Posted on 05/29/2013 5:18:45 PM PDT by jimbo123
A woman handing out pizza samples at a Virginia Costco was shot and killed by sheriff's deputies Wednesday afternoon after she began acting strangely and came at the officers with a weapon, authorities said.
A sheriff's deputy also was wounded in the leg, possibly by a ricochet. He is expected to recover.
The melee began at about 3 p.m., when store employees noticed the woman acting oddly at the Costco in Sterling, Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman said. Witnesses said she seemed upset about the pizza she was handing out.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcwashington.com ...
The reason to stay out of Costco is the people who are only there for the samples.
The officer said, “The taser didn’t work.” He did not explain whether the taser was not functioning, or the woman was not fazed.
Officers are trained to respond to a deadly force threat with deadly force....you don’t bring a tv set to a knife fight...in fact...you dint brings ng a knife to a knife fight. The lady chose the location and the manner of confrontation....officers responded to it how they should have (assuming the story is accurate). Asking an officer to use a table leg vs a knife is akin to saying a soldier should use a pistol vs a machine gun when a grenade is handy.
I pretty much got all the info I need to know what went down.
"A sheriff's deputy also was wounded in the leg, possibly by a ricochet. The injury was not life-threatening. Chapman said the only shots fired were by one of the deputies."
In other words, the only people injured in the fracas were people injured by the cops. (According to the article)
I've been in two incidents wherein I was attacked with a knife. And, by men of considerable size. I managed not only NOT to get hurt at all but teach both individuals why using a knife to attack someone who is armed with a bludgeon (Mic stand once, bass guitar once) is an exercise in lunacy.
Oh and I have had no training whatsoever.
Bottom line, the cops hurt more people than she did.
Fair enough, but as I’ve said before, I wasn’t there. I might have easily reacted the same way.
We have one of those. However it is on display in the media room, and it will
never touch a pizza, mainly because Pizza Hut cuts the pizzas into neat slices.
Even experienced martial artists would hesitate to take on a knife-wielding assailant, and most cops (even in Britain) get a shockingly low level of training when it comes to taking on melee weapon wielding assailants. All it takes is a bit of misdirection on the assailant’s part, and the next thing you know, that knife is in your guts. Also factor in that people who are agitated and mentally ill can be so charged up on adrenaline that they become unbelievably strong.
I personally know a policeman who is a second degree black belt in jiu jitsu who has been stabbed on duty twice, despite being a genuine, bona fide 6’2” martial arts badass, never mind an average run of the mill cop.
Sorry, but based on the facts here, the cops where justified in shooting her. It was sad that they had to, but they should not have been obliged to close in on a knife-wielding madwoman when they had a safer option.
Firstly, "murder" is the unjust taking life from an innocent. When someone is coming at you with a knife in a threatening manner, it's self defense, not murder. Unless you believe that self preservation is not a right we're entitled to.
Secondly, $55,000 (especially in Loudon County) is no where near a "Princely sum", ESPECIALLY when you're tasked with protecting the public 24 hours a day 365 days a year under any conditions and your life is in danger.
Show me any police manual, or court case to back up that accusation. Not some crack-pot website.
You simply won't be able to.
What I do "purport" to read are newspapers. Maybe you should start reading more of those.
Okay, so I go to multiple direct sources, and you get your info from the MSM? I'm gonna have to say without a doubt, you're wrong.
It's damning evidence that you don't know what you're talking about when you suggest Conservatives should rely on newspapers for their factual information.
Having cops in the family and understanding the difficulties of the job, my usual reaction is to give them the benefit of the doubt in this type of situation. HOWEVER, I do want to hear an explanation as to why 8 cops felt that they were in serious enough danger to fire what is being reported as 6-8 shots in a crowded store. Additionally, the fact that the suspect was hit ONCE and a deputy was wounded by friendly fire in a case where the suspect did not have a firearm, and was presumably at close range, makes me wonder about both the judgment and the marksmanship of our local law enforcement here in Loudoun County.
Just for context, aside from a small portion of Leesburg, Loudoun County experiences essentially ZERO violent crime and has the highest income level in the country. The typical sheriff’s deputy is about 25 years old and spends the majority of his time parked at stop signs looking to hand out tickets for overdue inspections. My interactions with them have always been perfectly pleasant, and they seem to be decent people, but we’re not talking about grizzled beat cops working the South Bronx.
I’ll reserve judgment until all the facts are in, but I think there are some questions to be answered here on first blush.
I appreciate that you'll reserve judgement until the facts are in, because we all know how details evolve and information disappears.
I'll also ceede that you may have information that others don't due to your locality.
With the understanding that your post was roughly nine hours ago:
My understanding is it was two officers, not eight.
Most of the witnesses suggest it was five shots.
I haven't been able to locate any sources saying the deceased was hit only once. The coroner's report won't be out for some time.
Bullets fly through people and ricochet all the time.
Again, if there's a clear source backing up what you've written, and the "Fog of War" phenomenon is epidemic with breaking news so I'm not trying to attack you or your facts, please post.
Don’t need a “crack pot websites”. Just need the news.
Two kinds of people in this world, producers and consumers. The only difference between cops and a 300 pound welfare queen in a dirty moo-moo is the city gas card in the visor of the city car and the Union Card.
What shocks me most is the lack of introspection amongst those in the Law Emforcement community. Story after story has cops being the problem instead of being problem solvers. I attribute this to a big Gubment state of mind that I thoroughly despise.
This was a completely unjust taking of life.
$55000 is way more that any quick draw killer is worth.
I do know there have been quite a few stories in recent years regarding deadly shootings by police of citizens, who had until that time had no interaction with the justice system, that people should find troubling.
Its not my problem if it doesn't concern you.
Well, that and the fact that LEOs take care of all the problems the rest of society doesn't want to deal with.
When the old woman a few doors down thinks she sees a prowler in the bushes, do you go investigate? Does the welfare queen?
When a car is stolen, do you look for it? Does the welfare queen?
When a woman is being beaten up, do you break it up? Does the welfare queen?
When a car flips over, who risks their life to rescue the occupant, you? The welfare queen?
I could go on and on, but I won't. Seems to me that you may have a lot more in common with the welfare queen than a LEO.
Look, I don't expect this to make any sense to you. You can't reason a man out of what he didn't reason himself into. You're obviously a cop hater just like the moonbats on DU hate our soldiers.
Oh geez... I just read this, sorry. I'm laughing until my eyes are tearing up. You pretend to have any insight into what the law enforcement community is thinking, or even talking about is like me speaking on behalf of the floating sting ray community on Saturn.
Please stop humiliating yourself.
So, in this situation, who's life should have been taken? The police officer's, or the insane person violently attacking strangers?
Let's stick with your original assertion, the police officer ought to die... but then what? Let's assume the other officer dies too. When does it stop? When the first civilian is killed? And then what? Should police officers line themselves up to be killed until the insane person is completely exhausted?
I think you're going to have a tough time finding people in today's world who are willing to sign up for that deal.
But, how can you morally justify potentially dozens, or even one good person giving up their lives for the sake of an evil person?
Okay, so LEOs should stand passively by while a psychotic individual violently attacks them and others, until they can determine if that aggressor has had an interaction with the justice system?
Can I make a suggestion? Why don't you do a "ride along" with a local law enforcement agency? You'll see things from a completely different angle than someone who's received some speeding/parking tickets they feel they didn't deserve.
This whole thing stinks. It’s as if the woman had a stroke or some sort of seizure.
When some normally polite and kind woman suddenly starts “acting strange,” I would argue that the first thing to do is not to execute her.
Also, I agree with people who say that if a police officer can’t disarm someone with a knife without killing her, that officer should seek gainful employment elsewhere.
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