Albuquerque cops assault and kill camping homeless man

[Kaze]

[AK47]

'Murica.

[Leroy_Kolta]

And what movie is that picture from? lol!

[Kaze]

And what movie is that picture from? lol!

You dont understand how much I laugh at that everytime I see it, even if Im the one who posted it!

It is DEA Agent Hank Schrader in Breaking Bad. Breaking Bad is set in Albuquerque.

[JDC]

Police brutality. If the suspect was dangerous, and as he was not holding any heavy firearms, then a tazer or tranquilizer dart would have done the job. It's not like he's some kind of mutant who could resist several hundred thousand volts, is he now?

[SugarD]

'Murica.

No.

The suspect and the officers were in the wrong. The suspect repeatedly reached for his waistband, but the cops didn't use force. The cop with the camera also made the mistake of shooting the suspect in the back as he fled. The movement towards the officers by the suspect was not nearly enough to validate shooting the suspect. All he did was lean from a large distance. The only person who "should" have made the mistake of shooting him over that would be the officer closest to him.

The shooting is not justified, but either are the actions of the mentally-unstable man reaching for his waistband. If anything, the officers carrying the TASER shotguns, (the yellow ones), should have used further lesser-lethal force on him the moment he reached down. The officers would not be allowed to use lethal force until the moment they see something coming out that resembles a weapon, but the man's hands continued to stay empty. They also failed to tell him to keep his hands where they could see them. That is a huge training mistake.

No one is at fault in this video other than the cameraman. The suspect being mentally-unstable created a confusing, unpredictable situation to which the other officers responded correctly to. The cameraman was the one who made a fatal mistake, (no pun intended). Other than the actions of the cameraman, the escalation of force by the officers was handled properly.

[Senate]

This is an image used for training in most police academy's across the US to emphasize to officers why you should never confront lethal force with non-lethal force. This cop decided that a knife was not a problem for him or his taser and this is the result, much worse could have happened.

At the end of the day these guys are going home to their family's one way or another, a guy with a knife is not going to stop that from happening. Justified shoot.

Spoiler for graphic image:

[Reece]

Never confront lethal force with non-lethal force?

So because these cops want to cop back to their families, it is justified for them to kill a man who likely has no connections to any of his family because he is homeless? They spent three hours with this guy, and they still killed him. Why not call more units? Shields? Different types of protection, rather than shoot him as he turns away.

Sure there are lots of ifs and buts with a situation like this, but there are always different ways it can be handled and I feel that shooting him dead, in this case really was not needed.

Of course other people will disagree, and some will agree with me, but that is the way of the world and certainly here in the UK people are very rarely killed by police, even when they have lethal force such as a knife.

Examples:

[Zlatan]

Idiots, morons...

Killing a homeless man who was camping, again I repeat, homeless... How cold hearted can you get? This video just shows it. I fucking hate this, it disgusts me. They later on step on him like he was some kind of animal, a pray not a person...

They should all get jailed for life or executed because we don't need garbage, atleast not anymore garbage in this world....

[Alexander_Rijav]

Never confront lethal force with non-lethal force?

So because these cops want to cop back to their families, it is justified for them to kill a man who likely has no connections to any of his family because he is homeless? They spent three hours with this guy, and they still killed him. Why not call more units? Shields? Different types of protection, rather than shoot him as he turns away.

Sure there are lots of ifs and buts with a situation like this, but there are always different ways it can be handled and I feel that shooting him dead, in this case really was not needed.

Of course other people will disagree, and some will agree with me, but that is the way of the world and certainly here in the UK people are very rarely killed by police, even when they have lethal force such as a knife.

Examples:

There will always be difference between British styled (Including Canada,Australia,Honk Kong and New Zealand) and the American styled ones.   

[[SE]Dr_Pepper27]

Fuck I hate when people from foreign countries know my country's use of force policies better than I do! Wait, what? I forgot most people on the internet have policing training, right???

If you're not qualified to speak on a topic - don't.

[JDC]

The real question that bothers me here, is why they spent 3 hours confronting someone who was clearly not thinking correctly, only to kill him instead of shooting him with a tranquilizer dart or something else.

[Kaze]

I don't know why everyone is surprised, you see this happen in game everyday.

[Reece]

Fuck I hate when people from foreign countries know my country's use of force policies better than I do! Wait, what? I forgot most people on the internet have policing training, right???

If you're not qualified to speak on a topic - don't.

Nobody needs to be qualified to discuss here. It is a board for discussion and debate. If you do not like that, then do not post here.

You don't need police training to discuss other ways this COULD have been handled or how it would have been handled in other countries.

[[SE]Dr_Pepper27]

Actually, if you have no idea how American police are supposed to handle things, you really shouldn't be trying to engage in debate.

@JDC, tranquilizers are not used in policing for a number of reasons. Tranquilizers work based on weight, therefore they would have to estimate the correct dosage to hit him with. Too little wouldn't do anything, too much would kill them. You need to go to a medical school for years and years to be knowledgeable on the correct dosage for each individual. This simply wouldn't make sense for  officers to use.

Also, why other less than lethals were not used. You DO NOT under ANY circumstances(if you're even half way intelligent in American policing) use less than lethal force on someone using lethal force. Displaying knifes and being within the 21 feet "kill zone" is considered deadly force, for a very good reason. You would not use pepper spray for a plethora of reasons. Reason number one being, it's can be very ineffective. Pepper spray in a lot of cases just pisses the attack off. It makes them more angry. On top of that, in order to pepper spray someone, you need to be within 10 feet of them. As stated multiple times, you do not want to be within 21 feet of anyone with a knife. To top it all off, pepper spray is bad if you're against the wind. Not only will the suspect not be sprayed, only your officers will.

As for tasers, again you have to be within 10 feet. This simply isn't safe, as stated numerous times before. And if it's windy, your darts will likely not hit their target. Also, if you're wearing thick clothes or baggy clothes like the suspect was in the incident, the darts may not puncture you enough to be effective. And like any other less than lethal - tasers do not ALWAYS work.

The officers were dealing with this man for 3 hours at least, he took out two knifes and made a movement towards an officer in the "kill zone" hence why he was shot. This IS a justified shooing - whether your opinion differs or there were other options.

This is straight from APD's use of force policy.

"Officers are authorized to use deadly force, by any means, in order to:
1. Protect the officer or others from what is reasonably believed to be an
immediate threat of death or serious physical injury;
2. Prevent the escape of one reasonably believed to have committed a
felony, but only when:
 
Ø· There is probable cause to believe the suspect poses a
 immediate threat of death or serious physical injury to
the officer or others."

A deranged, mentally ill man bearing two knifes within 21 feet of an unarmed officer(no gun out, only dog - dogs are considered less than lethal) is MOST DEFINITELY an immediate threat of death or serious physical injury - this is indisputable.