Sunday, December 14, 2014

VIDEO POSTED

I missed last class but I saw the video which was posted so am assuming all of the police killings were a topic in the class. I had seen the video and read about the case when it had happened. It is a very disturbing video, and even though it angers me when people record things happening instead of trying to help, its a big thing now recording altercations with citizens and officers. In this case, I read that Mr. Powell was mentally ill and he was outside with a knife in broad day light. Apparently police were called to the scene and thats when some undercover cops pulled up responding to the call. First off, the approach the cops had in my opinion was as if they were ready to take action. The way they sped in and pulled up so fast but it can be understandable after all they were looking for a man with a knife out right? In the video you can hear Mr. Powell telling the cops to just shoot him already and he did walk towards the cops which in their defense they see as a threat and are allowed to "defend" themselves. What I do not agree with was their approach as to how they handled the situation. As police officers I know they are risking their lives every day and always have to be on the defense, but as police officers the objective shouldn't ever be simply to immediately kill but to catch the criminal. If the cop honestly felt threatened and felt he had to use his gun then he should have just shot Mr. Powell in the foot. If he would have shot him in the foot he would of gotten him down, been able to hand cuff him between him and the other cop who was there and I'm pretty sure they could have gotten him under control that way with out shooting multiple times as he did and killing the victim. Yes I said victim because I see no reason as to why the cop had to shoot so many times the way he did when the situation could have been handled much different with out anyone losing their lives.