been there and saw no threat, and based on my experience I have to say that's a very believable scenario. Of course "news" articles and anonymous posted comments are never the whole story and I don't believe what we have so far entitles us to judge either way. But I think some explaining needs to be done.