[50 Freak]

Okay at what point in our history did the "safety" of a LEO outweigh that of the public he is supposed to protect. Case in point. LEO enters house, on report of a minor wandering streets, encounters the mother (a 25 year old 98 pound 4'9 woman) holding a "meat cleaver" in her hand. He shoots the woman in her own house!!!!!! This LEO is probably twice her weight and size armed with a pistol, baton, mace etc and wearing a vest. Meat cleaver turns out to in all actuality a vegetable peeler.

Linkee: http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/7148717.htm

Jury decides that it was a justifiable shooting. What the HELL where they smoking!!!!. Letting this guy off because he said he was in "fear for his safety" BULLSHOOT!!!. Now the Civil portion of this will go to the court and the city of San Jose will most likely pay millions of taxpayer's money in restitution for this idiots actions. Frankly, this does not make me trust the decisions of LEO's. Anyone entering my house carrying a gun will from now on be met with equal or overwhelming force. Don't care if it is a serial killer or a LEO. Don't trust either.

[4v50 Gary]

Excited woman with meat cleaver in hand. It's not about size, it's about an agitated person with a knife. What would you do if you had an agitated person come at you with a knife? Flight or fight comes to mind. Either you shoot it out or you skedaddle. That's how the folks of the jury saw it.

A secondary issue is the communication barrier. Officer didn't know her language (Laotian?) and so he couldn't say, "Put the cleaver down." Not enought time to call out for family intervention and do you really want to endanger the lives of the family if the woman is really beserk? Solution: either teach officers simple language skills or hire more minorities as police officers. Until then, Star Trek's Universal Transalator hasn't been developed in a portable police model yet.

[pax]

This one is a duplicate, so I'm closing it.

Please continue the discussion at http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=47694

pax