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Is it in evidence that the kid had the gun in his hands?
Report I read says the kid reached toward his waist band. That says the officer could see at best the butt of the gun.
So basically they killed an empty handed kid?
That's all it takes. Go for that weapon in a way to put the Officer's life and safety in jeopardy. It's comical that concept doesn't sink in. Didn't you watch Westerns as a kid? Who's faster, who's more accurate. The loser ALWAYS dies!
In a fast moving situation where someone draws what appears to be a lethal weapon, the cops don't have time to determine if it's real. Then lethal force is a justified response. But in a situation where the cops are at a safe distance or can get behind cover then the shotgun loaded with bean bags would be a safe and humane way to take someone to the ground and arrested. The Cleveland shooting seems to me to be a situation where the shotgun/beanbag would have worked well without exposing the officers to any more risk.
Only meet lethal force with lethal force. So a beanbag knocks him down........ He still has what is believed to be a lethal weapon.
Yes, the kid was playing with a gun - including pointing it at people - sometime earlier. I agree it was reckless and that the cops should have been called.
I'll post the long, wide-angle video below. At 3:40, Rice enters the screen and walks towards a gazebo. At 4:13 he starts playing with his gun again, pointing it somewhere - perhaps at a person off camera, perhaps not - nobody else is visible in the video. He does this for 17 seconds, and then sits down at the picnic table under the gazebo. This is the last time he plays with the gun. I assume the cops are not there yet, lest they would have acted.
5:11 is the last time you see anybody other than Rice or the cops in the video - 2 people are walking down the sidewalk at the top left of the video probably 60 feet behind the gazebo. It seems Rice never sees them.
Anyway, from 4:30 until 7:02 - 2 minutes and 32 seconds - Rice sits at the picnic table doing nothing. At 7:02, Rice stands up and starts walking towards the front of the gazebo. At 7:07 the police car enters the screen from the right, probably 40 feet away from Rice at this point. Within 3 seconds, the cop car is upon Rice, and the cop gets out and then immediately shoots Rice dead from at most 5 feet away.
Things I'd like to know:
When did the cops get eyes on Rice? Were the cops parked off screen observing Rice for a period of time, or did they drive straight into the park and up to him?
When were there 3 commands to show his hands given? It seems to me that the first possible time Rice became aware of the cops was at 7:02 when he got up from the picnic table (and he was dead 10 seconds later). Did the cops give the commands prior to the 7:02 mark from a distance and Rice didn't hear them? Were all three commands made between 7:02 and 7:10 as the car was driving towards Rice?
Finally, someone explain to me the logic of driving the car to within 3 or 4 feet of Rice. I'm trying to put myself in the cops' shoes. I get a report of a dangerous armed man in a park pointing a gun at people (I'll take the cops at their word that they weren't told the 911 called said it was a kid and that the gun was probably fake). When I get to the park, I see a man fitting his description sitting at a picnic table - no gun visible - doing nothing. He's the only person around.
I don't get why the thought process of the cops in that situation is "hey, why don't we immediately drive into the park and try to get as close as we can to him." For the love of God, somebody explain to me why that is a smart course of action.
You a cop? If you were you'd know that it would be your freaking job to get "close" and eliminate the threat to the public BEFORE anybody gets hurt. You would rather have the cops hide in the bushes waiting for the situation to resolve itself?
Why'd the cops go nowhere near this white man and let him live?
That's all it takes. Go for that weapon in a way to put the Officer's life and safety in jeopardy. It's comical that concept doesn't sink in. Didn't you watch Westerns as a kid? Who's faster, who's more accurate. The loser ALWAYS dies!
Sorry but that is untrue. Given I have a drawn weapon pointed at the center of mass I can easily put two or three rounds into the guy before he can get his weapon on target.
But so you agree the cops can simply shoot down empty handed twelve year olds if they see a hand twitch? Exactly what sort of a standard are you proposing? The mere rumor of a gun sufficient to kill?
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