That's the standard excuse cops use to justify whatever brutality they decide to dish out. We had to face that ugly truth firsthand.
Cops lied on the stand after withholding video and audio evidence during an illegal forced entry into my daughter's home without a warrant. To cover the fact they acted illegally, they both charged my youngest (20 years old) with 'assaulting a police officer'. Evidence showed both cops lied about it - and the case was thrown out of court after a year of hell.
We were told this is S.O.P. procedure and that was admitted to on the stand. Cops said they have the 'legal right' to do anything to 'affect an arrest', including incitement or falsifying and altering police reports to justify unlawful acts.
You’re suffering from the cognitive dissonance of “there MUST have been another way!”
At one time, not long ago - there used to be. Now the policy is for cops to empty their guns into a perp or a dog if they 'feel threatened'.
Sure, your instructors emphasized avoiding conflict; they also taught you at length how to engage in conflict resulting in great harm to your opponent.
Not lethality. We were not trained to empty our guns into someone holding a knife high on something. Tasers mace and batons give an edge to TWO COPS and one perp. But since we are growning desensitized and indeed justify cops shooting to kill as a matter of S.O.P., we admit we like living in a police state.
“That’s the standard excuse cops use”
DID YOU WATCH THE POWELL VIDEO???
The guy had a knife.
The cops shouted repeatedly “DROP THE KNIFE”.
The guy walked fast toward the cops (guns drawn!) shouting “SHOOT ME”.
What part of “actively trying to create a lethal conflict” does this not fit?
I’m not talking rhetorical theoreticals, I’m talking concrete on-video clear-case specific situation.
[sigh] I know exactly how you’re thinking. I was there too, once. I stood in the very convincing live-fire simulator, Glock 17 drawn & loaded & chambered, faced with a knife-weilding attacker I _knew_ was intent on killing me. He came at me, I kept the car between us as best I could, I - deep down - thought I could somehow defuse the situation just as you’ve insisted, and then ... I lost the confrontation.
That was a very disturbing mental moment.
I finally snapped thru the “this can’t _actually_ happen” barrier.
I hope you will too.
So long as a case _this_clear_ won’t lead you to “shoot!”, instead leaving you flailing with “but what about” and “what if” and making sweeping accusations about unrelated situations, you’re in stark raving denial.
If you want to quibble about their last two shots, sure. There’s room for debate there.
Discussion of the “middle” shots can be had, but are unreasonable.
If you can’t accept the imperative of the cops shooting Powell at all, while claiming training in self-defense, then you’re suffering severe cognitive dissonance and cannot be reasoned with.
Invar, just let it go. They have their minds made up, nothing you can say will budge them. If the cops are their friends, then they’ll never realize what a police state this has become. If not...they’ll find out the hard way.