What's wrong with this picture? (Houston: insurance, house, live)

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

Double amputee in wheelchair shot dead by Houston police - US news | NBC News

At first I couldn't believe it. I keep thinking it was reported incorrectly or it must be some kind of error in printing. This cannot be true.

[sinsativ]

He had an arm, operable, and a hand, operable. he had an object in his hand which when told to drop it, he refused, he had the officer trapped in the corner. Suicide by Cop....

[Bulldawg82]

That pen could have been loaded with a .45 round or a 410 (The "Judge" Pen). Maybe a tasering from "the bro" would have been a little better than a bullet to the head? Just sayin' . . . What's next? A rubber ducky wielding quadriplegic who corners an officer?

[blkgiraffe]

If our cops can't escape one legged and armed people in wheelchairs, than HPD is worse than I thought.

[AV8n]

For me, the key to the story was that the guy was a patient in a mental institution. My initial assumption was that this took place in a dark alley outside a bar, and for all the cops knew he was armed and dangerous. Turns out he was just bothering the nurse for a soda and a cigarette (really, how often has he gotten a positive response on that request?) and had gotten belligerent.

There may be more to the story and hopefully the investigation will be thorough - but it doesn't look good.

[TX75007]

I doubt anyone here has worked in an institution.

One of my family members works with the insane. He lives in a home owned by a friend. He has a work phone he leaves at work. The car he drives is registered to another person. He drives a different route home each day and circles back to see if he is being followed.

All this because about a half dozen of his patients are trying to kill him and are on the loose.

The last time he was attacked in his house it was a 20 minute fight for his life that destroyed much of the house. He is a former NCAA Division I linebacker and is in very good shape. The patient that attacked him was only 5'5" and about 150 pounds and was blind in one eye.

I also doubt if anyone has been in a knife fight. A knife fight is far deadlier statistically than a gun fight. Cops are trained to take blades or stabbing objects seriously.

So wait for the facts.

[Bulldawg82]

Originally Posted by TX75007

I doubt anyone here has worked in an institution.

One of my family members works with the insane. He lives in a home owned by a friend. He has a work phone he leaves at work. The car he drives is registered to another person. He drives a different route home each day and circles back to see if he is being followed.

All this because about a half dozen of his patients are trying to kill him and are on the loose.

The last time he was attacked in his house it was a 20 minute fight for his life that destroyed much of the house. He is a former NCAA Division I linebacker and is in very good shape. The patient that attacked him was only 5'5" and about 150 pounds and was blind in one eye.

I also doubt if anyone has been in a knife fight. A knife fight is far deadlier statistically than a gun fight. Cops are trained to take blades or stabbing objects seriously.

So wait for the facts.

If this was the case, why would a police officer bring a gun into such a place? TDC doesn't allow guns inside a correctional facility because someone could jump them and take it. Of course, we have to wait for more details, but they will be hard pressed to conclude that the officer was justified in shooting a pen-wielding, one-armed & one-legged man in a wheelchair - in the head nevertheless. I think these are the situations that tasers where issued for. I may be wrong, but I doubt it.

[testmo]

Originally Posted by TX75007

I doubt anyone here has worked in an institution.

One of my family members works with the insane. He lives in a home owned by a friend. He has a work phone he leaves at work. The car he drives is registered to another person. He drives a different route home each day and circles back to see if he is being followed.

All this because about a half dozen of his patients are trying to kill him and are on the loose.

The last time he was attacked in his house it was a 20 minute fight for his life that destroyed much of the house. He is a former NCAA Division I linebacker and is in very good shape. The patient that attacked him was only 5'5" and about 150 pounds and was blind in one eye.

I also doubt if anyone has been in a knife fight. A knife fight is far deadlier statistically than a gun fight. Cops are trained to take blades or stabbing objects seriously.

So wait for the facts.

I in fact have worked with the seriously mentally ill and besides getting a nasty bite have never had to fear for my life while I worked there or when I was away from work. The mentally ill tend to not be violent - react strangely and spontaneous yes but not violent. That police officer had a taser on his person. The man should have been tased and then pushed away

mental health unit should have been dispatched in this case. because they weren't a mentally ill person was murdered. the facts that need to come out into the open is WHY the mentally health unit was not put out to the home. if the cop was so dazed by seeing the pen as a "knife" and flash backed to his previous shooting thus shooting again than he should not have been patrolling the street as he was unsafe to carry a lethal weapon

the home the man was in was not an institution but a group home. the group homes in that area are mostly for people without insurance, scrapping by on disability, or the homeless.

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by TX75007

So wait for the facts.

I have never heard of anybody being "viciously attacked by a double amputee in a wheelchair"

[LostInHouston]

I had a conversation about this with a good friend on Sunday who is an HPD officer. Now, he didn't have all the details, but what he did tell me certainly changed my mind that we need to take a step back before rushing to judgement. He told me he's been to this particular home before, along with many other nearby group homes. They are all poorly run, and it's well known many of the residents carry knives for protection. You have rooms completely congested with bunk beds making it difficult to get around. Lighting is usually a problem, especially at 2 in the morning. He told me knowing this particular place, it is completely conceivable that an officer was cornered and could not tell what this individual had in his hand while advancing. His partner walks in, and sees this and has to make a split second decision.

It's an unfortunate situation, that looks even worse once the guys handicaps are known... but I think it's important that we not rush to judgement.