KudzuRunner wrote:
Precious Roy wrote:
Of course, this is not a rational fear, but neither is the fear that drove a police officer to put seven bullets into a man's back at close range because he reached into his vehicle while his little kids were sitting in the back seat.
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Sorry to be a pedant, but according to Benjamin Crump, Blake was hit by only four out of the seven shots, not all seven shots. The officer shot seven times and hit him four times. The officer put four bullets into the man's back.
Did he miss intentionally or just miss? He was at point blank range. It seems like what is needed is not racial sensitivity training but better training in how to arrest resisting suspects.
I appreciate that the police have a difficult job and that things can take unexpected turns, but there were 3 officers there. They were not able to handcuff him or get him into the police car, but allowed him to get up and walk slowly around the car and open the door. Why didn't they keep him away from the car, especially with 3 kids inside?
And in Atlanta there were 2 officers who attempted to apprehend an intoxicated suspect who engaged both of them in a wrestling match and grabbed their weapon. They were then forced to shoot him in the back as he was fleeing.
It just seems like some of these incidents could have been avoided by not losing control of the situation. Yes, people should always cooperate and never resist arrest. But it is not reasonable to expect cooperation in many situations where the suspect is high, or emotionally distraught, as in a domestic, or just a hardened criminal. The reason we have a police force is to intervene when someone is behaving in a way that is threatening to others.