Saturday, August 25, 2012

collateral damage

So a disgruntled ex-employee waylays his former boss, puts 5 in his head and takes off. He's followed by two cops. The killer turns on the cops with gun drawn and the cops kill him.

Good work, right?

Well, what if I told you that 9 people were wounded in the second shooting, all of them by shots fired from the police, who squeezed off 16 shots in around 8 seconds?

????????

Should we be congratulating them or castigating them? My view is in the labels, tell me yours in the comments.



7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think you're right about the labels. If it had been private citizens that had pulled out their concealed arms in an attempt to stop the murderer and wounded those people, it would be portrayed as yet another reason to just ban handguns altogether. When cops do it, it's just the cost of stopping a violent criminal.

Anonymous said...

Cops are notoriously poor shots. They are poorly and infrequently trained in the use of their weapons. They rarely practice. Most of them view their weapon as nothing more than something heavy that they have to carry. Those who choose to carry weapons should be required to frequently demonstrate their proficiency with that weapon. Cops should be held to an even higher standard.

Tom said...

The Washington Post has 16 for the number of shots fired by the cops. Counting Jeffrey Johnson and the 9 bystanders, that's 63% hits, pretty darn good shooting for live action.

What's that? The cops weren't AIMING at the bystanders? Oh, then it's incredibly bad shooting.

I'm one of those people who expect professional behavior from police. (It's because I have watched way too many cop shows on TV.) Professional behavior includes assessing a situation and anticipating how it might escalate. Professional behavior includes planning to get in control early so that violence cannot escalate. Professional behavior for cops includes practice -- no, make that "expertise" -- with your weapon and awareness of your surroundings.

All the news reports say the perp did not get off a single shot. So, what's the f'ing hurry to get off 16 shots? The cops' boss, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, said they had no choice. That's complete bull sh!t. It's an insult to the injured bystanders and an insult to the people he's alleged to be protecting. Those cops made lots of choices, all bad, all amateurish. If civilians had behaved like that, the very least they could expect would be lots of civil suits.

Many, many episodes prove that lots of cops don't protect the pubic; they want to dominate the public.

Anonymous said...

This is nothing. 13 people were wounded in 30 minutes in Obamaland (Chicago) the other night. Guns are banned in Chicago, but people getting shot is rarely news because it happens so frequently and isn't really news: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-shootings-chicago-violence-august-23-august-24-violence-gunfire-20120823,0,49779.story

Dave Hansen said...

They're only ten feet from the guy and some how they shoot 9 bystanders? WTF!!

Here's the video: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/08/24/multiple-people-reported-shot-near-empire-state-building/

Notice the mom with her 9 year old daughter walking by 2 seconds before the shooting.

I go into the City pretty often with my family. I used to feel comforted when I saw lots of cops around. Now I feel like potential collateral damage.

I realize they didn't know the guy would open fire, but how the hell did they shoot 9 people when the target was so close?

I suppose at that range some of the bullets were going through the guy and hitting people on the other side of the street?

MSG said...

A policeman is not a sacrificial animal. A policeman, like everyone else, is entitled to put his own life first. He is not obliged to wait for the maniac to shoot him first. And a policeman, like everyone else, is not expected to behave with superhuman calm and calculation when his life is in danger. You will never find policemen like that and to hold real life policemen to such a standard is elitist bigotry, masquerading as what? Libertarianism? Shame on you.

Dave Hansen said...

@ MSG
Hold up, so thinking that cops should be able to shoot a guy that's 10 feet in front of them without shooting 9 other bystanders who weren't even in the line of fire is "elitist bigotry"? Everyone has the right to protect themselves, but you'd think police officers would be a little better at protecting themselves without shooting so many other people.

In any case, this incident helps explain why my friend's spouse, who's in the LAPD, mocks the NYPD.