There is NO EXCUSE for this disgusting, horrifying event. NONE.

[bee_york]

As a personal rule, I try not to ever comment on the news in my journal, but THIS is making me rage so hard I can't even think straight.

In a nutshell, a few streets away from here, a homeless man was apparently acting crazy, running around ripping open garbage bags with a knife (and apparently waving the knife around too? Who knows) so the pigs cops VILE PIGS did the most logical thing and shot him dead, along with an innocent bystander who was just cycling by.
An innocent 36-year-old man jumped on his bike (actually, judging from the photo it looks more like a Bixi) this morning and didn't survive the ride. Not because he made a wrong turn into traffic or because he got hit by a car, nope--but because he was shot, by accident, by a fucking cop.
And the homeless man was cutting bags, not people. But the homeless aren't actually people, am I right? (I also bet you ANYTHING he was black, or native, or some other kind of visual minority. I bet you ANYTHING.)

Fucking vile soulless pigs. I would love for the cop(s) to be tried with murder, but I know they won't be, so the poor friends and family of these two men will have to find solace in the fact that the cop(s) in question will have to live with this murder they committed for the rest of their pitiful trigger-happy lives. I hope they don't get any sleep tonight--or for the rest of the week--aw fuck, for the next few YEARS--because they sure as hell don't deserve it.

The way I've seen cops treat the homeless around here leads me to NOT be surprised at this horrifying incident, but that doesn't make me any less disgusted.

Comments

[sourdick.livejournal.com]

By no means am I defending the situation, but what would you have done in a similar situation where a man is acting crazy on a very busy street stabbing things?

My guess is that they warned the homeless guy to drop the weapon multiple times, and to get the fuck down on his knees. In any other situation, if a person is brandishing a deadly weapon, in public, and refuses an officers order to cease immediately, how can you not expect them to use deadly force?

Had this homeless man whipped around and stabbed someone in the face, or chest, would you still be angry? Police cant be expected to know someones intentions, state of mind, or any mental illness someone has. I hate defending a tragic event, but I hate Monday-Morning-Quarterbacking of a job that asks the moon from the people we pay to protect us.

[bee-york.livejournal.com]

OH yes I'd still be angry. I definitely would. And what would I have done? Shot to injure, not to kill.
Btw, if the homeless guy was indeed 'crazy', he wouldn't respond to shouts anyway.
Fuck the cops. Fuck them so hard. There's a tiny minority who do their jobs, and then there's the so many vile disgusting racist ones who totally abuse their power and nothing is ever done about it. Nothing. EVER.
Thank GOD for all the smart & quick people who have been capturing this shit on their phones and posting it to Youtube. It doesn't do much, but it's better than nothing.

[sourdick.livejournal.com]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think if someone is brandishing a lethal weapon in extreme close distance to bystanders, and has been told multiple times to stand down, you're going to have to absolutely expect the officers to respond with lethal force.

Could things have gone better? Yes. I lament that two people died, one needlessly. You give these people such an enormous responsibility. How many things did they do right today? One? A dozen? A hundred? They walked in on a abusive husband and assessed the situation and corrected it. They dealt with a meth crazed junkie. A teenager about to commit suicide. The only things that ever make the news are the ones we think they fucked up on and then we spit in the eye and stomp on their badges.

A tiny minority? Even exaggeration has its limits. If you honestly believe the cops are so absent of duty, no amount of festivals or greasy fries would keep you here. Why, for the sake of your own safety and life, havent you fled this city to one where the cops are apparently less corrupt and anxious to murder citizens?

[bee-york.livejournal.com]

lol are you serious? Cops are corrupt EVERYWHERE. I don't stay here because I think the cops will protect me. Hahahahah OMG.

[sourdick.livejournal.com]

I am serious.

[bee-york.livejournal.com]

Awww, RIP Leslie.

[dizietsma.livejournal.com]

Shooting to injure is an artifact of the movies. A police office shouldn't draw their gun unless their life or the life of an innocent is in mortal danger. If you want to immobilize someone instead of killing them, taser them don't shoot them with bullets. Tasers have their own set of risks and yes people have died, but they're not a guaranteed kill like bullets are.

No, the failure here was that the police chased a guy two blocks and then started making snap life-and-death decisions immediately afterwards while the adrenaline was still pumping and they were still in fight-or-flight mode. This is trained-out of police officers across the world these days because it's well known that lives are lost needlessly right after police chases. They should have kept the man in sight and at distance and called for backup, and let the calm, relaxed, prepared backup officers deal with him while they secure the area and calm down.

[bee-york.livejournal.com]

They should have kept the man in sight and at distance and called for backup, and let the calm, relaxed, prepared backup officers deal with him while they secure the area and calm down.

If only cops were that smart! :(

[lostsailors.livejournal.com]

I can't really comment on the homeless man, because I don't know the culture of the neighborhood and once mental illness and weapon wielding combine- who knows what was going on. I feel so, so, so bad for that bike rider though- how the HELL does that sort of shooting happen? This shouldn't have been a melee where bullets are everywhere, this was one person (the homeless guy) who MAY have been a threat. How do TWO people end up dead in that situation? What a tragedy.

[bee-york.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I feel a million times more sad for the innocent guy, I guess I wasn't very clear about that in my post. But I've seen cops treat homeless people here like absolute garbage. It's so fucking gross and depressing and immoral and just....arrrrrrrghhhhh.

[v0idnull.livejournal.com]

A witness that seemed to have the monopoly on news interviews said he heard two quick shots. If that's the case, the most likely explanation is a few millimeters of difference.