[kiryandil]

Had I made a wrong move when they came in, they almost certainly would have blown my head off and then apologized to my wife and daughter. And by any logical standard they would have been entirely justified to do so.

Oh?

[Sherman Logan]

Based on what they knew at the time, you bet. I precisely met the description of a known killer, (height, weight, shoes, hair and eye color, even including the color of pants jacket I was wearing), then make a suspicious move when challenged.

Now I’m about as harmless to convenience store clerks or cops as a person can possibly be, but THEY HAD NO WAY TO KNOW THAT.

You expect cops to be psychic?

Do you similarly expect the citizen awakened from sleep by unidentified armed people in street clothes breaking down his door to know they are cops with the wrong address and mean him and his family no harm? If he returns fire, is that a tragic accident or murder? (That is it often prosecuted as murder does not change what it is, or how I’d vote if on a jury.)

I’m perfectly willing to agree WAY too many of todays cops appear to be trigger-happy. But we can’t expect cops (or anybody else) to know anything they can’t reasonably know at a given moment and respond accordingly.

Would my killing in a tragic case of mistaken identity have been horrible? Sure.

Would it have been murder or even manslaughter? No.