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VISALIA, Calif. — A man in a wheelchair has been shot and killed by Visalia police after allegedly lunging toward an officer with a knife.
Visalia police have not released the man's name. Police Chief Colleen Mestas tells the Times-Delta that an officer, fearing for his life, fired two shots after the man allegedly stood up with the weapon outside a Marshall's store where he had tried to flee in his chair.
Originally posted by Ophiuchus 13
It will be on their conscious from time to time to justify this. SAD, never understood lethal force being used against a person with a blade. I understand it may be some supertrained knife thrower out there so use less lethal force but to take a life. It just seems that many (not all) who are in law enforcement get the mindstate that hey its a legal KILL so its all good full forgetting who else or the REAL judge that seen them and felt their energies when they killed. I dont know what happened other from what I read bu seriously how could he have been deadly..edit on 12/12/11 by Ophiuchus 13 because: (no reason given)
Originally posted by nightstalker78
That article doesn't say much.All it does is just say the cop shot the man.It also says the man stood up out of the wheelchair.If that's the case then obviously there's a lot more to this story.I'll wait till updates come out before I accuse the cop of wrong doing.Also,even if the man was tazed people on this site would still cry about it."oh poor man in a wheelchair was tazed by big mean cop" all the while ignoring,if true,that he stood up out of said wheelchair with a weapon.edit on 12-12-2011 by nightstalker78 because: (no reason given)
Originally posted by whyamIhere
Originally posted by nightstalker78
That article doesn't say much.All it does is just say the cop shot the man.It also says the man stood up out of the wheelchair.If that's the case then obviously there's a lot more to this story.I'll wait till updates come out before I accuse the cop of wrong doing.Also,even if the man was tazed people on this site would still cry about it."oh poor man in a wheelchair was tazed by big mean cop" all the while ignoring,if true,that he stood up out of said wheelchair with a weapon.edit on 12-12-2011 by nightstalker78 because: (no reason given)
As stated in the OP....I wasn't there. I did not assign blame.
If you look at the picture. It doesn't look like he made it too far.
In another article it said it was unclear if the officer had a tasar.
It just "SEEMS" like overkill....I wasn't there.
Originally posted by getreadyalready
reply to post by whyamIhere
Right off the bat, I have to remind people that shoplifters have lots of ruses. Just because he was in a wheelchair doesn't mean he was not ambulatory. The chair could have been a ruse. Second, I agree with others, a knife is very dangerous, and a cop has no way of knowing if the guy is going to continue to advance or fall to the ground. A cop should act to protect his own life when being attacked. I don't blame him a bit, everyone wants to go home at the end of their workday.
Though I still say any cop that shoots someone holding a knife is a p###y. Are cops not trained in hand to hand combat and to disarm someone holding a knife?
Originally posted by Domo1
reply to post by Rockpuck
Though I still say any cop that shoots someone holding a knife is a p###y. Are cops not trained in hand to hand combat and to disarm someone holding a knife?
You have to understand that a knife wound is just as lethal as a gunshot. Why should the cop risk putting himself in more danger going toe to toe?