Cops and robbers

Just picked my husband up at the airport. We were about to drive into the line to pay our way out of the parking garage when a cop walked in front of us and waved at us to stop so he could walk across the lane. He kept walking, saying "SIR! SIR! Stop! Get on the ground" etc, etc at a young man with a backpack maybe 15 feet away from us--who kept walking, cop keeps asking him to stop, young man turns around and the cop shoots him with a taser. Guy falls over like a tree. Doesn't even twitch.

One interesting thing was the difference in what my husband and I saw. I was watching the cop--saw him raise the taser, pull the trigger, darts and wires go flying, man falls to ground. Husband was watching the man with the backpack--saw him stop, turn around, raise his hands in the air, and get hit by the taser. I never saw the hands in the air. We're sitting in the same car, and we would give different accounts of what happened. Scary thing to watch, tho. Glad it was a taser and not a gun.

 

All I can say is "wow"!
What airport?

 

What if he was hearing impaired?

 

What if it just took the young man a minute to realize the cop was talking to him? He wasn't running I assume and he did stop and raise his hands.

 

silence

 

Some will take offense with my comments.
But......
What if the guy hadn't done anything wrong.
Hearing someone holler at you is something that usually gets ignored. Especially in the city.
But.....since the cop thought maybe the guy might of done something wrong he shoots him with a taser.
If the cop was wrong it just becomes a "my bad" situation.
If one of us got it wrong and shot someone we go to jail, get sued, are called a wacko, stuff like that.

Seeing someone in the process of committing a violent crime is one thing.
But shooting someone because they don't do what you tell them to do......
Seems more like guilty until you can prove yourself innocent.

 

There was nothing in the news about it, but my husband contacted the local media to try and find out what was going on. The guy had been seen breaking into the carry compartments on motorcycles in the airport garage. Someone called 911, and the cop showed up and the guy fled the parking garage. When we saw him, he was walking and the cop was out of his car. So the guy who got tasered was not exactly an innocent bystander. The guy could have easily had a gun and shot at the cop and all of us waiting to get out of the parking garage. IMO, the cop made the right call. He had no backup, the other guy was bigger than he was and was trying to get away. I can't imagine having a job like that. You're working with very limited information and at any time somebody could try and kill you. He was professional in how he addressed the guy who was trying to get away. Not a job I would ever want.

 

There are alot of what ifs.... For the most part I am glad for the men in blue and the difficult decisions they make on a daily basis.

 

We had "Officer Friendly" come visit us in elementary school to expose us to cops. It was a good program. My judo instructor had a Miami-Dade cop come in to teach our class self defense. Great guy, & knew some really dirty tricks. I still remember his catch phrase. "Go for the eyes--it's just like running your fingers through warm jello."

And our parents drummed it into our heads ALWAYS stay in the car unless they ask you to get out and say "yes sir" or "no sir" to a cop.

 

I luv you Mark. But.

Why are we second guessing someone who's been trained to deal with these situations making the best decision he can?

I'm glad the cops are gravitating more towards non-lethal weapons. Does anybody think the bad guys are?

(I'll be watching to see if you charge me extra next time)

 

I know that we have several LEOs on the KKFora and one is a particular friend of mine, the job of law enforcement is a thankless one on many levels. The filter we all see these events through is going to vary with our experiences and exposure. Like any other group of people there are going to be dedicated and hard working officers and also a few lackluster ones. This could be a interesting conversation but to continue we would need to get into politics and that is not a good idea.

 

My reply was colored by a situation that happened to one of the workers here a few years ago.
There was a noisy party and the police were called. When they arrived everyone scattered.
The girl who worked here ran when the police told everyone to stop so they tasered her.
She weighed about 100 lbs and when convulsing she broke a few teeth. No charges were filed against her or anything. The reason for her small size was because of cancer. The cops probably thought she was a tweaker. Everyone loved her because she was nice to everyone even though she was dying. (now passed) The whole town wanted to linch the cops who broke up the party.
All the police were there for was to break up the party but the girl and another person got tasered when they ran.
I guess it is a lot easier to tase someone than to chase them.

I know this is an extreme case and not the norm.
But when I was a cop in the Air Force even though deadly force was authorized in some situations, we tried to use the minimum amount of force necessary.

 

This will be my last comment on this topic.

I believe that the Law Enforcement Officers who conduct their duties professionally using common sense and good judgement are some of the very best people in the human race. They risk their lives to protect and serve those who need it. I feel that their salaries should be doubled and they should be better rewarded and recognized for the service they provide.

On the other side of the coin I feel that those who show poor judgement should be removed from law enforcement. They make the good guys look bad. Unfortunately bad news is what people tend to remember and we don't hear much about what is done above and beyond the call of duty by the majority of those in law enforcement.