Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm amazed that you see this in such black and white terms. I assume that you've never had a negative encounter with the police.
Let's get some hard facts about bad encounters with criminals as opposed to bad experiences with police officers. Do we use the extreme minority of crooked police officers to discount these officers' testimony? I assume you have never had a negative encounter with a criminal.
For the record I think that the officer is innocent, or perhaps he made a mistake. I don't think that there was any malice in his actions that evening.
The officer shot the man in the back and none of the witnesses saw a gun. Given that police officers planted evidence in the past, doesn't this case make you raise your eyebrows even a little bit?
and given the fact that subjects with guns have been known to shoot cops, shouldn't that raise an eyebrow?
Fleeing Felons can be shot from behind if they pose a danger to the community. And if this idiot has a gun and is running around a community, he seems to be a danger to me.
Well, Palemetto, if a mistake was made, I would tend to believe it was the perp who made it. While police officers do make mistakes, the circumstances surrounding this shooting are pretty well-grounded and the people who are raising eyebrows have lost credibility with me and many other people. We should look at these things objectively, but honestly, coming from someone who used to be a police officer, it is things like this that make the job of being a cop far less gratifying these days. This boils down to nothing more than politics. Police officers are scrutinized far more now than the criminals, so we have a system that tends to give the criminal, not the officer, the benefit of the doubt. Police officers have a tough job as it is, and then when they try to defend the public or - God forbid - themselves, they are put under a microscope and many people lose respect for them.
Well, Palemetto, if a mistake was made, I would tend to believe it was the perp who made it. While police officers do make mistakes, the circumstances surrounding this shooting are pretty well-grounded and the people who are raising eyebrows have lost credibility with me and many other people. We should look at these things objectively, but honestly, coming from someone who used to be a police officer, it is things like this that make the job of being a cop far less gratifying these days. This boils down to nothing more than politics. Police officers are scrutinized far more now than the criminals, so we have a system that tends to give the criminal, not the officer, the benefit of the doubt. Police officers have a tough job as it is, and then when they try to defend the public or - God forbid - themselves, they are put under a microscope and many people lose respect for them.
Well, Palemetto, if a mistake was made, I would tend to believe it was the perp who made it. While police officers do make mistakes, the circumstances surrounding this shooting are pretty well-grounded and the people who are raising eyebrows have lost credibility with me and many other people. We should look at these things objectively, but honestly, coming from someone who used to be a police officer, it is things like this that make the job of being a cop far less gratifying these days. This boils down to nothing more than politics. Police officers are scrutinized far more now than the criminals, so we have a system that tends to give the criminal, not the officer, the benefit of the doubt. Police officers have a tough job as it is, and then when they try to defend the public or - God forbid - themselves, they are put under a microscope and many people lose respect for them.
With great power comes great responsibility. That is all.
It's easy to judge when you hear that the perp was shot in the back. If you learn or experience a few basic pieces of knowledge that cops deal with, you'll understand how or why there is nothing out of the ordinary for this case. The time it takes for the perp to draw, turn, aim, and fire that weapon back at the cops (or worse, maybe a little kid watching the action go down in his front yard) is in the category of "blink of an eye." With the level of insanity (whether temporaily induced or permanently ingrained) that today's thugs and crooks have in their "brains," cops have next to no time at all to react to a situation.
Another example would be someone weilding a knife. The "kill zone" for a knife is something like 23'...meaning for a radius of 23' form that person, you could be fatally stabbed quicker than you could draw your weapon and shoot. I didn't believe it when my brother told me, but he demonstrated it (him pretending to have a knife and me pretending to have a gun on my hip). To my disbelief, he was on me from 20' away before I had my "finger gun" up and pointed at him!
No apply this to a gun instead of a knife. All they have to do is move a finger a 1/2 inch and you're done.
Perhaps the officer just made a mistake? Speaking of the gun, is there any evidence linking it to the dead man?
YES. And this is what is so upsetting about this story. The young man's family members said the gun was the young man's.
Why this is not being reported in print, I have no clue.
That is the end of that story as far as I am concerned. This kid had a record - this was not someone just walking along the sidewalk who had never engaged in crime before. He was carrying a gun. He pulled out his gun and the cop behind him saw him do it and shot him, thus potentially saving the life of the other cop.
The media needs to PRINT that the family stated ON SITE at the time of the shooting that the gun was the young man's.
YES. And this is what is so upsetting about this story. The young man's family members said the gun was the young man's.
Why this is not being reported in print, I have no clue.
That is the end of that story as far as I am concerned. This kid had a record - this was not someone just walking along the sidewalk who had never engaged in crime before. He was carrying a gun. He pulled out his gun and the cop behind him saw him do it and shot him, thus potentially saving the life of the other cop.
The media needs to PRINT that the family stated ON SITE at the time of the shooting that the gun was the young man's.
But, how are they going to sell papers if they're not allowed to fuel discord? How are we going to attract Al Sharpton to Charlotte if we disclose the truth? I hate that the officer has to live under the kind of pressure that comes from the kind of investigation he's under. But, with the hug-a-thug mentality that is so dominant here, it's not surprising things have (not) progressed the way they have.
The media seems to pick and choose what they release, it's up to the public to find out what "really" happened sometimes. I didn't hear that the family actually said that it was his gun, that should have been stated somewhere, goes to show you that ALL details are not released. Where is Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton now? Maybe they should be mentoring kids when they're young, then they wouldn't have to come to their defense when they've been killed by an officer of the law. Seems like they show up before all the facts are known, then they disappear. How come Bill Cosby isn't called upon?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
