In Cleveland, police responded to a call stating that a kid was waving a "probably fake" gun around(just like the one above) a play ground and scaring everybody. When they ordered the boy to put his hands up, he reached for the gun in his waistband instead, and was shot twice. The kid died from his wounds. The officers were a 12 year veteran and a 1st year rookie.
Turns out the "gun" was an airsoft BB gun and the kid had removed the orange safety tip.
In defense of the police, the kid shouldn't have reached for his very real looking gun when told to put his hands up.
In defense of the kid, maybe the police could have handled it differently since the 911 caller stated twice that the gun was "probably fake" and the officers said the kid never threatened or brandished the gun. I mean why put two in his chest? Wouldn't one in the shoulder, thigh, or foot do the trick?
Of course Cleveland is about to erupt just like Ferguson as residents believe it's open season on black youths. But cops mistakenly shooting black kids is the exception, of the blacks who get murdered every year in the US, 93% are killed by other blacks. Cops killing a black kid unjustifiably almost never happens.
These communities won't do anything about black-on-black homicide because it would mean taking responsibility for themselves and their actions, while it's easy to blame cops for their extremely rare mistakes.
If the information we have is complete and accurate, these cops should of handled this situation differently, but the thug/gang culture in the black community probably led to this kid running around with a BB gun, pretending it was real. Both bear responsibility for his death.
UPDATE: So all the information is in and it turns out that the cops weren't told the gun was probably fake and they gave the kid, who appeared to them to be 20yo, 3 chances to raise his hands. He reached for his gun instead. So my revised assessment now is that the cops were totally within the purview of their jobs to shoot.
Exit question: what kind of parents let their dumb kid run around terrifying the public with a very real looking toy gun?
3 comments:
Without commenting on the wisdom or necessity to shoot, cops aren't taught to shoot to wound or disable and can't reasonably be expected to do so. Aiming and firing at the center of mass, i.e., the torso, is difficult enough under stress.
The fact 911 was told of a possible toy gun is disturbing.
So I've learned that it wasn't known if the dispatcher relayed the "probably fake" assessment from the 911 caller, so they may have not had any reason to think it might not be real.
Still, I doubt many 12 year old kids look like grown men and even they said he didn't threaten them. It just sounds like they might have been a tad quick to kill somebody. There may have been more chances for this to have ended peacefully is all I'm saying.
A 12 year old kid with a real gun can shoot you just as dead as anybody else.
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