The American Police

[checjb]

There is also the fact that people in the US own guns so, as a cop, you are always in the position of pretty having ANYONE actually having a gun. That always changes the complexion of these incidents if you take into consideration that the victim is purposefully hiding his hand and he could be armed. The cop would, understandably IMO, feel there is a risk of being shot himself and had been trained to act accordingly.

 

[godinman]

Do you guys realise the danger and stress the cops face there every single day? There are a huge amount of guns around and for every time the guy isn't holding a gun in his hidden hand there will be another who is. Why should the police place this additional risk on their lives by not treating every none compliance and hidden hands seriously?

e - as above

 

[Terminal_Boy]

As by this point literally everyone knows how American cops react it was a stupid thing to do. I'd certainly be sticking both hands straight up and hoping for the best, not filming them.

Guess what, if the police are reacting to a call featuring an armed suspect, non-compliance won’t end well in any country where the police are routinely armed. In fact, I’ve had Swedish police confront me with their hands on their pistols when I wandered too close to the Parliament building one night on a work trip there.

 

[Uther]

There are loads of suicide by cops in the US.

They do this kind of thing to get shot.

Yeah that would be my take on it. An easy way to commit suicide and make a small splash in the press too.

 

[ianh]

By this point not complying with a US police officer pointing a gun at you is virtually asking to be a winner of the Darwin award - unless you are 100% sure that you want to commit "Suicide by Cop" then surely it's far better to be left alive and able to sue the Police when they are doing something wrong vs being dead but technically "in the right" - or maybe thats just my common sense talking?

The rise of this specific type of "Karen" attitude of "I know my rights, you can't touch me" when confronting people who are not only pointing a lethal device at you, but are generally far more likely to use it, just seems to me at least, to fly in the face of evolutionary self preservation.

 

[andicole0]

Another unarmed black guy shot dead in the US, as reported on the news this morning.

The chap is holding up a mobile phone to record the police as he stands next to his car, cop shoots him because he can't see both his hands.

US police are scared, way too many armed people outvthere. But yes he should have donecwhat he was told. Absolutely tragic.

The US police really are indefensible.

 

[potatolord]

By this point not complying with a US police officer pointing a gun at you is virtually asking to be a winner of the Darwin award - unless you are 100% sure that you want to commit "Suicide by Cop" then surely it's far better to be left alive and able to sue the Police when they are doing something wrong vs being dead but technically "in the right" - or maybe thats just my common sense talking?

The rise of this specific type of "Karen" attitude of "I know my rights, you can't touch me" when confronting people who are not only pointing a lethal device at you, but are generally far more likely to use it, just seems to me at least, to fly in the face of evolutionary self preservation.

A lot of people really don't understand they can be punched in the face until it's already happened.

 

[=XDC=FluphyBunny]

Another unarmed black guy shot dead in the US, as reported on the news this morning.

The chap is holding up a mobile phone to record the police as he stands next to his car, cop shoots him because he can't see both his hands.

The US police really are indefensible.

Exceptionally easy to defend.

The guy was clearly holding his other hand out of sight of the policeman. He refused to show his hand as he was been instructed. This is America with a very high chance he was armed. No issue with the response.

That is one for the Darwin awards not the court.

 

[Graetzbridge]

Many of my relatives Americans. They lay down the gun law. They preach the Second Amendment. They worship their arms to make themselves 'safe'. The folly, of course, is that their arms hugely increase their death rates.
FWIW:

List of countries by firearm-related death rate:
USA - 12.21
UK - 0.20

That is over 60 times the USA rate.

And they want to keep their arms????

 

[cheesyboy]

You can't just shoot someone dead because they don't put their hands up.

Even beyond the stupidity of just saying "police gonna police" with this stuff, there could be medical reasons why someone can't comply. Can't just shoot people.

 

[Rroff]

And they want to keep their arms????

Firearms ownership isn't the problem - not having common sense regulations is a big part of it (even some fairly small changes would bring down firearms related incidents by around 75% without significantly affecting firearms ownership) and a large part of that is gang on gang violence usually with illegal firearms.

 

[2004typer]

You can't just shoot someone dead because they don't put their hands up.

Even beyond the stupidity of just saying "police gonna police" with this stuff, there could be medical reasons why someone can't comply. Can't just shoot people.

That must be in the absolute minority though, but I can't dispute situations will arise where an unarmed person will get shot.

The simple factor is the gun laws in the USA are absolutely ridiculous, and every police officer will be in fear of their lives on a daily basis Vs other police forces across the world, not a position I'd want to be in.

There will be a massive self preservation instinct as well, if a police officer can't be absolutely sure of the suspects intentions, and the suspect is not doing enough to convince the officer they are not a danger to the officers lives the outcome unfortunately is inevitable.

Now - if the USA would ban guns, and the absolute likelihood is that a suspect would have a knife etc only, then it's very easy to keep your distance and have a very different outcome.

 

[Diddums]

This is starting to get a bit irritating now. I generally just let the USA get on with it as I consider it a dumpster fire beyond salvation but the press are twisting things again. Having watched the video, the cop was clearly stressed and panicking and probably freezing. He wasn't a comfy cop just popping a cap in this guy's ass for lols, his behaviour was that of someone genuinely fearing for his life.

The man who was shot was clearly ignoring the cop's requests which as we all know if pretty stupid. If a man points a gun at you and tells you to do something, you do it. Simple.

The media are jumping on the bandwagon as usual, where the headlines should've been "man shot as result of ignoring officers", they've already precharged their race flare gun and fired it right in to the hands of the BLM movement:

The press are responsible for so much crap in that country it's unreal. Just tell them all to shut up until they figure out how to do journalism properly again.

Or just flush the whole country down the toilet and start again.

Hopefully the riots make for some entertaining telly this time.

 

[ianh]

And they want to keep their arms????

They're caught in a vicious cycle. By this point lots of criminals have illegal firearms, so the rest of the population feels that they also need firearms to save themselves (and some actually do) as they imagine that without their legal firearms, they would be overwhelmed by criminals with their illegal firearms. So you get a vicious cycle of "whilst so many criminals have access to illegally owned firearms, we need our legally held firearms to be safe" which just creates more illegal firearms and the cycle repeats.

You can't just shoot someone dead because they don't put their hands up.

Thats just your opinion and not what the Law says, as the constant US police shootings prove time and time again. The Law in most US states allows anyone the option of "if you feel that your life is directly threatened..........." or words to that effect, which allows anyone to use lethal force, BUT they'll then have to justify this in a court and that is the final word on whether they were inside the Law or not.

 

[deuse]

You can't just shoot someone dead because they don't put their hands up.

Even beyond the stupidity of just saying "police gonna police" with this stuff, there could be medical reasons why someone can't comply. Can't just shoot people.

If it was a medical reason(it wasn't) the guy would have said something.

 

[deuse]

That must be in the absolute minority though, but I can't dispute situations will arise where an unarmed person will get shot.

The simple factor is the gun laws in the USA are absolutely ridiculous, and every police officer will be in fear of their lives on a daily basis Vs other police forces across the world, not a position I'd want to be in.

There will be a massive self preservation instinct as well, if a police officer can't be absolutely sure of the suspects intentions, and the suspect is not doing enough to convince the officer they are not a danger to the officers lives the outcome unfortunately is inevitable.

Now - if the USA would ban guns, and the absolute likelihood is that a suspect would have a knife etc only, then it's very easy to keep your distance and have a very different outcome.

In the blm riots, police got stabbed many times as well as shot.

 

[Graetzbridge]

Firearms ownership isn't the problem - not having common sense regulations is a big part of it (even some fairly small changes would bring down firearms related incidents by around 75% without significantly affecting firearms ownership) and a large part of that is gang on gang violence usually with illegal firearms.

As I said, they have sixty times the rate. Sixty times. Think about that.

 

[2004typer]

In the blm riots, police got stabbed many times as well as shot.

Yep - the metrics are a bit different in a riot situation I suspect with more people at close quarters, I was thinking more of the one on one encounters where there is a bit more breathing space.

A riot stabbing could happen anywhere in the world, but if you take away the majority of risk of a firearm it's got to be a massive plus.

 

[deuse]

Yep - the metrics are a bit different in a riot situation I suspect with more people at close quarters, I was thinking more of the one on one encounters where there is a bit more breathing space.

A riot stabbing could happen anywhere in the world, but if you take away the majority of risk of a firearm it's got to be a massive plus.

A guy creeped up to the side a cop and stabbed him in the neck.
Loads more like it.

 

[Rroff]

As I said, they have sixty times the rate. Sixty times. Think about that.

Is thought without reason really thinking at all?