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I take a back seat to no one when it comes to being anti-cop, but we really need to stop and think clearly about these cases of cops shooting black people. In the case of Michael Brown, it is well-proven that he tried to snatch the cops gun. His blood was on the gun from when he tried to snatch it, and it went off and hit him in the hand. It still baffles me that people can think this is somehow racism. Normal people of any hue do not try to snatch a cop's sidearm.
There was no evidence of Brown snatching Wilson's gun or that he beat Wilson within inches of his life. But let's stay on THIS particular case so the thread doesn't get shut down. I agree about the racism part. I've made it about all lives. All lives matter.
This case in Cleveland sounds like just a tragedy. If the kid had a gun that looked real, and refused to drop it, what is the cop supposed to do? Wait to get shot to decide whether it's a real gun or not?
He didn't refuse to drop it, he just either couldn't respond in time or possibly didn't hear the commands. He didn't have enough time to respond and he was just playing around peacefully before being shot. He was probably pretty startled that an unmarker car pulled up on him so quickly.
I have been in this situation years ago as a graveyard shift convenience store clerk. A guy tried to rob me; he lifted his shirt to reveal a gun that was stuck way down into his waistband. I only got a quick glance at it, but I believe it was probably a toy or BB gun. I had my Glock 19 in an IWB holster, and knew that I would have 3 holes in him before he could retrieve his gun, toy or not, stuck deep in his front waistband and impeded by pounds of blubber, so I declined to give him any money.
Fortunately for both of us, he made the right call and ran out of the store instead of drawing his gun. But if he had gone for his gun I would have shot him. You just don't have time to wait around and find out whether the gun is real or not.
I understand your situation but that is completely different. I've been around guns before too, shootouts. I get it. But in this case, the right precautions weren't taken before approaching the boy, and the boy had made no threatening moves towards the Police.
This is just a gimmick created by our highly unethical liberal media. All it means is that he didn't die from natural causes, something we all already knew. It has nothing to do with the legal determination in the case. A person was running around pointing a gun at people in public. Now he's dead.
I understand your situation but that is completely different. I've been around guns before too, shootouts. I get it. But in this case, the right precautions weren't taken before approaching the boy, and the boy had made no threatening moves towards the Police.
And the boy was 12.
The boy was 12 years-old, and was 5' 7" tall, and weighed 195 pounds.
Whether the suspect made 'threatening moves' is a matter of opinion. If he had a gun in his waistband as was reported to the cops, the suspect appeared to make a threatening move.
I don't know what the proper procedures or precautions were for cops approaching that kind of scene. Fill us in ?
5'7'', 195 is obese (when I was 12 I was 5'11'', 140). I've seen pictures and watched the video. He didn't look like a super fat kid.
Pictures don't come with a weight & height scale like in an ME facility. Because an ME report is a legal document, their weight scales have to be regularly calibrated and inspected.
Of course it was a homicide, the 12 year old young man was shot to death, the real question if it will be ruled a justifiable homicide, or if it will be ruled something that will be prosecuted upon.
I know ..right? Any such death is a "homicide". My question is ..it took this long to say THAT?! Thus, the thread title is a bit...misleading. Its not as if this ME ruling means squat as to culpability.
The approach by the cops was absurd. In most of these cases backup is called. The scene is contained and the suspect is talked into surrendering. The kid was forced into making a split second decision. He made the wrong one and is now dead.
The approach by the cops was absurd. In most of these cases backup is called. The scene is contained and the suspect is talked into surrendering. The kid was forced into making a split second decision. He made the wrong one and is now dead.
On this point cops seem to all agree.
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Any such death is a "homicide". My question is ..it took this long to say THAT?! Thus, the thread title is a bit...misleading. Its not as if this ME ruling means squat as to culpability.