Texas police fatally shoot 6-year-old boy

[Broken_Erika]

If you saw her trying to break into a trailer, what would you do?

Aimed lower, (i.e. at the ground by her feet)

 

[Berzerker]

and let her break in?

Kid could have been lying on the floor

 

[Yeekim]

Most other countries on the planet don't seem to have this problem. What's more is that their police forces are generally expected to, and tend to succeed at, apprehending suspects (even armed ones) without shooting them.

The "gun them down on the off chance they might actually be a risk" approach doesn't seem to be a winning one.

Most other countries aren't chock full of gun-crazed people either.
It's almost as if there was some kind of connection between police forces and the broader society...

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Irrelevant to the discussion.

 

[stinkubus]

You really don't think the fact that just about anyone the police encounter, in many but not all states, could easily be carrying a concealed weapon doesn't influence their behavior?

 

[FriendlyFire]

and let her break in?
Kid could have been lying on the floor

she was shoot exiting the home
people on drugs are capable on violence and shouldnt be taken lightly by the police, but she was unarmed despite making threats

 

[Ryika]

but she was unarmed despite making threats

Which the police did not know, and had good reason to believe otherwise, because of her own claims.

 

[warpus]

Well that's all sorts of tragic..

Why can't all American kids just wear bulletproof vests though? Imagine how many jobs a plan like that would create, and how many lives it would save

There's 75 million kids in America, so that's what, let's say 10 billion USD needed for all those miniature bulletproof vests

The war in Iraq cost about a trillion USD, so since that's not going on anymore, surely there's enough money for my plan

 

[Timsup2nothin]

If you have a gun in your hand and are so "fearing for your life" because someone might have a gun somewhere on their person that the only path you can think of that will make you feel safe is firing wildly until they are dead then you need to get help, not a badge.

 

[Berzerker]

she was shoot exiting the home

That would make a difference in my book, I'd expect cops to spend enough time to see if she was armed at that point.

 

[JollyRoger]

The cops were thinking that someone armed may just be a threat to innocent life around them and then they proved their point.

 

[Manfred Belheim]

and let her break in?

Kid could have been lying on the floor

I find it interesting that you consider not shooting someone to death in order to stop them breaking into a residence to be unfathomably ludicrous (or at least seemingly so).

 

[Berzerker]

I find it interesting that you consider not shooting someone to death in order to stop them breaking into a residence to be unfathomably ludicrous (or at least seemingly so).

I dont think its surprising, they either take her out then or let her enter the trailer and they got a possible hostage situation on their hands. If she did break in and killed the kid, wouldn't the cops regret not shooting her when they had the chance?

 

[Arwon]

If you have a gun in your hand and are so "fearing for your life" because someone might have a gun somewhere on their person that the only path you can think of that will make you feel safe is firing wildly until they are dead then you need to get help, not a badge.

This is the thing that keeps getting me. People love their cops so much they don't even want them to be trained to be good at their jobs?

 

[Timsup2nothin]

This is the thing that keeps getting me. People love their cops so much they don't even want them to be trained to be good at their jobs?

Remarkable, isn't it? In my hometown the badge lickers are currently celebrating a deputy who "feared for his life" at a routine traffic stop, justifying ordering a citizen out of their car at gunpoint for a body search. The citizen turned out to be a felon, had some dope in his pockets and a gun in the car so got arrested ("taken off the streets"). Any questioning of the "soooo, just because it turned out nominally 'good' this time we are going to overlook the problem of citizens being forced from their cars at gunpoint as a response to routine traffic violations?" type is, of course, being thoroughly shouted down.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Remarkable, isn't it? In my hometown the badge lickers are currently celebrating a deputy who "feared for his life" at a routine traffic stop, justifying ordering a citizen out of their car at gunpoint for a body search. The citizen turned out to be a felon, had some dope in his pockets and a gun in the car so got arrested ("taken off the streets"). Any questioning of the "soooo, just because it turned out nominally 'good' this time we are going to overlook the problem of citizens being forced from their cars at gunpoint as a response to routine traffic violations?" type is, of course, being thoroughly shouted down.

It's very hard to make the citizens right's argument in the face of the fact that we are at historically low crime rates. It turns out locking up a large fraction of your young male population is positively correlated with low crime rates. Correlation =/= causation and all that but once the argument gets to that level you've already lost it with the hordes that would mete out justice based on gut feelings.

 

[Ajidica]

This is the thing that keeps getting me. People love their cops so much they don't even want them to be trained to be good at their jobs?

I'm always reminded of Flying_Pig posting about when he was serving in Northern Ireland, how the last thing they would do is go for their gun because once guns got involved it rarely ended well for anyone.

 

[metatron]

Sexual assault is NOT a proper response, even if she is a criminal.

Has anybody determined if the kid is "white"?

Because if he is, he'd be white, male and probably straight and the SJW constubulary would have some very choice opinions on his fate.

Actually right now i am using various rather novel term combinations to have a search engine tell if they already did come up with any such opinion...

 

[Yeekim]

Irrelevant to the discussion.

I beg to disagree. I'm sure you realize your police forces are neither imported from abroad nor do they operate in a vacuum.
Of course, they're also woefully untrained, afaik.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I beg to disagree. I'm sure you realize your police forces are neither imported from abroad nor do they operate in a vacuum.
Of course, they're also woefully untrained, afaik.

That's not what I was responding too. I was responding to Berserkers question about what I would do if I were the cop. That is irrelevant