The world is a better place without wood carvers...

actually the cop did know what he was dealing with, a guy crossing the street with a pocket knife. I started carrying a pocket knife when I was around 10. I would buy one at every gun show I went to. It is truly sad to think that some cops dont acknowledge people's basic rights.

 

I agree, some very valid points. But here is the question that matters concerning the man's "history".

Do you think, upon pulling up to a stop light, the cop had any way to identify or pull up history on ANY individual? Hell no. He had no idea who he was so history is completely irrelevant in this case and should not even be a consideration.

 

Wow. Well, I guess I was not clear, or some of the things I stated were taken out of context.

I am not saying he did right or wrong. AS has been mentioned several times no one here knows what happened. We know a few facts. We weren't there, and can not make that decision. I don't know why he contacted the guy in the first place. I agree pocket knives are a general tool that many of us carry on a daily basis. Has the subject threatened someone else with the knife already? Or did the officer contact him because he was walking down the sidewalk whittling?

The part that pisses me off is that anytime anything like this happens everyone jumps on the cop and says abuse of power, ego trip, trigger happy, yadda yadda yadda. When most of the time the people making these comments don't have all the facts.

Common sense and judgement is a must in this job, and some have better than others. Would I have approached this suspect the same way this officer did? Not a chance. But, he did it for whatever reason. What that is I don't know.

Now for the going home comment I made. The officers safety should be his first priority. And you will find that anytime an officer goes to any kind of training, they are preached preached, and told some more about officer safety, and officer safety is #1. Those of you that think it is the officers job to die, you are wrong. That is not "part of the job". What good does a dead cop do? How can he protect you then? Unfortunately it happens all to often. Just FYI, I have pictures of an officer that tried to disarm a man with a "pocket knife". Lets just say it didn't work out well for either party involved.

If some of you were offended by my comments, sorry. I am far from perfect, but I try very hard not to armchair quarterback another officers choices. ESPECIALLY if I was not present at the scene. I could go on, but reading text does not always convey feelings and emotions the way they are intended.

 

^ Nice, you are 100% correct hard to understand exactly what one is saying with just text. Thanks.

 

Agreed , the history is completely irrelevant as the cop couldn't have known anything about it at the time of the incident , unless the cop / victim had a previous run in .

 

so basically every person an officer encounters is to be considered a methed out-jihading-anarchist-martial arts expert-commie-puppy kicking-illegal alien devil worshiper until they are shot and found otherwise? this is not cool. i believe in the "innocent until PROVEN guilty" mentality. the officer in this incident will get to enjoy that privilage, while his victim did not.

non-compliance = getting shot? this is what sours the relationship between citizens and law enforcement agents. the mistrust the LEOs have for the general populous will mirror into a mistrust of LEOs by the general populous. this is not good for either group, obviously.

if an officer's job does not include protecting individuals, then in a hostage situation they are solely responding to arrest the abductor and not to protect the people who are being held hostage? i guess that would make the negotiations much easier.

i understand that LEOs are concerned about their personal safety, just as i am with my own. it's just that i do not want to have to be concerned about an officer violating my personal safety...i thought that was the criminal's job?

 

There is a distinct difference between the legal concept of "innocent until proven guilty" and approaching someone on the street as a police officer.

If I see some homeless guy with a knife breaking a law (which I will admit was not the case in this instance...) I would be a little more on guard-There is a significant portion of the homeless population that has disassociated from society and/or are emotionally disturbed....either leading to their homeless state or resulting from it. Much like if I'm approaching a well dressed guy driving a Ferrari way to fast I'm going to be prepared to take some verbal abuse....Each situation presents a different set of circumstances and will be approached a different way.

I don't know what happened off camera- So I'm not going to speculate as to if he was compliant or turning to charge or what...I already said I probably would not have shot in the same situation but even that I can't say for 100%. I will say that LEOs don't mistrust "the general populous" They have a trained understanding that people who are being confronted about potentially illegal activities don't always take it well. Down here-The state troopers apparently don't approach windows during traffic stops any more because...That's the most dangerous part of the stop.

As far as your commentary on Castle Rock vs Gonzales- That is just a divisive mindset. They are not legally required to...but they do have critical thinking skills and they are humans...So they will work towards the best outcome for all.

 

wow what a fuckn jerk off.i wish we had video of how the guy had his knife.was it raised or down by his side.im sure all or most cops here will take the cops side.no respect for life.ultilamely everyone pays for their sins.....and this cop will pay too. hope he loses his job

 

Wow...Did you read the thread or just watch the video and jump to conclusions?? Cause I don't think anyone here has supported this cop.
Supported cops in general...Yes-but this guy made a lot of bad choices.

 

It all boils down to department training. In stressful situations, people will revert back to the way they were trained. Clearly, the department need to restructure themselves and remediate the people in administration because like stated in the previous posts, the department has had some history.

 

I'm sorry the Police Officers that belong to TW had to be subjected to statements like "Pigs" and "I hate Cops"..........That's not right.

Granted the optics of this situation are ugly but labeling an entire profession over it is unfair. There are bad Police Officers in this world to be sure.......Just like Firemen, plumbers, Lawyers, Mechanics and every other profession.

 

this ^

my comments are not a personal attack on anyone, just voicing my opinion on the subject. there is no need to be disrespectful.

 

i was talking about only police supporting what he did.im not reading thru 5 pages to already know how i feel

 

I wouldn't expect 5 pages to change how you feel- but you would know that no one has supported this clown.

 

IIRC-He was not a taser equipped officer.

 

I would say a vast majority are...but $ is still king. It is not a mandated, nor required, piece of equipment...so it's entirely possible that not all officers have them. I don't know his specific assignment or his departments situation.

Is that a better alternative...Yes.

But like I said before- you are trying to apply common sense and logic in a situation where those went out the window LONG before the car stopped...

 

I didnt see a bench???

 

I'm not a cop and don't even know any cops, but I'm sure as hell happy we have cops around. I'm willing to bet 99% of the people posting in this thread wouldn't step outside a double locked door if they didn't have police keeping things under control "out there". I'm not saying some don't abuse their power, just like in any other area of life, and I'm not saying this 1 guy wasn't wrong, but your statement is clearly ignorant. The only time and place anybody ever "shoots to disarm" is in hollywood, everybody else is trained to aim for the center and shoot until the threat goes down. Yeah, I've had times where I've encountered a cop who was a total jerkoff, but I've had more encounters where I've had police actually help me when I needed it.
Just remember, it's easy to be a coach when you're sitting on your couch.

 

As for this, I know in my section of my state very few, if any, police have tasers. It's a money issue, like others have stated.

 

Damn.................that woman crossing the street did not seem to phased. Maybe she see's this type of police work daily when she walks?