Less that lethal force?

Oklahoma officer dies after shootout | Fox News

Tecumseh police say the suspect ran away from the officer after the traffic stop and later opened fire after the officer used a stun gun.

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Cop plays nice with perp and ends up dead.

This is just a reminder to all those who jump down the cop's throats every time there's a questionable shooting.

There's not enough in the article to indicate whether or not the cop had cause to use a firearm before he used the taser but it does go to show that using deadly force in these situations should NEVER be taken off the table.

Lutherf said:

Oklahoma officer dies after shootout | Fox News



Cop plays nice with perp and ends up dead.

This is just a reminder to all those who jump down the cop's throats every time there's a questionable shooting.

There's not enough in the article to indicate whether or not the cop had cause to use a firearm before he used the taser but it does go to show that using deadly force in these situations should NEVER be taken off the table.

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You are right, in that you presented far too little info in your OP to make a determination here.

But I do agree with you in principle, that gunfire by it's very nature is deadly force. It should not be used up until the point deadly force is required, but once that bar is met it needs to be applied.

Shooting to wound strikes me as senseless. If one is shooting to wound, ir seems to me either:

1] The use of deadly force was not appropriate.

or,

2] Deadly force was appropriate, but the officer failed to act appropriately.

I'm not a copper, so it would be interesting hearing what the various depts' policies are on this.

I mean, if someone is resisting arrest and decides to flee.......at this point you do not know what the thug has or doesn't. I see no reason to risk it. How about obeying the law instead?

Chomsky said:

But I do agree with you in principle, that gunfire by it's very nature is deadly force. It should not be used up until the point deadly force is required, but once that bar is met it needs to be applied.

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This threshold isn't so easy to delineate and can be a matter of instinct that technical criteria. People always armchair the response after the fact but I don't see them out there doing the job.

I'm still kind of annoyed that stun guns, with little darts and wires, are the best nonlethal we deploy. I mean, you'd think there would be huge money in it if you ever actually got approved with some better tech for that. Must be much much harder than I realize.

Fishking said:

This threshold isn't so easy to delineate and can be a matter of instinct that technical criteria. People always armchair the response after the fact but I don't see them out there doing the job.

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But that has nothing to do with my point, or the thread topic.

Once the decision is made to use lethal force, you don't shoot to wound.