My point is this, you have made it clear where you stand, and I hope I've made it clear I'm nowhere near that location... I believe that cops and servicemen should get the benefit of doubt, and if people want to be sympathetic, be sympathetic to those that put their life on the line. If you wanna place blame, place blame on those that make these men have to make decisions that society gets to pick apart in slow motion...That's it for me, I'm going to shoot something...

If he bangs on my door naked and doesn't follow my commands and comes toward me, no I would not feel sorry... and the scenario was the guy beats on your door, you do nothing, he leaves and gets gas from your garage or his car etc. and set your house on fire, or he leaves and goes next door and kill your neighbor's. Would you regret doing nothing when you had the chance?

 

Again, you're changing it as you go. I never said I would do nothing. If the guy is right outside my door I can see him the whole time--no reason to do anything except call the police. If he goes to his car and gets something and starts back towards my house that changes stuff doesn't it? Opening the door with a gun drawn simply because the guy was knocking on my door needlessly escalates a situation. A naked man running around downtown is a job for the police--not for me or you. If he has a gas can and lighter or is threatening others it is a little bit different situation--don't you think?

AJG,

 

I understand your questioning of the officer. My followup was aimed at the uninformed opinions aired afterward. I also understand that not questioning authority leads to it's abuse. But you are basing some of your information from an AP article that has already shown to leave out facts such as the assualt of two people prior to his going to the PD. We don't have all the facts here yet.

 

I'm sure the facts will come out and if I had to bet a check, the officer will likely lose his job because he is a campus officer and not a municpal or county officer. This is just another example of why officers should carry tasers. They don't always work on drug-induced subjects but at least the officer would have had more options. He was just playing with the hand he was dealt.

Maybe the cop thought the guy was a zombie?

I haven't read the entire thread, but I saw at least one comment saying that the cop should shoot for the legs. That is just stupid. If you make the decision to shoot (which I am not saying was justified here) then you remove the threat. Maybe the next perp has his clothes on and a pistol in his pocket. You shoot him in the leg only to take return fire in the face.

Cops are not always in the right but I give them the benefit of the doubt 99.9% of the time. I think the moral to this story is: Do not get high on LSD, take off all your clothes, go wandering over to the police station, disobey an officer's directives, and then wonder how the officer can be so wrong.:ohbrother:

I don't understand why cops always shoot to kill? I mean why can't they shoot for their legs or something?

 

Pure ignorance.

 

I'm not sure. The articles that I found that mentioned the assaults were from the day after it happened and said that the officer did not have pepper spray and a baton. It was later determined that he did, in fact, have those weapons. As far as the assaults justifying the shooting or affecting the officer's decisions: They are irrelevent. The officer did not know about them when he chose to step outside. The only relevent facts are that he saw a naked student banging on the doors and windows of the police station, called for backup and chose to step outside with his firearm drawn rather than wait on that backup.

 

It's his job to address the situation. If you're scared of someone naked banging on your door, then you can just ignore it and hope he doesn't come in. Cops don't have that luxury. He wasn't naked barricaded in a house, where more planning can be done. The whole "stay inside till backup comes" isn't always the best option in an unknown trouble situation like this. I see zero problem having gun drawn on this call. He has no idea the nature of the call. Seems like he radioed for more units and went to do his job. Until you've done the job or done some ride alongs, you should be less quick to pass judgement. And to say he "shot to kill" is YOU making that assumption. If he shot to kill he puts a 2nd round in his head after he's down. He shot to stop the threat.

 

Could you image the backlash had the officer waited inside "for backup" and the guy ran off and ended up injurying or killing somebody?

 

Exactly! Being a coward isn't in the job description, which shows why some are meant to be police, and some are meant to call police. I promise one thing, when someone knocks on my door in the middle of the night, there's a weapon in my hand when I approach the door. Seen way too many home invasions!

Pure ignorance.

 

 

 

It's his job to address the situation. If you're scared of someone naked banging on your door, then you can just ignore it and hope he doesn't come in. Cops don't have that luxury. He wasn't naked barricaded in a house, where more planning can be done. The whole "stay inside till backup comes" isn't always the best option in an unknown trouble situation like this. I see zero problem having gun drawn on this call. He has no idea the nature of the call. Seems like he radioed for more units and went to do his job. Until you've done the job or done some ride alongs, you should be less quick to pass judgement. And to say he "shot to kill" is YOU making that assumption. If he shot to kill he puts a 2nd round in his head after he's down. He shot to stop the threat.

 

 

 

Exactly! Being a coward isn't in the job description, which shows why some are meant to be police, and some are meant to call police. I promise one thing, when someone knocks on my door in the middle of the night, there's a weapon in my hand when I approach the door. Seen way too many home invasions!

 

I don't know if you read the whole article or not. It wasn't responding to a call. The naked student was banging on the door of the campus police department and the backup was in the same building as the officer that went outside.

 

As for shooting to kill. He took a shot from apporimately 6 feet directly to the center of the student's chest. What else do you call that? And again, I'm not faulting the officer for shooting once the student continued to pursue him after he had his gun drawn. It just seems like the initial response by the officer contributed to his having to take that shot.

 

I don't know if you read the whole article or not. It wasn't responding to a call. The naked student was banging on the door of the campus police department and the backup was in the same building as the officer that went outside.

 

As for shooting to kill. He took a shot from apporimately 6 feet directly to the center of the student's chest. What else do you call that? And again, I'm not faulting the officer for shooting once the student continued to pursue him after he had his gun drawn. It just seems like the initial response by the officer contributed to his having to take that shot.

 

I'd call that a textbook shot actually. Just cause a civilian doesn't call 911 doesn't mean it's not a "call" or "run". If a cop sees a naked man on the street, should he wait till a civilian calls to complain about it? I'm not taking a side on this situation cause not all facts are known. But a lot of your statements are uneducated. Center mass is where ALL officers are trained to shoot. Up until just before the shot was fired, I have no problem with how the officer responded. As far as the shot goes, that's not mine nor your place to judge. I'm sure Alabama State Police will take the lead on the investigation and if they clear the officer then that's good enough for me.

Obviously, many of you all have never heard of the condition: Excited Delirium. Google it. Please. No, really, google it.

 

Question for everyone: What is the number one demographic of people that kill police officers? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone.

Answer: Naked people.

 

Maybe the police officer knew that question and answer.

I've encountered excited delirium once. 135 lb. Emo kid broke a set of my cuffs. Luckily we were able to get him to the hospital and he was ok.

I've encountered excited delirium once. 135 lb. Emo kid broke a set of my cuffs. Luckily we were able to get him to the hospital and he was ok.

We know what it is, but these people calling for this police officer to go to jail and lose his job have no fricking clue. Just because they read a news story they think they have it all figured out.

Good thing they don't write Dept. Policies

I don't understand why cops always shoot to kill? I mean why can't they shoot for their legs or something?

 

You watch too much tv.

An Deputy Sheriff in Marion County was killed today in the line of duty, shot by a person on a traffic stop. Where is the outrage against the shooter? There are thoughts and prayers everywhere for the Deputy and his family but where is the Public Outrage for this...keep looking because you won't find it.

 

When a LEO shoots and kills someone the media and others go out of their way to point out everything wrong that the officer may or may not have done, often without knowing any of the facts.

 

But when a LEO is killed in the line of duty it seems as if it's no big deal and they should have known what they were getting into when they took that job.

 

LEO's face hundreds of calls each month and any one of them could be their last. I chose to think that they are much more prepared to make these decisions than Monday Morning QB's.

^my new favorite poster!