Who is the mentally ill here?

unsung

http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/23/us/texas-amputee-shooting/index.html

Sorry guys but until the police give theirs up I'll never give mine up.

They murdered a guy over a pen.

Thirty Bills Unpaid

This is really old news (2012). Isn't there anything fresher for your 'inform the country of the impending takeover' cause?

And as excessive as it might be... it's not an incident that unequivocally falls into the abuse of power category. Before I continue, let me preface what I am about to say by clarifying the fact that this is a very regrettable and unfortunate incident.

The cops were called to a scene where he was enraged and acting crazy. He menacingly advanced towards the officers. A person in a wheelchair is capable of injuring or killing someone- they're not rendered completely useless.

I'm assuming you think cops should wait until they are shot or stabbed before they exercise force?

How about people respect the law so that situations such as these don't escalate? I realize the victim was mentally ill, but it might be a little much to ask the officers to play armchair counsellor as one of them is being accosted. Think how people would have been saying, "Why didn't they use their weapons?" if the guy had poked the unknown weapon (yes... it turned out to be a pen) into the eye of the officer he had cornered and was trying to slash.

You keep suggesting otherwise, but being a cop is not an easy job. And we all make mistakes on the job- the problem with law enforcement is the fact that when they make an error... it's grievous.

Do you want me to post some links where police exercised too much restraint and paid for that mistake with their lives?

callen

This was a big deal in Houston when it happened. Police make mistakes and they are trained and deal with this stuff all the time. Don't think they are inherently bad. Thought they should be punished in cases of misconduct.

One of the reasons I don't want my fellow civilians strapping guns to their hips and becoming defacto cops.

unsung

Thirty Bills Unpaid said:

This is really old news (2012). Isn't there anything fresher for your 'inform the country of the impending takeover' cause?

And as excessive as it might be... it's not an incident that unequivocally falls into the abuse of power category. Before I continue, let me preface what I am about to say by clarifying the fact that this is a very regrettable and unfortunate incident.

The cops were called to a scene where he was enraged and acting crazy. He menacingly advanced towards the officers. A person in a wheelchair is capable of injuring or killing someone- they're not rendered completely useless.

I'm assuming you think cops should wait until they are shot or stabbed before they exercise force?

How about people respect the law so that situations such as these don't escalate? I realize the victim was mentally ill, but it might be a little much to ask the officers to play armchair counsellor as one of them is being accosted. Think how people would have been saying, "Why didn't they use their weapons?" if the guy had poked the unknown weapon (yes... it turned out to be a pen) into the eye of the officer he had cornered and was trying to slash.

You keep suggesting otherwise, but being a cop is not an easy job. And we all make mistakes on the job- the problem with law enforcement is the fact that when they make an error... it's grievous.

Do you want me to post some links where police exercised too much restraint and paid for that mistake with their lives?

Yeah sorry, it was on CNN's homepage. Regrettably I did not date check it, obviously being two years old it doesn't matter. Move on.

Thirty Bills Unpaid

unsung said:

Thirty Bills Unpaid said:

This is really old news (2012). Isn't there anything fresher for your 'inform the country of the impending takeover' cause?

And as excessive as it might be... it's not an incident that unequivocally falls into the abuse of power category. Before I continue, let me preface what I am about to say by clarifying the fact that this is a very regrettable and unfortunate incident.

The cops were called to a scene where he was enraged and acting crazy. He menacingly advanced towards the officers. A person in a wheelchair is capable of injuring or killing someone- they're not rendered completely useless.

I'm assuming you think cops should wait until they are shot or stabbed before they exercise force?

How about people respect the law so that situations such as these don't escalate? I realize the victim was mentally ill, but it might be a little much to ask the officers to play armchair counsellor as one of them is being accosted. Think how people would have been saying, "Why didn't they use their weapons?" if the guy had poked the unknown weapon (yes... it turned out to be a pen) into the eye of the officer he had cornered and was trying to slash.

You keep suggesting otherwise, but being a cop is not an easy job. And we all make mistakes on the job- the problem with law enforcement is the fact that when they make an error... it's grievous.

Do you want me to post some links where police exercised too much restraint and paid for that mistake with their lives?

Yeah sorry, it was on CNN's homepage. Regrettably I did not date check it, obviously being two years old it doesn't matter. Move on.

All is good.

PJ_Soul

Sometimes cops do stupid shit (and some cops are plain old assholes). A cop in Vancouver pushed down a woman with obvious cerebral palsy and MS a few years ago, and she was simply walking down the street minding her own business. The cop shoved her down to the sidewalk because he wanted her out of his way. @-) Luckily, someone caught it on tape!

What hero this cop is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8K7j5olaeg&feature=player_detailpage

Thirty Bills Unpaid

That guy... should be fired.

If I was his partner, I might have opened a can of whoopass on him when we got back to the station.