Running away, are you? Cowards!/s
Posted on 09/23/2012 5:35:03 AM PDT by Yashcheritsiy
A Houston police officer shot and killed a one-armed, one-legged man in a wheelchair Saturday inside a group home after police say the double amputee threatened the officer and aggressively waved a metal object that turned out to be a pen.
Police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said the man cornered the officer in his wheelchair and was making threats while trying to stab the officer with the pen. At the time, the officer did not know what the metal object was that the man was waving, Silva said.
She said the man came "within inches to a foot" of the officer and did not follow instructions to calm down and remain still.
"Fearing for his partner's safety and his own safety, he discharged his weapon," Silva told The Associated Press.
Police did not immediately release the name of the man who was killed. They had been called to the home after a caretaker there called and reported that the man in wheelchair was causing a disturbance.
The owner of the group home, John Garcia, told the Houston Chronicle that the man had a history of mental illness and had been living at the house about 18 months. Garcia said the man had told him that he lost a leg above the knee and all of one arm when he was hit by a train.
"He sometimes would go off a bit, but you just ignore it," Garcia told the newspaper.
Silva identified the officer as Matthew Jacob Marin, a five-year veteran of the department. He was immediately placed on three-day administrative leave, which is standard in all shootings involving officers.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
“They had been called to the home after a caretaker there called and reported that the man in wheelchair was causing a disturbance.”
Never, ever call the police to your domicile for anything whatsoever. Circumstances will deteriorate to an even worse situation if you do.
Police are not your friends, marriage counselors, mediators, pet sitters, teen advisors, etc....
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Police are called to group homes all the time. there is not enough staff to manage them if a patient gets out of control and police are the normal backup. So are ambulance crews and the ER. This is one of the best reasons to consider going back to long term residential mental hosptials. You have trained staff there who can manage the out of control patients. And many mental patients get out of control often.
I don’t know which is worse for the cops. The action itself, or the infamy they will have to endure for years to come.
What will be the response? Hours of training of cops on how to approach a wheelchair bound desperado? Will Quadriplegics ‘run’ for hills when they see approaching cops? Stephen Hawking, Look Out!
The story is so absurd, that I suspect they really did find themselves in a threatening situation. Criminal assault on law enforcement with deadly force doesn’t out-trump the LEO use of deadly force.
What will be the response? Hours of training of cops on how to approach a wheelchair bound desperado? Will Quadriplegics ‘run’ for hills when they see approaching cops? Stephen Hawking, Look Out!
The story is so absurd, that I suspect they really did find themselves in a threatening situation. Criminal assault on law enforcement with deadly force doesn’t out-trump the LEO use of deadly force.
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A patient with significant blood borne pathogens such as Hepitits, HIV, MRSA can be seen as dangerous.
I have no illusions about cops. They more and more are turning into arrogant enforcers of the government’s will.
However, I am always very hesitant to second guess cops in crisis situations. A one-armed man still has one arm to pull an gun and shoot it. If you are in a tense situation with cops, the last thing you do is act belligerent or swing something at them. I don’t care who you are, how old you are or whether you have a handicap. Did the cop overreact? Maybe. But most times they should get the benefit of the doubt in crisis situations like physical confrontations. If someone swings at a cop — even a fist — they should not be surprised if they get shot.
You know there are times the cop could actually back away to lession tensions.You don’t fight a fire by throwing gasoline on it.Likewise, many potential violent situations can be defused by distance.How many family dogs or family members reacting to a sudden invasion of their home have been shot by some a**hole in uniform who could have backed away or not even entered the property or space without warning.
The idea that everyone including the family dog must instantly,unquestionally, and totally submit to the barked orders of some government official is un-American and WRONG.
Too often today’s police escalate the violence level.
I say COWARD because any man who has to shoot a one-armed man confined to a wheelchair and “armed” with a ink pen is afraid of his own shadow.
The inclusive policies that brought all these small people ,male or female, who feel or know they can’t prevail in a physical struggle ,thus leaving them ONLY the gun as control, is just wrong.
If America is to regain freedom,the police and all government workers MUST be forcibly reminded that they work for us,not the other way round.
Hey good brother Gilbo...
Moments like these really test the patience, my friend....
Cop shoots and kills wheelchair-bound, double-amputee, with one arm...
Well....Obviously, he was a REAL threat...
I can’t figure out which is more disturbing - the fact that this even happened, or that people are out here defending this trigger-happy idiot...
Reminds me of the old “All In The Family” episode...Archie ran into a station wagon full of Nuns and tried to blame it on them.
The lawyer just kept repeating “Archie...it was a Station Wagon, Full of Nuns...”
I don’t care HOW anyone tries to rationalize it. A guy in a wheelchair, with no legs and ONE arm, is not a threat to anyone. ESPECIALLY to two armed cops.
This cop needs to be stripped of his badge, his gun, and any immunity from prosecution.
“Cornered”??? Really? The guy’s in a wheelchair. Just PULL the frigging thing away, Partner - from behind.
“Waving something metal”??? In his ONE good arm? In his wheelchair? GRAB his arm, Partner - from behind.
If a cop can’t tell the difference between a pen and an edged weapon or a firearm, he shouldn’t be anywhere NEAR making life and death, judge/jury/executioner decisions.
This is just effing ridiculous.
I’m guessing all involved wish now the cop did have a taser.
There are good cops bad cops, just like good priests and bad priests. I remember back in the 80s when entire departments across the US were juicing (not carrots, but using steroids!) These monsters used to patrol my neck of the woods and one of them tore muscles in my shoulder when he was cuffing me for a crime of which I was falsely accused. On the one hand you want to spout off and put them in their place but on the other you tremble at the power they have and too often abuse.
Those are my key dates too. especially 1993, 2005.
Assult with a deadly pen = death penalty
Running away, are you? Cowards!/s
Than they came for the frightened 83 year old ladies, but I did not object because I was not a frightened 83 year old lady.
Funeral set for 83-year-old woman shot and killed by Altavista police officer
Haha!
What a steaming pile (#87) that paragraph is!
Bring Da HEAT!!!
IBTZ!
very likely.
I believe that you have stumbled into the wrong forum. You signed up two days ago, and now you’re saying that O’bama is the end all and be all of presidents?
Don’t you realize that we have depression-era unemployment about which the government is lying? The president has spent more of our money, (most of it borrowed against all our futures, including those of YOUR CHILDREN) than all our previous presidents COMBINED.
We are steeped so deeply in debt that we can never pay it back. And where did all this money go? This may come as a shock, but it went into the pockets of O’bama’s cronies in the form of subsidies to businesses that were hollowed out and stripped of all revenue, and then placed in bankruptcy. Solyndra is just one small example, a half-billion dollar debacle that YOUR CHILDREN will be paying for forever.
O’bama is the worst president in the history of this nation. He is not an American in fact or in spirit. He hates white people and Christians because he is a mozlim and has admitted as much by bowing to the Saudi King and mentioning his “Muslim faith.” If the political winds blow ill, he has vowed, “I will stand with the Muslims.”
And your tagline? [shakes head] We have a Constitutional Republic. This is not a democracy. Democracies ALWAYS end in tyranny, which is why you leftists are always running your fat yaps about “democracy, democracy.” You’re on the wrong forum. You will win no hearts, change no minds around here, except perhaps those of fellow trolls.
Sorry that took so long. I had to go and take a shower after reading her post.
....and kitty gets fed! nom-nom....
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