Naked student shot dead in Alabama

[Lettow77]

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20121006/NEWS/310060052/University-South-Alabama-officer-shoots-18-year-old-Wetumpka-graduate-Gilbert-Collar-death

Authorities in Mobile, Alabama, are investigating why a University of South Alabama police officer shot and killed an 18-year-old freshman who they say was naked and acting erratically outside the campus police station early Saturday.
The campus officer heard a loud banging noise on a window at the station at 1:23 a.m. CT (2:23 a.m. ET) Saturday, the university said in a statement. When he left the station to investigate, the school said, "he was confronted by a muscular, nude man who was acting erratically."
The man, later identified as Gilbert Thomas Collar, of Wetumpka, Alabama, repeatedly rushed and verbally challenged the officer in a fighting stance, the school said.
The officer, whose name hasn't been released, drew his weapon and ordered Collar to stop, the school said. The officer retreated several times to try to calm the situation.
"When the individual continued to rush toward the officer in a threatening manner and ignored the officer's repeated commands to stop, the officer fired one shot with his police sidearm, which struck the chest of the assailant," the school statement said. "The individual fell to the ground, but he got up once more and continued to challenge the officer further before collapsing and expiring."

It scarcely seems like a situation in which someone needed to die. The fallen should be remembered for his commendable ardour, if not his good sense, and the officer involved chastised for the hastiness with which he decided to shoot a man.

[Eddie Teach]

Here is something you can't understand, how I could just kill a man
Here is something you can't understand, how I could just kill a man
Here is something you can't understand, how I could just kill a man
Here is something you can't understand

[The Brain]

Here is something you can't understand, how I could just kill a man
Here is something you can't understand, how I could just kill a man
Here is something you can't understand, how I could just kill a man
Here is something you can't understand

OK, CdM.

[Eddie Teach]

Here is something you can't understand, how I could just kill a man
Here is something you can't understand, how I could just kill a man
Here is something you can't understand, how I could just kill a man
Here is something you can't understand

OK, CdM.

Then it would be "how I could just kill a woman". 

[Lettow77]

The late mr. Collar was, of course, heir to a proud Southern tradition.

[Phillip V]

Seems like excessive force. Naked and unarmed?

Get the kid help, not a bullet in his chest.

[Sophie Scholl]

Yeah.  The chest is too much.  A knee cap or two would have done the job.

[Phillip V]

Yeah.  The chest is too much.  A knee cap or two would have done the job.

Or use non-lethal weapons. Baton? Taser? Pepper spray? Heck, police officers should be competent in hand-to-hand combatives.

[Sophie Scholl]

With a continually aggressive and threatening individual of impressive physical build who was obviously well beyond the ability to reason or comprehend their situation?  If he didn't have a taser or pepper spray, I wouldn't rely on solely a baton to win out.  Being competent in hand to hand is a far cry from being able to take down an individual in the state described.

[Phillip V]

You need to spend more time with naked men.

[Sophie Scholl]

You need to spend more time with people under the influence of drugs, alcohol, and/or mental health issues.

edit:  Actually, you really don't want to.  It isn't much fun when you have to be the one to handle them.

[Lettow77]

 It may sound strange to say, but I think the assumption of as dread a risk as subduing a crazy man is something a policeman should take upon himself. A civil servant endangering himself to bring a man out of his senses into restraint is very noble. Our police should risk themselves for the the citizens they serve- their own safety should be secondary, akin to how a fireman braves flames to save the people of his local community.

[Eddie Teach]

Our police should risk themselves for the the citizens they serve- their own safety should be secondary, akin to how a fireman braves flames to save the people of his local community.

Risk, yes. Sacrifice, no.

[Lettow77]

 Well, trying to wrestle down a naked man is hardly throwing your life away. As was mentioned, he had a lot of tools on-hand.

[Eddie Teach]

Your statement appeared to be broader than this case. I don't disagree that this could have been handled better.