Épée Police Fail.

[Richard Hakluyt]

The Lancashire Evening Post has a photo of the fellow who was tasered (and his stick) :

http://www.lep.co.uk/news/local/police-confuse-blind-stick-for-samurai-sword-1-5034230

A terrifying sight 

It's daylight at 5.45 pm round here at the moment btw.

[garbon]

But sadly, a number of people have been shot and killed by police for carrying, and refusing to drop, items that ultimately turned out to be harmless.

And it's pretty clear that the blame should fall on the individual with the gun.

[Barrister]

But sadly, a number of people have been shot and killed by police for carrying, and refusing to drop, items that ultimately turned out to be harmless.

And it's pretty clear that the blame should fall on the individual with the gun.

Nope.

If an assailant is coming towards you, hostile intent, and appears to be carrying a gun or knife an officer should deploy their sidearm after the individual fails to comply with verbal demands. 

[Tonitrus]

A friend of mine has an umbrella that, until unsheathed, looks like a samurai sword.  I tell her she's gotta be careful carrying that around these days.

[Malthus]

I remember talking with a cop about a samurai sword case.  He was called out to a report of a guy walking down the street waving a samurai sword on Christmas Day.  The cop told me he had a sinking feeling that he was going to have to shoot this guy on Christmas Day if he wouldn't drop the sword.

Yeah, but I bet that cop would have felt even worse if he shot the guy on Christmas and it turned out he was carrying a candy cane and not a samurai sword. 

The police knew he was suspicious because he was in disguise - he was dressed in a fake beard. They knew he was deranged because he kept laughing "ho ho ho" ...

[Malthus]

A friend of mine has an umbrella that, until unsheathed, looks like a samurai sword.  I tell her she's gotta be careful carrying that around these days.

Apparently, even a normal umbrella isn't safe.

[Barrister]

I remember talking with a cop about a samurai sword case.  He was called out to a report of a guy walking down the street waving a samurai sword on Christmas Day.  The cop told me he had a sinking feeling that he was going to have to shoot this guy on Christmas Day if he wouldn't drop the sword.

Yeah, but I bet that cop would have felt even worse if he shot the guy on Christmas and it turned out he was carrying a candy cane and not a samurai sword. 

Well of course!

I mean I don't want to take away from the pain this man felt as a result of a mistake - and it clearly was a mistake.  That being said, mistakes happen, and if the cop is to be believed, and this were to happen in Canada, the cop acted reasonably and wouldn't be charged.

[garbon]

But sadly, a number of people have been shot and killed by police for carrying, and refusing to drop, items that ultimately turned out to be harmless.

And it's pretty clear that the blame should fall on the individual with the gun.

Nope.

If an assailant is coming towards you, hostile intent, and appears to be carrying a gun or knife an officer should deploy their sidearm after the individual fails to comply with verbal demands. 

And it's no surprise that very few people like the police.

[Malthus]

I remember talking with a cop about a samurai sword case.  He was called out to a report of a guy walking down the street waving a samurai sword on Christmas Day.  The cop told me he had a sinking feeling that he was going to have to shoot this guy on Christmas Day if he wouldn't drop the sword.

Yeah, but I bet that cop would have felt even worse if he shot the guy on Christmas and it turned out he was carrying a candy cane and not a samurai sword. 

Well of course!

I mean I don't want to take away from the pain this man felt as a result of a mistake - and it clearly was a mistake.  That being said, mistakes happen, and if the cop is to be believed, and this were to happen in Canada, the cop acted reasonably and wouldn't be charged.

I don't think he should be charged with a criminal offence. I do think that mistaking a blind man's cane for a samurai sword in broad daylight ain't reasonable. Cop hit the aggression button too soon, seemingly in a panic, which should bring public pressure to bear on the cops to improve performance (and no doubt earn this cop a bit of a verbal butt-kicking by his superiors) ... which no doubt is what is happening.

[Razgovory]

Probably thought it was Lettow, can't be to careful these days.  All sorts of weirdos out there pretending to be blind.


Seriously though, I'm not entirely certain how I would react if unseen assailants started screaming nonsensical demands at me.

[Ed Anger]

The level of risk that a police officer faces in the UK, especially in a place like Chorley, simply does not permit this sort of stupid shoot first attitude.

YOU DONT KNOW THAT

Came for the Hot Fuzz reference, am satisfied.

[Razgovory]

Well since he shot the guy in the back, it's somewhat hard to argue that the police officer could have been threatened.

[DontSayBanana]

Err on the side of caution?  Unless it was pitch black, there's no way a cop with basic weapon identification ability should mistake this:



for this:

[Razgovory]

It's hard to tell when he's not facing you.

[Eddie Teach]

Err on the side of caution?  Unless it was pitch black, there's no way a cop with basic weapon identification ability should mistake this:

Are cops trained at the academy to tell a samurai sword from a Claymore, a sabre or an epee?