Posted on 01/05/2018 10:45:05 AM PST by JP1201
WASHINGTON — The shooting looked bad. But that is when the professor is at his best. A black motorist, pulled to the side of the road for a turn-signal violation, had stuffed his hand into his pocket. The white officer yelled for him to take it out. When the driver started to comply, the officer shot him dead.
The driver was unarmed.
Taking the stand at a public inquest, William J. Lewinski, the psychology professor, explained that the officer had no choice but to act.
“In simple terms,” the district attorney in Portland, Ore., asked, “if I see the gun, I’m dead?”
“In simple terms, that’s it,” Dr. Lewinski replied.
When police officers shoot people under questionable circumstances, Dr. Lewinski is often there to defend their actions. Among the most influential voices on the subject, he has testified in or consulted in nearly 200 cases over the last decade or so and has helped justify countless shootings around the country.
His conclusions are consistent: The officer acted appropriately, even when shooting an unarmed person. Even when shooting someone in the back. Even when witness testimony, forensic evidence or video footage contradicts the officer’s story.
(Excerpt) Read more at mobile.nytimes.com ...
Neither did Janet Reno, as the State Attorney in Miami (Florida's 11th district). Too many FReepers are falling for one (NYT's) side of the story.
True.
The rules in Iraq were relaxed somewhat as the threats didn’t wear uniforms so one could never be 100% sure someone wasn’t a threat.
There was a lot more leeway given to “fear” defenses if shots were fired.
However, surprisingly enough, there were fewer cases of our military being wrong than there seem to be with the cops being wrong.
Bullshit.
In Iraq the enemy could have been just about anyone - and at times it was.
They didn’t give us the courtesy of wearing uniforms or anything and they weren’t limited to “men of fighting age”.
At any given time, the enemy was “someone other than us.”
And somehow we didn’t manage to cap off innocent people as often as cops seem to here in the states.
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