Columbus Cop Shoots/Kills 16-Yr-Old Black Girl Who Had A Knife

[RAMd®d]

Bean bag rounds have fallen out of favor with a lot of departments, because they have inflicted a lot of injury, and the 12ga shotguns can be time consuming to deploy quickly, usually being stored in a trunk or the back of an SUV.

They also require a second cop to use it, in the event deadly force is needed.

One cop can't feasibly be ready to use either.

The last Las Vegas SHOT show demoed several less-lethal devices, but I only recall one – the BoloWrap.

Loosely patterned after the bola/bolo, two weighted balls connected via a wire tether are fired at a suspect.

They diverge and the tether strikes the suspect causing the balls to wrap the wire around the arms and body or the legs.

It's been used successfully in the field but is a little ungainly to carry, so it's applications are limited.

There's more out there that I don't know about.

Years ago, some company developed a Taser-type round that was fired from a shotgun, extending the range at which someone could be stunned.

I don't know of any department that actually used them.

The ultimate problem there are few non-lethal alternatives, as just about anything can cause injury or death under unique circumstances.

And few are 100% effective, 100% of the time.

A lot of departments issued stun guns for awhile, but not so much these days.

Not always effective and they require contact with the suspect, and that's a bad combination.

I personally don't know of any new gear on the horizon, especially something that can be used by a solo cop who comes up on some crime in progress.

[Sarcany]

I think the problem is not that he shot a woman with a knife who was lunging at another woman.

I think the problem is that he shot her four times.

[Lemon Drop]

I'll wait for the independent investigation. Nothing police depts say in the early days after they kill a person or color is trustworthy. There may not be criminal charges, but wait to see if the city pays out a wrongful death settlement.

Thank God for journalists and their new way of reporting these events. No more just a accepting the police version and moving on.

[DeusxMac]

Lemon Drop wrote:
Thank God for journalists and their new way of reporting these events. No more just a accepting the police version and moving on.

And thank George Holliday.

[RAMd®d]

I think the problem is that he shot her four times.


A sentiment shared by a lot of people who've never had to intervene to save someone's life.

He could have fired once checked to see if that was enough to stop the attacker.

Looking at the video, she was still within striking distance of the intended victim.

So fire twice, and wait and see?

And in the interim, a girl is stabbed, maybe fatally, maybe not?

It looks to me like he fired until she dropped the knife.

You can see the attacker raise the knife above her head in an apparent attempt to stab that second girl.

His duty first and foremost was to prevent the girl in pink from getting stabbed and he fired until she was down and no longer a threat.

It will be debated whether or not four shots were necessary, and if the cop even saved anybody's life.

Given what I see on the video, and the time frame involved, I see no wrongdoing on the officer's part.

[Lemon Drop]

DeusxMac wrote:
[quote=Lemon Drop]
Thank God for journalists and their new way of reporting these events. No more just a accepting the police version and moving on.

And thank George Holliday.
Yes, though it's a tragedy how little progress we have made since them.

Black Americans have patience that exceeds my imagination.

[Sarcany]

RAMd®d wrote:
Given what I see on the video, and the time frame involved, I see no wrongdoing legal liability on the officer's part.

FTFY

[deckeda]

Easy prediction: It’ll be proposed to shoot fewer bullets and risk the assumed victim (person not holding knife etc) be hurt or yes, possibly killed as a result. You’re then trading a likely probability for a maybe, which yes are better odds if the goal is have LESS people dead in the aggregate. If we ignore that we equate one deadly weapon’s effectiveness with another’s which is a simple lie.

We know the dead girl was an aggressor. We’re assuming she was the only aggressor who needed to be stopped. That’s a problem worth pausing a moment for, even if the other girl gets slashed in the process. Fairness involves not only the who but the why. Bottom line: If there’s no time to consider, and only time to kill, then killing is what results will look like. More and more, people are saying that is unacceptable.

What I’m not OK with is assuming as little as just one bullet would have no meaningful effect on a knife wielder. That is a stance that overall won’t be supported by recognition of what the two weapons do. Guarantees are not the point. Likely outcomes remain worthy of discussion.

[AllGold]

Police are trained to double tap. Stress and adrenaline could easily lead to a double-double tap.

[Sarcany]

deckeda wrote:
Easy prediction: It’ll be proposed to shoot fewer bullets and risk the assumed victim (person not holding knife etc) be hurt or yes, possibly killed as a result. You’re then trading a likely probability for a maybe, which yes are better odds if the goal is have LESS people dead in the aggregate. If we ignore that we equate one deadly weapon’s effectiveness with another’s which is a simple lie.

...

What I’m not OK with is assuming as little as just one bullet would have no meaningful effect on a knife wielder. That is a stance that overall won’t be supported by recognition of what the two weapons do. Guarantees are not the point. Likely outcomes remain worthy of discussion.

AllGold wrote:
Police are trained to double tap. Stress and adrenaline could easily lead to a double-double tap.

The fix is to ensure that cops use guns that have heavy trigger pulls so that it takes some deliberate intent to empty the whole clip into every perp.