Does Size Matter, Or How Many Shots Does A Cop Need To Kill Someone?

The ( Philadelphia) Bulletin ( They dropped the Evening from the title of the paper) ^ | 12/15/2006 | MICHAEL P. TREMOGLIE

[Miami Vice]

Does firing fifty shots really mean the cops in the Sean Bell case used excessive force? The Bulletin's ex-cop and current columnist Michael P. Tremoglie says maybe not and gives facts and figures to back it up.

This is the link. If it doesn't work cut and paste to your browser: http://www.thebulletin.us/site/news.cfm?newsid=17596640&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=574088&rfi=6

[ArmstedFragg]

There's a really simple answer to these kinds of questions: unless the guy had more than one life, the number of bullets used to kill him is irrelevant. Either the killing was justified or it wasn't.

[battlegearboat]

There's no evening in Winter.

Only afternoon and night.

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

Exactly. If they had to shoot it was to kill. It doesn't matter how many bullets killed him. If police shoot to wound they end up dead.

[Jaysun]

Perhaps it did take less than 50 shots to kill him. So what? After whatever number of shots it would have taken to kill him what's it matter? If 2 shots would have killed him then they wasted 48 bullets, and if 49 shots would have killed him then they wasted one. So what? Is everyone outraged at the amount of ammunition supposedly wasted? Dead is dead.

[GSlob]

Well, a missed shot does not count at all, and a peripheral hit does not count for much, either [unless in few vital zones like femoral artery]. The policeman is not Carlos Hathcock, and his sidearm is not a sniper rifle anyway.

[doc1019]

As many as it takes!

[Cindy]

I'm making your link clickable:

http://www.thebulletin.us/site/news.cfm?newsid=17596640&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=574088&rfi=6

Commentary

"12/15/06 Tremoglie: The NYPD shooting. Does Size Matter, Or How Many Shots Does A Cop Need To Kill Someone?"

By: MICHAEL P. TREMOGLIE. Author of, "A Sense Of Duty," available on amazon.com, Special To The Bulletin
12/15/2006

Good article.

[Xenalyte]

Best tagline of the week!

[MaxMax]

If one bullet had been used to kill this perp it would've
been called an execution by the media.

[tubebender]

This is how we do it in Eureka Ca... 9 BULLETS DOES IT

[A CA Guy]

If the threat is to the level a cop needs to pull out a gun, he better win the battle. If he empties the clip, I understand.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

"Why'd you shoot him 44 times?"

"Ran outta ammo."

[Shooter 2.5]

CCW licencees are taught not to shoot to kill but to shoot to stop. That's entirely different.

This officer had to have some sort of visual while he was reloading that could have told him the unarmed person was no longer a threat. I said "could have told him". I don't know if that's what happened.

[Miami Vice]

Has anybody read the article but Cindy. You guys are all making comments but nobody's commenting on the data in the article which makes me wonder if anybody read what the columnist went through the trouble of learning and writing about.

[Miami Vice]

Has anybody read the article but Cindy. You guys are all making comments but nobody's commenting on the data in the article which makes me wonder if anybody read what the columnist went through the trouble of learning and writing about.

[A CA Guy]

Yes I've read it, and I have no problem with the cops emptying their duty weapons if they are called upon to use deadly force.

PS: an automobile in that case is a deadly weapon.

[ThePythonicCow]

If someone ever decides they need to shoot me, and they have the means and ability to do so, I hope they empty several clips in me, rapidly. As long as I'm going to be dead real soon now, I'd just as soon be dead a little sooner. Less time spent in agony that way.

[grjr21]

One officer, 12 year veteran Michael Oliver, fired 31 shots, stopping to reload his weapon.


This is the guy that bothers me . He isn't the one that fired first , I'm thinking that he heard his partner firing and just opened up without having a clear target.

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

I believe that it was multiple police firing - no reloading.

So shoot to stop you aim for the foot? The kneecap? What a tough shot to have to make compared to the center of the chest.