Shooting people, even in self defense, is risky. A cop easily (and even reasonably) could misinterpret what was happening and you could get shot. That’s the thing, just because you’re justified in using deadly force in self defense does not mean that a cop shooting you is not justified, because he could easily and in good faith misinterpret what was actually happening.
That would be my expectation if I was pointing a gun at someone in a menacing manner and the cops arrive. I also wouldn’t feel great about the prospects of more casual, laid back gun pointing not resulting in my immediate death.
Sounds like pointing guns at people isn’t safe!
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Big difference between “threatening” (brandishing) with a knife and assaulting them with a knife. Ditto gun.
Yes using a gun, even for self defense, and especially in front of police or civilians, creates a volatile and potentially dangerous situation. Nobody would think otherwise.
Good talk.
I think that even self defense second amendment types would say that using your concealed handgun in public for defense would be risky because the police would have imperfect information in a chaotic situation.
Like if you were a black person?
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Of course, that goes without saying. But also your body language, is your finger on the trigger, do you seem upset, etc.
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I don’t know, what are you asking me for? Ask them!
of course not:
If someone were walking along carrying a gun, and some mugger approached them and the gun owner decided to point it to stop the mugger from getting any closer, and in that exact moment a cop happened to pop in by coincidence and shoot the gun-pointer on sight, that would just be miraculous bad luck. I don’t see how that advances your argument. Which was more likely: that a cop would magically appear right then, or that the mugger would have inflicted harm / killed the person had they not had a gun to point?
ETA: When it comes to non-miraculous scenarios, IRL I can’t imagine one where a Good Guy With A Gun would have to point their gun for the ~20 minutes or whatever it would take for cops to show up (and then be caught off guard by the cops’ arrival).
The big question in my mind is if the cop identified himself and told the assailant to stop. My suspicions are raised by the fact that the cops didn’t release more than a still shot, but I can see how there might be reasons the cops can’t release the whole footage of someone getting shot dead.
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The very quick release of body cam footage in the Columbus case makes me think they feel they are on firm ground here.
Regardless of what’s “right” I think they are sure there will be no conviction, no charges, likely no discipline even.
The quick release also helps prevent mass protests and the potential ensuing violence. There was similar body cam footage last year. Detroit was ready to explode when the initial report was “young black kid shot in the back”. They got the video out instantly which showed he had fired a gun at point blank range at a cops head, miraculously missing, and started to turn away while another cop returned fire. No one could really dispute it was a justified use of force, and all the planned protests didn’t happen.
There should really be an established procedure for what to do when a cop shoots someone. Body cam footage should always be released at some point and there should be an expected timeline for doing so. Preventing mass protests and possible rioting shouldn’t be an issue. People have a right to know. And if cops know that it’s going to get out no matter what and they won’t have some sort of public safety shield to hide behind, maybe they won’t be so quick to shoot.
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What I don’t get is why the cop had to shoot her 4 times. I would think that she stopped swinging the knife after being struck by the first bullet?
From the information I saw, in this particular case, I believe most officers could have acted similarly. It was both (a) pretty clear that knife-wielder ignoring police commands and actively attacking (b) pretty clear defenseless victim (at least at the time of cop arrival) and (c) short range from cop to target (target not blocked or moving except for hand in stabbing motion.
Police are trained to shoot multiple times, I believe. Shooting once to stop someone is some sort of TV/movie BS along the lines of thinking you can just shoot someone in the leg or shoot a weapon out of their hand.
From the video there is no evidence that anyone else was either at imminent risk of severe bodily harm or about to cause severe bodily harm to anyone else other than the knife attacker.
Man this Columbus killing has really overshadowed what was a great day for police accountability. Remember when that Chauvin guy was convicted on all counts? Good times.
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