The Underexamined Factor in Too Many Police Shootings

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/04/the-underexamined-factor-in-too-many-police-shootings/

Willie McCoy was shot and killed by police that fired 25+ shots into him as this obviously disturbed man slept in his car with a gun in his lap in a drive through lane of a fast food shop. The plan of the police apparently was to startle, "an armed, sleeping man while he has a gun in his lap." Writes David French, "I could understand that kind of jarring action if the man was currently a threat to himself or others, but he was asleep. His chief offense was blocking customers from accessing tacos."

I used to defend cops that killed unarmed civilians. Sometimes, they have good reason to do so. But since seeing videos of that guy that got killed in a swatting prank, or the guy killed when he was weeping, begging for his life on his hands and knees in a hotel hallway I know something has to be done. I thought this article terrific, noting even if the shooting itself seems justified for what is happening at that moment, something should be done about the tactics that lead to these moments.

 

One of the problems is that no two people are going to react the same. In general, the police do not know what to expect. It is easy to look back at a situation and say the police should have handled it differently. Or they say that the police need more training. There is no easy or right solution. We are not even sure whether this might have been the right approach given the situation.

I would say that it appears that the police handled this situation badly. But, as I have said before, this is hindsight and nothing is going to work. Anytime a person sleeps with a gun in their lap is a dangerous situation and the end result is not likely to end well.

Just a comment on the twenty five shots. Generally, once the police have to shoot someone, they will keep shooting until they are absolutely sure they will not return fire. Once the person is dead, it makes no difference whether they fire just one shot or a hundred shots. They are almost never going to stop firing after one or two shots.

 

That dude in the hallway was given strict instructions on what to do then he reached behind him as if going for a weapon.

These liberal cop hate posts need to stop.

You guys make up **** constantly.

We get it that you hate cops but they are a necessity to society and 99% of the problems you have with them are not their fault, they are creations in your own narrative.

 

The police will be respected when they act in a respectable manner.

Having "Serving and Protecting" written on the side of a squad car does not make it become true.

 

There are around a million or more civilian police encounters per day. Very few end in a disaster. Most of them are because the civilian did not follow instructions. If you are expecting one hundred percent good outcome, you are being completely unreasonable. It does not happen in any other profession and it will not happen in this one.

 

HAve you ever had a gun trained on you? I have, several times. By swat and others. Folks don't act right when fear of death hits, and the ADRENALINE rush. Anyone with half a brain, must START OUT with that in mind, when designing a POLICY.

 

BS. I've been stopped repeatedly by cops in my life. I've never had a weapon pointed at me because I never escalated the situation to the point where it became necessary. You've already escalated the situation to a point above sanity when you fall asleep in a drive through lane while holding a gun on your lap. At that point anything the cops could do could well nigh end in disaster depending on the dude's reaction.

 

1: the point is, are there reasonable things that can be done to avoid deadly situations.
2: the guy appears to be trying to pull up his shorts. His hand clears and you see that there is no gun there. He's also moving slowly enough that this Rambo cop knew or should have known there was no danger. EDIT:
3: I must confess, the guy that got swatted? I could not even see what was happening that got the guy shot.
And I don't hate cops. Make cops unwelcome and they will not police your community. It causes more crime. I do want things that can be better made better.

 

The video is not clear enough to come to any conclusion.

 

I don't think you saw the one I saw. Previously, I saw one that ends before the shooting. There is one with a warning. You see the whole thing. The guy is moving reasonably slowly. When his hand comes down, you see it is and was, empty. He didn't have a gun on him. I think it unwise to post it here publicly. Can I IM it to you if you want to see it? Its right around 4:20. I haven't tried that before. PS: when he falls over, you can see his pants were falling down.

 

The issue is that in many of these cases, the police involved treat using their sidearm as the first response. If the cop who shot the sleeping guy was "so startled" by finding a guy sleeping with a gun that he had to shoot him 25 times, he doesn't have the constitution to be a police officer, and should be fired. He had no idea if the gun was legal, or even who the man even was. He saw the gun, which was clearly not a danger to himself, and he instinctively opened fire. He isn't fit to be a cop.

 

I saw the one in the linked article. Don't try to email yours I will look around

 

No cop shot him 25 times. There were a number of cops there and each likely fired several times, which is normal.

 

I guess that depends on what qualifies as "disaster". Being treated poorly by the police may not be a disaster, but it can ruin a person's day or life.

Good intentions do not forgive illegal actions. They are respected when they act in a respectable manner, and YES, many if not most of them do act in a respectable manner.

The problem is that so many act in a criminal manner, and even worse, that the system covers up such actions.

 

There is also the problem of people characterizing all police as being bad when it is a very small proportion who are bad. We are training our young people to hate the police when the vast majority are good people trying to do the best job they can.

 

Well put. By way of poor policy and very bad laws like the drug laws, we HAVE CAUSED the police to be seen as barbarians, the Lucifer Effect in play.

If not for the asinine drug laws so many cops enforce with zeal, the way they are perceived would be vastly different.

 

Each case has to be investigated and no blanket blame or blanket justification should result based on the facts of one case. Are there cops who should not have a badge and a gun, probably. Are there cops who will not shoot at you unless you shoot first, probably. Are cops going out everyday looking for someone to kill -- of course not.