Posted on 05/27/2014 6:43:37 PM PDT by deks
PURCELLVILLE, Va. -
The family of a Purcellville teen killed by police want answers. They believe he didn't have to die. Police were called for help Saturday afternoon because 17-year-old Christian Sierra was suicidal. Instead, an officer shot him dead.
His parents say he was crying out for help and that police were too quick to shoot and kill.
His family said Christian was depressed, but not violent. He was at a friend's house and became suicidal. So they called 911 for help.
When Purcellville police arrived, he was armed with a knife. According to a witness, Christian came around the corner followed by a friend begging him to drop the knife. He had already harmed himself.
The witness heard him say, "I don't want to live anymore." Christian collapsed on the ground and then got up and turned toward police. That's when he was shot.
"The four gunshots, it's just too much. Excessive. Excessive. Why four?" asked Christian's mother.
Police say Christian lunged at the officer with the knife. Virginia State Police are investigating.
(Excerpt) Read more at myfoxdc.com ...
I can’t understand why, if he was suicidal, he was at a friend’s house, instead of home or with a counsellor, or institutionalized until he could be helped past his depression/suicidal tendencies. Wasn’t it somewhat irresponsible of his parents to let him go off to a friend’s house instead of getting professional help?
I didn’t say “don’t get the suicidal person help”.
I said “don’t call the police” to get help for that person.
Another citizen who beleived the Police are here to Serve and Protect..
Guess your mind is changed now...........
I fully agree about the police, though. Police, I am sad to say, have become a group that seemingly only understands force, and once that is unleashed, there is no guarantee where that force will be used, or upon who.
It was not always so, and I have seen a LEO risk serious injury to defuse a situation when they could have simply killed the person at little or no risk to themselves, but that was a while back, and the new crop does not seem to understand the Andy in Mayberry approach. Then, too, many of the people the police deal with have changed, too.
In general, the fewer the number of official agencies involved, usually the less complex it is to resolve a problem.
Very few municipalities use any kind of encryption. I am fairly certain that Loudon County is on an 800 MHz trucked system, but have no direct knowledge of that.
Feds should all be operating encrypted.
Always remember the mantra I learned here at FR: There are few situations so bad they can’t be made worse by the addition of a cop.
Consider carefully before dialing 911.
That brings up an interesting thought. Someone should start tracking such quick-use-of-lethal-force events, similar to how DaveLoneRanger and others used to track self defense acts that involved using a firearm.
As you say, there are a lot of them.
Part of the issue may be that due to liability, cops no longer equip and train with 1 yard long riot batons. You could keep some distance with an unarmed violent subject using one, and cops might not feel the need to immediately resort to gunfire.
Like fire, they are dangerous servants and fearful masters.
Suicide by cop?
Current training and policy seems to be, if there is ANY chance the officer might be injured, then deadly force is authorized. Except if killing the person in question might trigger a riot.
Just an FYI, oversized photos jack up the threads on FR, and cause the posts to shrink to almost unreadable size. I’ve done it before as well, just in case you didn’t know. Freegards.
Now I know. Thanks.
No worries.
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