I learned the hard way that when the cops stop you make sure you have nothing in your hands. When I was working at Texas Instruments, I pulled a double shift one day, troubleshooting a computer system. When I got off, it was late at night, and I was dog tired. Stopped at a Burger King, and as I was driving out swerved my car a bit. 2 cop cars were nearby, and lit me up immediately. After I stopped, and as 2 cops were approaching my car, I reached for my wallet and was bringing it up to get my license out, when one of the yelled "Drop it. If you come up with anything, I will shoot you". I dropped my wallet and slowly raised my hands and put them on the steering wheel. That action most likely saved my life. Some cops are quick to shoot, but at the same time, they only have a split second to react to a given situation. Do some cops need to be better trained? Yes, I will give you that. But, at the same time, surviving an encounter like this is going to depend on what you do yourself in that kind of situation. With only a split second decision for a cop to make, an occasional mistake by even the best trained cops is going to be a certainty. I"m not talking about right or wrong here, but how to survive an encounter with the police late at night. If you don't follow their orders to the letter during a stop, there is a chance that it won't end well for you.
I agree with all that. the issue is though what seems to be the vast differences in so many cases that logically has to point to training/personnel. Like I said theres plenty of videos with people fighting the cops and going for their guns and those people arent killed (even though i would support them being shot) then tons of videos of people being shot and they have zero weapons.
there has to be more and better middle ground IMO
also with me agreeing with what you said I also feel its lopsided . . . I have said very similar things to what you have said, so have many others but dont you think its odd that we all say sometimes cops make mistakes while pointing out that person shot should know what to do?
if supposedly TRAINED professionals make mistakes and we admit that, I think to little focus is put on the fact that most of us are untrained and NOT professionals and a person or muitiple people screaming at you with a gun pointed at you can very well make you not follow instructions properly or panic and do the wrong thing or simply freeze . . .
thats why im not happy with the seemingly quick escalation. Yes i agree, i have cops and troopers in my family and circle of friends and i want them to come home safe every night but they do get training and there is risk to their job. Seems too many cops shoot way to fast and thats what all the family and friends i talked to about this case feel. The feel this was piss poor training, execution of said training or faulty personnel
now of course thats just their opinions but i do agree with them. They also feel that there are a lot of cops that are ******s nowadays more so than before. They feel you always had that bully type, racist type, want actions type and of course the do good type but most of the time none of them were really ******s. They feel alot of new people are scared of their own shadow. Not sure how you would fix that but if true that is a legit issue.
anyway they feel the pursuit was poorly executed because it put them in danger, them not identifying themselves was bad, the choice not to retreat when they were in a covered position if they did think there was a gun, and the order of show me your hands in the dark are all piss poor decisions.
Not saying that all adds up to LEGAL guilt and of course my friends and family are playing armchair quarterback but thats how they feel.
Being a cop is a tough job that can get you killed every day and it goes why underappreciated. I feel most cops are good cops. when they do good its EXPECTED and when they mess up its front page news but it is the job and i feel training and evaluation needs improved. Dont have the answers how but it seems evident to me IMO.
