Posted on 09/23/2012 10:04:45 AM PDT by JohnKinAK
A Houston police officer shot and killed a schizophrenic, wheelchair-bound double amputee threatening people with a pen at a group home for the mentally ill after authorities said the man advanced on the officer's partner.
The shooting occurred early Saturday morning after police responded to a call that resident Brian Claunch was acting aggressively after his caretaker refused to give him a cigarette and a soda, the owner of the home and police said.
"The officers made verbal commands for the suspect to drop whatever he had in his hand, to stay still and to speak with the officers, but the suspect continued to make threats," Jodi Silva, a police spokeswoman, said.
Claunch, who lost an arm and a leg in a train accident, trapped one of the officers with his wheelchair in the corner of a room and attempted to stab the officer with an object that turned out to be a pen.
Officer Matt Marin, "in fear of the safety of his partner and the safety of himself, discharges his duty weapon, striking the suspect," Silva said.
(Excerpt) Read more at ksat.com ...
The officer will be punished by several weeks of involuntary paid vacation after which there will be a ceremony and a Heroism citation.
Beat me to it...was gonna ask if he had a service dog.
Yeah, like having another officer grab the handles of the wheelchair and back him out.
But it’s so much easier to squeeze a trigger.
Who’s really gonna miss a worthless, crazy cripple, anyway?
/s
Remember Clinton’s push to put 100,000 more cops on the street and standards were lowered to achieve it. This is the result.
It was a wheelchair, not a Hummer.
There weren’t any dogs that’s why they killed him.
!
It's easy to criticize when you have the benefit of hindsight.
;)
;)
What effing other side to the story? This was a double amputee in a wheelchair with a pen.
No excuses; no justifications. This was murder by doughnut-eating dog-killers wearing government costumes.
This would be as funny as Monty Python’s Black Knight skit if it weren’t so tragic.
I’d like to hear the other side of the story. How out of control was the mentally ill schizophrenic? Was the officer pinned against the wall by the wheelchair? I don’t know - there is more story here, yet, and I am waiting to see.
Something tells me that this may not be the first time LEOs had to deal with this person
A schizophrenic. Wow... Talk about your “death panels,” this one’s was led by Judge Dredd!
You beat me to it.
When I read extreme stories like this, I can’t help but reflect that I worked as a guard in a state penitentiary in medium security for a year and a half, and as a bouncer in a club in Tampa for two years, I was never armed, and I only had one incident where I ever had to pop anybody, one shot to the adam’s apple was enough to stop an aggressive bar patron’s advance long enough to grab him by collar and belt and take him out the door...and I was hauling them out every night.
These incidents with dogs and people sound like a vast number of LEO’s are untrained, unsure of themselves, unable to think under pressure, and are relying on aggressive bluster, numbers, steroids, and finally bullets to overcome their inadequacies.
IMO the dog holocaust is easy to explain. Dogs smell fear. A fearful, insecure officer who’s using loud bluster to cover it, is going to set off an alarm bell with any house dog worth his salt. The fearful officer thinks stepping back, stepping aside, asking the owner to control the dog, or even waiting for one minute, is the act of a pussy. So let’s let Officer Berretta do the thinking.
There are other officers, many with military backgrounds, and they are is easy to spot because their brain is fully engaged. The next time you see a group of officers on a scene, look for yourself and see which one is the anchor to steady the college students...you’ll be able to tell pretty easily. Sometimes these “anchors” already have their hands full with one problem officer, who they can’t get rid of, or won’t get rid of. I had a neighbor and hunting buddy who was in the highway patrol, and one of his coworkers was nicknamed “Psycho”. Save that story for another day, but needless to say, they spent a considerable fraction of their time trying to keep him from making the papers.
I’m an expert on nothing, just giving my view from the cheap seats.
"trapped one of the officers with his wheelchair...attempted to stab the officer with an object..."
It wasn't the trapped officer who shot, it was their partner, who had apparently just entered the room to find their partner trapped in a corner by the guy in the wheelchair, who had something in his hand, and was acting as though he intended to stab the other officer with it. He acted to prevent his partner from getting stabbed (or so he thought). Yes the outcome sucks, but the options for preventing a stabbing when the assailant has closed to within reach of their intended victim are limited, to say the least.
How many of you have heard of the 21 ft rule?
Trapped?
Gimme a break.
The guy had ONE arm and ONE leg.
You put your foot on the chair and give it a good shove.
You sure are sounding rather agitated over this in defense of a bad shooting.
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