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 ...
Two really good rules of thumb.
1) LEOs often function in the mode of predators, spending their day looking for trouble and conflict, as part of their job, their “prey” being lawbreakers. But with this comes other characteristics that apply to predators. One being that it is a very bad idea to “back one into a corner.”
2) A lot of LEOs just adore Tasers, because guns only have three modes: in the holster, brandished, or being fired as a lethal weapon. But many situations are far more complicated than that, and really do not rise to the level of the use of lethal force, *except* that there is no alternative.
That just ain’t right.
two cops facing up against a pen swinging double amputee in a wheelchair?.......I guess that’s fair odds...:(
Betchya the cop votes for Obama...again.
what a chicken sheet
as I have often said don’t call the coppers who are high on steroid rage, unless you want someone hurt or killed
The officer didn’t have a mark on him...
The murdered man had one arm. Ever try to move a wheelchair with ONE arm? You go around in circles. And which arm was he holding the “weapon” in? Huh? The OTHER arm?
Totally FUBAR response by the police.
I wonder if Officer Matthew Jacob Marin had a taser on his belt as his standard issue? Or if he had already discharged it earlier in the day on some geriatric threat to his authoritia?
It all goes back to lawyers. Cops are purposely trained to kill so there’s only one story told in the court room. If this one leg, one armed man survived the John Edwards types would have pushed him in his wheelchair in front of a jury of Democrat-ticks, and been out shopping for Gulfstreams that afternoon.
I read the article. The perp had one cop cornered, and the other one that shot feared for his partners life. Based upon this, I would assume the partner was to the side of or behind the wheelchair.
The guy had 1 arm and 1 leg. How difficult would it be to grab the wheelchair and pull it back enough to allow partner to get out of corner?
Keep in mind, the cop cornered did not shoot.
stupid, just plain stupid.
or clueless....
Intent to commit a scathing note.
I am calling my representative and demanding a national pen registration....
all jokes aside, sad day for those who cared about him....
Mitt Romney besides having a economy domestic nightmare to try and fix he also has the "fix" our image and geopolitical position in the world...
Personally, I think the way to fix it is a three fold approach:
Cut off ALL funding to any country that harbors Islamic fundamentalist...Don't like America, try feeding your people or filling your Swiss bank accounts with nada..
Close ALL diplomatic consulates or embassies in same country...The USA is the most influential country on the planet...try using our leverage though back channels and see how much you pay for it...
Drill, Drill, Drill... that tells the oil producing countries we will cut you off at the knees...try selling camel dung and sand fleas in ten years...
oops.. posted to wrong thread...sorry
Then they come for your double amputees.
Who's next???
I just cannot imagine that any police officer called to a group home for a disturbance would shoot a man in a wheelchair with only one arm and one leg.
Some cops, that suffer from a deity syndrome, should not be allowed to carry a firearm.
Exactly — all the officer had to do was move away from him.
If your neighbor's dog is barking too much just call 911. The puppy shooters will take care of it. I wonder how many women these days arrange "blue divorces" by purposely driving their husband into a rage then dialing 911.
WTF is wrong with cops nowadays?
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