Double Amputee Killed by Houston Police Officer

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Why didn't they have tasers?

And it appears this isn't the first suspect shot dead by the officer, I wouldn't be suprised if he either gets 'promoted' to a desk job or has an early retirement.

Captcha: can I love? (if you stop showing advertising Captcha, yes.)

 

[Dags90]

I wonder if the cop aimed and fired at a blank spot nearby. Could That could have frightened the man into dropping his metal object? And then the two officers could have taken bin into custody with minimal pain? Would that have worked?

I know the police force is always out to defend themselves first, but I just wish they didn't use the same method everytime.

I'm pretty sure people are generally trained against making warning shots. Particularly in a cramped environment like a residential bedroom, where ricochet and bullets going through walls are pretty important and unpredictable concerns.

 

[Cheery Lunatic]

As someone who's from the Houston area...
You don't fuck with Houston cops LOL
You just don't.

Honestly I find it funny this even happpened.
Houston is ghetto as fuck. You don't hear about amputees attacking cops...

 

[ResonanceSD]

Is it tasteless to make a joke about disarming an amputee?

Yes, yes it is.

However, surely, given the amount of stuff a cop carries, they could have found a way to not kill the guy?

 

[Gothproxy]

From the article:
"It was close quarters in the area of the house," Silva said. "The officer was forced into an area where he had no way to get out."

Um...I'm thinking --- Partner.....behind wheelchair...pulling wheelchair away....other officer moves out of corner he was "forced" into.

My question: Where the F*&# were the TASERS? Or the mace spray at least?

 

[Sectan]

Wow, really? If I was that dude's partner I would have grabbed the HANDLES on the wheelchair and pulled the whole thing down onto the floor. Or I could have gotten creative and thrown a stick or stick-like object into the spokes. Or even more daring. Get up on the side and kick the thing over. I could go on.

 

[ServebotFrank]

There has to be more to this story. There's not fucking way that this is the whole story. It can't be...Can't be... Can't be...

 

[Queen Michael]

Assuming that that's what happened, well, if the guy could do that while in a wheelchair then he was pretty dangerous. Not that that's an excuse to shoot him, of course. Then again, we weren't there. And if wheelchair guy made it look like he had a gun or something, well, what are they supposed to do, say "He's in a wheelchair! He can't shoot people." or something? Urgh, I don't know, I just don't want to be one of those guys who assume that they know the situation much better than the actual people involved.

Dude hes in a wheelchair! How do you get cornered by someone in a wheelchair?! And why not use mace if your so threatened? (EVERY COP CARRIES IT NOW) How in the name of The One Holy God (YHWH) (JK <==atheist here) does a pen look like a gun? Mind you they where cornered! and that implies close proximity!

JUST STOP!

So what do you think happened? I don't mean this in a sarcastic "Oh yeah? Well, what do you think happened?" way; I'm genuinely interested in hearing what you think happened.

 

[RustlessPotato]

Dude got cornered by a guy with a pen.

Who is also in a wheelchair?

How the hell do you get yourself into that kind of situation, and decide that lethal force is the best course of action?

You are underestimating the power of people in wheelchairs. Please watch this educational serious documentary

(also, why didn't the cop just yelled letters ? It would've caused the amputee to grow his limbs back and magically get hanged)

 

[Kuilui]

This is all I have to say on this.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

What do you expect? You live in a country where police have guns.....why is this situation so surprising?

I really hope the UK police never have guns cos its to easy to shoot a person when in a threatening situation. An, American police, people can carry guns so im not surprised they shoot first. I would shoot first if I thought they carried a gun.

 

[Deathmageddon]

I want to see people defend this, seriously I do. What kind of idiot would think "OH SHIT! This guy's is a danger to my life!" when seeing a double amputee in a wheelchair coming at him with a pen? A small child could have dealt with the guy safely. In my eyes the policeman is a murderer, through and through.

Having lived in Houston for 10 years, I can safely say that living in a big city (Houston is the 4th largest in America) turns you into a bit of a cynic. So, when an obviously crazy guy backs you into a corner waving around a metal object which could easily be a knife, despite several warnings, you tend to get concerned for your safety.

 

[tangoprime]

This is why we as citizens of the 21st century need to take the idea of a real-life Robocop into consideration.

"Step out of the vehicle and drop the weapon, you have 5 seconds to comply"
"I'm in a wheelchair and this is a pen-"
"3 seconds"
"Okay, I'll drop the p-"

Based on how stupid siri is most of the time, I think I'll pass on any robocop technology for at least a few more years.

 

[CMDDarkblade]

The yahoo article is really vague about the situation, and it doesn't state relevant information like the guy had been violent before and that he had schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, or that the officers tried multiple times to get him to calm down and drop the "object" (the pen). Many people in this thread are making sweeping generalizations instead of trying to figure out how this incident happened.

Here is a better article about it from CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/23/us/texas-amputee-shooting/index.html?iref=allsearch

 

[ToastiestZombie]

Snip

No, I don't think a child could disarm an armed crazy adult. But I really could think two children (he had a partner) could disarm a guy with only two limbs with a pen. He wasn't armed, he wasn't really even that dangerous. He was just scary, and whilst fear may cloud one's judgement it doesn't excuse resorting to killing when there were so many non-lethal options that anyone could have easily done. He was in a wheelchair, and the police officer had a partner, so why didn't the partner just go up from behind and move the wheelchair with it's own bloody handles. Like I said, a child could do that. It doesn't take much to move a man in a wheelchair.

 

[C F]

Well, let's take a look at the scenario from the cop's point of view.

It's 2:30 in the morning, a man having a psychotic episode is approaching with a small metal object that may very well be a knife, and he's going after your buddy? In that situation, your mind isn't going to present a rational discourse about how he's a double amputee in a wheelchair and may be harmless. You're trained to never underestimate your opponent. You're holding a gun, and again, your buddy may be in danger. Sorry, brain, but arenaline's going to be doing the thinking for you.

Put yourself in the cop's shoes, and how is this at all surprising?

 

[ToastiestZombie]

The yahoo article is really vague about the situation, and it doesn't state relevant information like the guy had been violent before and that he had schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, or that the officers tried multiple times to get him to calm down and drop the "object" (the pen). Many people in this thread are making sweeping generalizations instead of trying to figure out how this incident happened.

Here is a better article about it from CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/23/us/texas-amputee-shooting/index.html?iref=allsearch

Well after reading that article I'm even more angry at what the police did. I thought the one who shot him was the officer who had backed him into a corner, not the other officer who wasn't in any danger at all and had plenty of other ways to deal with the situation. This shouldn't be a world where "threatened" is a just reason to kill someone, especially if they're a double amputee in a wheelchair with serious mental illnesses. It seems to me that police officers like this only know two options of dealing with threatening people: shouting at them then shooting them. Shouting at a schizophrenic bipolar who's in a rage won't stop him, but non-lethal force like maybe pushing the wheelchair over, or out of the way or forcing the "object" out of his hand would have done the job well. There really isn't any excuse for what the police officer did, especially a trained police officer.

 

[Lt._nefarious]

Spoiler

Distasteful comment in 3.

Spoiler

2.

Spoiler

1.

So I guess the pen isn't, in fact, mightier than the sword/

Oh Texas, when will you learn..?