There's a video going around on Facebook, which I shared from Revolution News, showing the LAPD in a confrontation with a man who was fatally shot by the police. (Link to the video here: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=468584923295075&pnref=story )
The video shows four police fighting with a man who is then thrown to the ground by the police. There is clearly a struggle, you can hear the tazer being used after the man is on the ground and being wrestled by three of the cops, then one cop suddenly shoots the man. He is shot five times at close range. It sounds like the cops are yelling something about a gun. I can't quite make it out; it is either them yelling that he has a gun, yelling for him to put the gun down, or for someone to use a gun on the suspect.
Now, I realize this guy was fighting, but how many officers are there? Also, years ago millions if not billions of dollars were spent on arming the police with non-lethal weapons so that fewer people would be fatally harmed during potential altercations. An entire industry was created and profited by this. The opposite has happened.
They were using the tazer. Then they just shot him. Folks, this is COLD BLOODED MURDER, period, end of discussion. Cold blooded murder. We grant police a certain amount of authority because of the understandable risk involved, however, they are not taking the risk anymore. They are simply shooting first then asking questions. And why were so many shots necessary? Aren't these guys trained to handle such high stress situations so as to not freak out and fire off half their clip? One shot will typically suffice. A shot to the leg, perhaps?
Is lethal force necessary? With that many cops, and several non-lethal
options to choose from, lethal force should be a last resort and ONLY
done when an officer or the public is fatally threatened. I've seen
bouncers at a bar handle situations better than this. How many times
does this have to happen before WE do something about it.
Some are already comparing this to the incident that happened in St. Louis. I am reluctant to make such a comparison. First, that whole situation was difficult to judge as there were conflicting eye witness accounts, only one cop, and a really big black guy who was no angel and likely threatened the cop. I'm not saying the cop shooting was right, just that it was a different situation. Even still, I feel in that incident there was excessive use of force. And that is the underlying issue.
With this latest, we see it again. It is excessive use of force.
More on this later.
Some are already comparing this to the incident that happened in St. Louis. I am reluctant to make such a comparison. First, that whole situation was difficult to judge as there were conflicting eye witness accounts, only one cop, and a really big black guy who was no angel and likely threatened the cop. I'm not saying the cop shooting was right, just that it was a different situation. Even still, I feel in that incident there was excessive use of force. And that is the underlying issue.
With this latest, we see it again. It is excessive use of force.
