I agree completely that police should be held accountable. I think they should be held to a higher standard. They made the choice to wear the badge, and they should accept the responsibility that comes with it. However, having said that, this case is a tragedy, but from the information I have found, the cops did their job. They received a call about a violent situation, with one victim already, and a potential arson attempt. Time was limited, and they chose to act. The cops arrived and set up a perimeter. Before they could establish contact, the suspect stepped out of his house. The man put his hands up, then brought them back down to his waist, and then back up.
Based on all the information the cops seemingly had at the time. That they were dealing with an armed and dangerous suspect, and that waistbands are a common place for a gun to be concealed, I can understand why this innocent man was shot. However, I do also understand it from the victim's perspective. This man saw police outside his house, went outside to see what was going on, likely was very confused, fight or flight almost certainly kicked in, and for reasons we will never know, he lowered his hands.
This shouldn't have happened. This is an awful situation that could have been avoided, but if I were in the cops shoes, working off of the information he had been given up to that point, I think many of us would have sadly made the same call.
Again, I think cops need to be punished for wrong doing. I think they should be held to a higher standard than civilians. But unless this cop was clairvoyant, I don't think there was any way he could have reasonably known that man didn't have a gun.
My hope is that we find ways to prevent tragedies like this from ever happening again.
