The Shooting Gallery: Police Violence MEGATHREAD

[Zoupa]

Great. There's no issue at all then.

[Habbaku]

Weird you think so, but okay.

[viper37]

b) And it is kind of a weird spot for the cop to be in - how do you stop someone in a motorized scooter thing who is holding a knife?

a) You can't really approach them without risking getting stabbed, and you don't want to let them get back into the store where who the fuck knows what the guys is going to do.

a) yes you can approach them. It's a mobile wheel chair, not a racing bike.  It has limited speed and mobility.  The driver needs one hand to operate the machine, leaving only one free for the knife, it can't grab someone and stab them, it needs to run over them, unbalance them, stab/cut them.  the risk of injuries to other is limited.

b) all the cop had to do to neutralize the individual was to get behind the motorized vehicle and shoot the battery.  No power, no movement.  End of threat.  then it could wait for reinforcements to secure the prisoner and remove his knife from his hands, forcefully, but without fatality.

[Berkut]

b) And it is kind of a weird spot for the cop to be in - how do you stop someone in a motorized scooter thing who is holding a knife?

a) You can't really approach them without risking getting stabbed, and you don't want to let them get back into the store where who the fuck knows what the guys is going to do.

a) yes you can approach them. It's a mobile wheel chair, not a racing bike.  It has limited speed and mobility.  The driver needs one hand to operate the machine, leaving only one free for the knife, it can't grab someone and stab them, it needs to run over them, unbalance them, stab/cut them.  the risk of injuries to other is limited.

Well the driver can, you know...stand up and stab someone. The cop has no reason to assume he was incapable of leaving the scooter.

b) all the cop had to do to neutralize the individual was to get behind the motorized vehicle and shoot the battery.  No power, no movement.  End of threat.  then it could wait for reinforcements to secure the prisoner and remove his knife from his hands, forcefully, but without fatality.

Not saying it could not be done, and should have been done in some fashion less stupid then blowing the guy away. And "shooting the battery" would be less stupid then shooting the occupant, but still likely rather stupid and almost certainly a violation of procedure and protocol. I imagine most batteries don't respond well to being shot.

Just pointing out that "cop shoots man in wheelchair who had a knife" isn't really an accurate description of the threat the guy posed.

[Eddie Teach]

Shouldn't he have a taser?

[Berkut]

Shouldn't he have a taser?

One would think....although there has been a lot of SHOCK and OUTRAGE over taser use, so some departments have stopped using them.

I am genuinely curious what he should have done, according to whatever training and protocol was in place.

I don't see why he could not simply continue to follow and wait for an opportunity to incapacitate the scooter. If the guy jumped out of it, he and the the officer had a rather clear drop on him.

Although you d hear about people with knives being able to do a rather shocking amount of damage rather quickly at times. And like I said, there was no reason for the officer to assume he was not able to get out of the scooter seat.

[DGuller]

Trying to shoot out the battery on a moving scooter seems like a rather impractical solution.  I'm not sure it's a common knowledge where the batteries are located on scooters, and it's not something that you can easily figure out in a split second.  Cops also don't have anti-materiel rifles with them, so I'm not even sure it's all that easy to disable a battery with a pistol shot, especially if it's not located in an exposed area with a bullseye helpfully painted on it.  The only practical solution that comes to mind is knocking the scooter over on its side, if the cop were close enough to do it.

[The Brain]

Didn't the Israelis develop a method to deal with guys in wheelchairs? Could probably work for scooters as well.

[DGuller]

Didn't the Israelis develop a method to deal with guys in wheelchairs? Could probably work for scooters as well.

[The Larch]

Putting myself in "armchair cop" mode, I wonder if kicking the scooter down could have worked.  I mean, even if they're faster than a wheelchair it's not as if they're that fast or manouvrable.

[Syt]

You could probably box them in with some barricades. I doubt those things have much power.

[PDH]

Siegfried Line Dragon's Teeth, land mines, fuel-air explosive.  There were many alternatives to just gunning him down.

[Razgovory]

Honestly, I have no idea what to do.  Ask people to evacuate the building?  Throw your wallet at the guy?  Wait 15 more seconds for that cop arriving to get out of the car?

[Grey Fox]

Shoot only once?

[Berkut]

It isnt fast - seems like you could just clear out the path in front of him of people, and look for something to toss in front of him.

Hell, I don't know. Blowing him away didn't really seem like the right answer in any case.