my friend rushed police with knife & got killed!!!

[think]

My friend Jake, whom I knew for about a year or so lost touch and rushed the police with a knife .,

I went to the funeral on Friday and could not get out of bed on Saturday .,, all - day

feeling good enough today to talk about it some with my trek/net friends and but still not hundred percent - un - depressed but time will heal this one., hopefully; I mean, it is not as bad as my best friend offing themselves by jumping of the rt nine bridge., back in the early nineties after we saw Kurt Cobain and then heard he blew his mind open.

but I am ok for now.,

the link to the news article is here

http://www.trentonian.com/articles/2009/01/14/news/doc496d8453e7a90244535537.txt

then they followed up the whole shooting thing with the taser debate here.,,

http://www.trentonian.com/articles/2009/01/15/news/doc496eb474a6986684626724.txt

 

[sidious618]

Wow a terrible situation. I'm sorry for your loss, mate.

 

[think]

I knew Jake as one knows any given traveler but yet, Jake would talk in poetics.,, we can not create a Kurt Cobain with his left over band but they are going on to new things as we speak ., ., It seems death can be the sparkle of experience that people relate to in there days such that a band like Jake's old band would have., they played at the memorial service as much as they could ., If I were in that band I could not of played /../ at all., they also read his poetry, there, at the service, that was really the most moving poetry I have heard postmortem ever; how they managed to get those poems together, in just a few days to be read; I do not know.

thanks for the concern I do feel better or at least if I type that I just might start to.,

 

[Locutus of Bored]

I'm sorry for the loss of your friend, regardless of the circumstances.

This story does tie-in to previous taser / police use of force debates we've had here, so someone might address that, but I won't comment on that unless it's alright with you, because I don't want to turn this into a debate thread without your permission. If you just want this to be a "memorial thread" for your friend I understand completely.

 

[tomalak301]

I am sorry for your loss.

Hopefully the Police story is not true. That would be awful if it was.

This does follow the theme of officers in heat of the moment situations coming up in the news. One of the biggest stories here in the Bay Area was a situation that happened New Years Morning where a kid was down on the ground in handcuffs (After getting off a train) and the officer still shot him in the back. It's caused riots and a lot of hostility since.

 

[think]

I'm sorry for the loss of your friend, regardless of the circumstances.

This story does tie-in to previous taser / police use of force debates we've had here, so someone might address that, but I won't comment on that unless it's alright with you, because I don't want to turn this into a debate thread without your permission. If you just want this to be a "memorial thread" for your friend I understand completely.

I think debating this and the taser use would help, not hinder, my feelings for my friend ,., for me, my friend was a poet / musician like the other people he befriended that were even closer to him / that whole click if I can go there, in pc or not; were an inspiration for me with every interaction I had with them.,,

 

[judge alba]

hey thats a shitter losing your friend like that.

 

[RJDiogenes]

My condolences on the death of your friend, think.

 

[btflash]

i'm really sorry about your friend. you have my heartfelt condolences.

 

[JNG]

What a bizarre "news" article: perp rams his car into cops and then tries to kill them when they pull over, and the article is written like the cops are the criminals. Boggles the mind.

 

[Saturn0660]

Sorry for your loss but the only thing a can think of is..
Never bring a knife to a gun fight...

 

[Alpha Romeo]

He charged a cop with a knife. He got what was coming to him.

 

[think]

He charged a cop with a knife. He got what was coming to him.

my friend was unstable., I never knew him to do things like that at all someone might of put some kind of chemical in his system or he might of done that himself - either way he needed help not death., and I think here in NJ at least we should use the taser thingy rather then go on a killing spree.., I mean the chemicals that we put in the air alone are enough to keep the populace illing.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

^^^ As I was mentioning earlier, a lot of people don't approve of the use of tasers (they can and have been abused, but are generally an effective means of using less lethal force when used properly), so it's kind of a catch-22 for police at the moment.

As sorry as I am for your friends loss, especially given his mental instability (he clearly wasn't a vicious person when he had control of his faculties), I can't find fault with the actions of police in this case under the circumstances. It's tragic, but not a case of police misconduct. They were acting in the best interests of protecting themselves, their fellow officers, and the public from someone who was at the time a very dangerous individual.

Police (excepting maybe SWAT in special cases) don't normally do things like shoot at someone's legs except in movies, because there's a risk of missing and hitting others or still having the perp come at you. You aim for center mass.

 

[Gertch]

I'm sorry about your friend think, and I'm sorry the police will have to live with having to kill someone in the line of duty.

No one wins in these situations.

 

[Alpha Romeo]

He charged a cop with a knife. He got what was coming to him.

my friend was unstable., I never knew him to do things like that at all someone might of put some kind of chemical in his system or he might of done that himself - either way he needed help not death., and I think here in NJ at least we should use the taser thingy rather then go on a killing spree.., I mean the chemicals that we put in the air alone are enough to keep the populace illing.

Cops who get charged by idiots with knives hjave a choice. Tase him and hope he falls down or take him down and definitely go home at the end of the shift. No brainer to me.

 

[apostle83]

I'm sorry for your loss.

If the police story was true (and video will prove it if it was) I don't know how the officers could have reacted differently.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

This is very sad to read, and even sadder to know that he very likely was not in his right mind when this occurred.

But if all evidence proves the story the cops told, of the erratic behavior behind the wheel and that he charged them with a knife, then I have to say that sad as it was, they had the right to do what they did. You can kill with a knife--especially with the strength that comes when a person is behaving in an unrestrained manner. Or he could've gotten back in his car and used THAT as a weapon. To me, what the cops did is not up for debate as it would have been if this had been an unarmed man, or someone not making any aggressive moves.

To me, he is a casualty of his mental illness, or whatever caused him to behave that way--and I think the lesson we should take away from this is just how important it is to stick to the treatment plan for any mental condition one has. If you have a severe enough condition to cause episodes like this, the side effects of the meds, however bad they are, are better than winding up hurt or dead as the result of getting out of control during a manic episode.

 

[CYOTI]

and I think here in NJ at least we should use the taser thingy rather then go on a killing spree

A killing spree? The police were defending themselves from being gutted by your friend with the knife. It was self defense.

 

[Tiberius Jim]

He charged a cop with a knife. He got what was coming to him.

my friend was unstable., I never knew him to do things like that at all someone might of put some kind of chemical in his system or he might of done that himself - either way he needed help not death., and I think here in NJ at least we should use the taser thingy rather then go on a killing spree.., I mean the chemicals that we put in the air alone are enough to keep the populace illing.

Cops who get charged by idiots with knives hjave a choice. Tase him and hope he falls down or take him down and definitely go home at the end of the shift. No brainer to me.

Exactly. The cops didn't go on "a killing spree" they were defending themselves from a person who was violent and threatening their lives with a deadly weapon. Had he rushed them with a rubber chicken this would be a different story. As unfortunate as the outcome may be, the reason for why he rushed them is irrelevant. The fact that he did, and with a knife, is reason enough for the cops to respond with deadly force.

What a bizarre "news" article: perp rams his car into cops and then tries to kill them when they pull over, and the article is written like the cops are the criminals. Boggles the mind.

Not only that, but the article reads like it was written by a 6th grader.