Georgia Tech student shot dead by police on campus (salary, safer)

[wasel]

I listened to the tape on AJC.com. Before that, I had pictured in my mind someone who was perhaps under the influence or maybe having a mental "episode" -- but Scout seemed very, very "with it" and level headed during the call. It actually made me sadder to hear that because it sounded like he knew exactly what he was doing.

[oldschoolChevy]

Originally Posted by aslowdodge

How do know if they are poorly trained? Or are you assuming that because they didn't handle it like you think they should. Have you had professional training? If so what how should it have gone down if done professionally?
I saw his picture, he didn't look so skinny. I don't agree that you should ever make assumptions based on how someone looks versus how dangerous they could be.

It's clear as day they're poorly trained, Im street smart dude, I can tell when people are green and don't know what their doing. And their frickin cops dude. It's their job to be physical and running around out in the streets. They should be in better physical shape than 95% of the population, the only people who should be able to stand a chance squaring up with them toe to toe should be professional athletes, Vic Beasley type cats. No way in hell as a professional whose job it is to be in tip top shape and be able to handle yourself physically, should you have to resort to the pistol when you're facing down a scrawny college kid who probably gets winded carrying the water bong from the kitchen to his room.

And nope I've had ZERO professional training, just some good ol street smarts and the confidence to be able to conduct myself accordingly in hairy situations. If he would've pulled that inspector gadget toy on me I could've had a cannon on my hip and I still would've 2 pieced him to sleep with my fists. Pulling my gun wouldn't even enter my mind dude. Because I'm not some punk with ice water running thru my veins, if I have to brawl I brawl, if I lose I lose, I'm not scared either way. If you're a real man you should be confident enough in your hands to not have to resort to pulling out a gun against a clearly inferior force. That goes for cops as much as it goes for a regular joe in the streets. I guess some of y'all think different though, can't say I'm surprised either.

[arjay57]

Good post, oldschoolChevy.

[aslowdodge]

Originally Posted by oldschoolChevy

It's clear as day they're poorly trained, Im street smart dude, I can tell when people are green and don't know what their doing. And their frickin cops dude. It's their job to be physical and running around out in the streets. They should be in better physical shape than 95% of the population, the only people who should be able to stand a chance squaring up with them toe to toe should be professional athletes, Vic Beasley type cats. No way in hell as a professional whose job it is to be in tip top shape and be able to handle yourself physically, should you have to resort to the pistol when you're facing down a scrawny college kid who probably gets winded carrying the water bong from the kitchen to his room.

And nope I've had ZERO professional training, just some good ol street smarts and the confidence to be able to conduct myself accordingly in hairy situations. If he would've pulled that inspector gadget toy on me I could've had a cannon on my hip and I still would've 2 pieced him to sleep with my fists. Pulling my gun wouldn't even enter my mind dude. Because I'm not some punk with ice water running thru my veins, if I have to brawl I brawl, if I lose I lose, I'm not scared either way. If you're a real man you should be confident enough in your hands to not have to resort to pulling out a gun against a clearly inferior force. That goes for cops as much as it goes for a regular joe in the streets. I guess some of y'all think different though, can't say I'm surprised either.

Well perhaps you should offer your services to the police as well as your fighting skill training. I don't know you, Maybe you could have given him a beat down or maybe you just say you would have done it but gotten cut during the process.
I'm going to assume that since you think that police should be physically superior to most people that would eliminate almost all women being police?

[aslowdodge]

Originally Posted by arjay57

I haven't suggested that any of these situations are exactly the same.

However, we know for a fact that there are often a number of ways of bringing down a person with a knife, short of shooting them dead. It's been done many times and these (and other videos) show that to be the case. It takes skill, training, teamwork, the right equipment, understanding and bravery.

Will these methods "always" work? Of course not. However, shooting somebody dead is a guaranteed negative (and final) outcome, and it should be the last resort.

Geeze unbelievable. In a situation how many of these methods do you want to experiment with that don't always work as you just admited. The police are their to end the situation and danger as quickly as possible, not stretch it out. I really would like to see you in action while that person turns and starts approaching you with the knife. If you watch the video the cop that shot him was at the 2 o'clock position of of the person holding the knife. That person changed directions and started closing in on the cop and wasn't that far when he got shot. Should the cop have holstered the weapon and run in and do a TV scene where he runs in and takes the knife away with no one getting hurt? I'm sure you would have done that.

[whodean]

Originally Posted by wasel

I listened to the tape on AJC.com. Before that, I had pictured in my mind someone who was perhaps under the influence or maybe having a mental "episode" -- but Scout seemed very, very "with it" and level headed during the call. It actually made me sadder to hear that because it sounded like he knew exactly what he was doing.

He wanted to die and he wanted to make the police look bad doing it. Very calculated.

[magnetar]

It's pretty interesting that so many people are quick to defend the police when it's a black or brown or LGBTQ person getting shot. A suicidal college student is a threat that multiple professionally-trained cops should be able to take down without using lethal force. That should pretty much be a requirement if you're going to be given that kind of power to wield in our community.

[ATL Golfer]

This was a premeditated suicide.

Why anyone would want to die this way is bizarre. Obviously not right in the head but can't imagine anyone is who is going to take their own life. It makes me sad for the officers to be in that situation and the situation they are in now.

It would have been great had the officers been equipped with tasers, but they weren't. I'm guessing they will in the future.

And for the record I'm quick to jump all over the police when they screw up, no matter their race / sexual preference.

This is about police's access to non-lethal remedies. This is nothing to do with what the officer did. Someone has a knife and is coming at me, I'm going to shoot them too if I have a gun.


.

[bryantm3]

apparently the "knife" was a multi-tool that was closed.

if they were suicidal, no one is considering a very obvious, at least to me, conclusion... that if scout was suicidal again, they were going to use the multi-tool on themselves and called the police to stop them from doing it. this is a pretty common thing for suicidal people to do, to call 911 and report themselves if they believe they are really going to kill themselves. i had a friend that did this once.

why is it the automatic conclusion here that scout wanted to kill themselves and make the police look bad in the process? how does this make rational sense? i have to come to the conclusion that there are some people here who would defend any killing as long it was a police officer who pulled the trigger.

[aslowdodge]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

apparently the "knife" was a multi-tool that was closed.

if they were suicidal, no one is considering a very obvious, at least to me, conclusion... that if scout was suicidal again, they were going to use the multi-tool on themselves and called the police to stop them from doing it. this is a pretty common thing for suicidal people to do, to call 911 and report themselves if they believe they are really going to kill themselves. i had a friend that did this once.

why is it the automatic conclusion here that scout wanted to kill themselves and make the police look bad in the process? how does this make rational sense? i have to come to the conclusion that there are some people here who would defend any killing as long it was a police officer who pulled the trigger.

Apparently the source of the info that it was a multi tool knife and it was closed came from the parents. They were not present at the scene so how would they know this. You left that little tidbit out.

Look I get it that there are simply a lot of bad cops out there and some should not be cops.
Saying that people here would defend any cop who pulls a trigger is an offensive generalization. People here defended these particular cops, not all cops and it was under these particular circumstances. They also cited reasons for why they thought so. You just spouting off generalizations like you just did just gives you less credibility on everything else you say. People will listen to what you have to say until they see it's colored by an agenda.