Wednesday 4 April 2012

Here We Go Again...

Are we hoping to have our very own Trayvon Martin here, complete with riots?
Police marksmen were accused last night of Tasering a man as he lay grievously wounded in the street after they had shot him four times with live bullets.
*shrug* So what?

If he was still struggling, what are they supposed to do, shoot him again? Wait until he bleeds out?
Medical evidence has emerged that one of at least four Taser shots hit him in the groin, something his family believe was deliberate.
Oh, for...! They aren't that good. This isn't the movies.
Last night they demanded answers.
Here's one for you - your son (currently in a mental hospital) went bonkers, waving a knife. OK?
His mother, Elizabeth Benin, said: ‘Why wasn’t there a stand-off?
Well, you see, a stand-off is like a tango. It takes two.

I'm sure the police would have much preferred a lengthy stand off, with tea on tap and the refreshment van parked up nearby, but if your son didn't play his part, well, it just wasn't going to happen, was it?
I want to know why the police did not try to talk to George.
They did - the first on the scene were unarmed officers forced to retreat when a violent knifeman indicated he would rather not chitchat...
‘George is not a bad person, he is a good person but he was not well, I don’t understand why they had to shoot him. I just thank God that he was not killed.’
If a sick person stabs you, love, it hurts every bit as much as if a bad person does it. It's just as potentially fatal, too.

Still, nice of you to thank God your son wasn't killed. I thank ... well, not God, exactly... that no policeman or innocent members of the public were killed.

14 comments:

A salt and battered said...

Whilst your praise for their repeated efforts will be well received by Gadgetistas, some folk prove disappointingly 'hard to kill', JuliaM.

Fidel Cuntstruck said...

Perhaps they'd run out of live ammo?

Anonymous said...

See - Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd - verified by Snopes.

Fantastic:

http://www.snopes.com/crime/cops/judd.asp

Anonymous said...

It does smack of poor drills, I was always taught to aim for the centre of body mass. The Police issue Tasers have a laser dot sight to assist in that. That said, I don't think an idiot waving a knife in the street is collecting for the British Legion. Mind, I would not trust Plod with a water pistol having seen the very poor standard of arms handling of late.
TTFN :)

John M said...

Frankly it sounds to me like the mother should be euthenased as well for stupidity of that order.

As my old man always says, never underestimate the stupidity of really, really stupid people. You'll never beat them at stupidity.

John M said...

In fact the Police should have tasered his body and shot his balls off.

That this oik may have children constitutes a risk to future society

selsey.steve said...

Friend of mine, a police officer in 'foreign' parts, was confronted by a knife-wielding nutter who was shrieking all sorts of nonsense.
Road was crowded, knife was sharp, situation was dangerous to all in the vicinity.
Friend's reaction? He put a .38 caliber bullet right between the nutter's eyebrows. Crowd reaction?
Applause!
Press reaction? Condemnation.
Inquiry result? Cleared, righteous shooting.

selsey.steve said...

Friend of mine, a police officer in 'foreign' parts, was confronted by a knife-wielding nutter who was shrieking all sorts of nonsense.
Road was crowded, knife was sharp, situation was dangerous to all in the vicinity.
Friend's reaction? He put a .38 caliber bullet right between the nutter's eyebrows. Crowd reaction?
Applause!
Press reaction? Condemnation.
Inquiry result? Cleared, righteous shooting.

JuliaM said...

"See - Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd - verified by Snopes."

Ahhh, yes! :)

"It does smack of poor drills, I was always taught to aim for the centre of body mass."

I'm amazed he survived the live ammo, but not surprised the Tazer missed. They are a lot lighter than bullets, after all!

"Frankly it sounds to me like the mother should be euthenased as well for stupidity of that order."

I've no doubt she's been well coached by the race-grievance industry.

" Crowd reaction?
Applause!"


As there should have been in this case.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous at 18:54. As I am sure you are aware a Taser uses two probes. One will go where the red dot is. The other probe travels at a diverging angle, therefore it is entirely possible that one probe would hit centre mass and the other some way below it. I expect this might have been missed by the medics as they dealt with the other injuries. A Taser barb in the groin is not unknown. Poor Drills? and your experience of dealing with a knife wielding maniac is? I was always lucky in that the loons I dealt with could be talked down.
Ex

Anonymous said...

Speaking of The race Grievance Industry:

Whilst I feel sorry for the guy, I just don't understand his 'disappointment':

The father of a murdered teenager is
“disappointed and amazed” that he has still not heard from Ken Livingstone five
weeks after the death of his son.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/london/father-of-murdered-teen-amazed-at-lack-of-contact-from-ken-livingstone-7621149.html

WHAT? WHY?

Anonymous said...

Please forgive the reply and apologies in advance if I appear rude. (It is not my intention). True I have not had to deal with a loony civvy with a knife, however, the Argentinean Army, several Serb Militia/Bandit groups, assorted NI groups (depending upon the weather) and the Iraqi Army were not, by and large, open to conversation. However, if he had been shot first, why taser him? Eye witnesses are notoriously unreliable of course but it may appear that there are questions to ask. It may be poor reporting and four Taser shots were made prior to the deployment of "deadly force", if this was not the case then there are very serious questions indeed regarding this operation. Now there are plenty of documented instances of Tasers not being immediately effective and with psychotics/adrenaline high offenders multiple Taser strikes may be required. "Containment" effectively means keeping as much of the public out of the way and remembering he will get tired before you do. Please understand I have no animosity toward you, I simply disagree with elements of the event but with respect firearm handling drills for several Police Forces do not appear to show them in a very good light. TTFN and I trust no offence is taken?

JuliaM said...

"Whilst I feel sorry for the guy, I just don't understand his 'disappointment'..."

Well, it appears he wrote to all the politicians, prompting a few to leap to express sympathy, with an eye to their PR.

Little Kenny didn't. Perhaps he thinks his PR is a lost cause already..? ;)

"Eye witnesses are notoriously unreliable of course..."

Oh, indeed. Especially in areas where the population has, shall we say, a few chips on more than a dew shoulders?

Me, I'd just be happy a madman with a knife was no longer at large.

Anonymous said...

No offence taken - there is perception amongst some that Taser will stop someone instantly - in MOST cases it will but the range is quoted as 21 feet, in practice it is probably less and barbs may not attach or he may have beeen so hyped that that he is one of the few that Taser does not effect. From the description of his state I don't think CS would have worked either and use of CS would affect the AFO's as well.
21' is well inside the reactionary gap, ie someone can be on you before you have a chance to react. As ARV's were on scene Taser would have been deployed with lethal
weaponry as backup, usually carbines. I really wouldn't like to get that close to a person with a machete with only a Taser and no other backup, neither would I like to take him on with a shield team. Experience has shown that a person like that cannot be allowed to go mobile in an urban area, so he is going to be contained somehow. People should be aware that
one shot may not stop someone - I believe many soldiers have experienced this lately and I understand there is a debate about the type of ammunition that is used. Finally the 2010 NYPD report on the use of firearms by police has some interesting comments about the realities faced by police officers in these situations. It is on their website and is about page 40.
Ex