Quote:It's a pretty big double double standard when TJBender and/or you think it's okay for me to use a gun vs unarmed attackers when I'm at risk of death but if a cop reacts the same way in the same scenario it's inexcusable. If a cop was being beaten by unarmed assailants within an inch of his life, should he be allowed to defend himself with his firearm?

Here's what you keep missing: the cop did not have his firearm at the time that he was being beaten, as evidenced by the fact that the assailant was beating the cop with said gun.

 

It's not that difficult. When an unarmed man approaches an officer and throws a punch, that officer should utilize the combat training that we taxpayers provided for them to affect a lawful arrest for felony assault. Once the assailant had the officer's gun, lethal force is absolutely authorized, and you wouldn't see me complaining at all if another officer had arrived on the scene and shot the assailant. The problem with this thread (and the story in general) is that people are arguing with a straight face that a police officer, one whose very presence on the scene was an example of questionable judgment and why unmarked traffic stops should be illegal, should have opened fire on an unarmed man who may or may not have even known (or reasonably believed) at the time that he was being detained by a cop in the first place.

 

Justifiable homicide is an extremely blurry area, simply because you're asking people to judge circumstances rather than laws. In this case, the officer shooting an unarmed man who's picked a fight with him, especially given that said officer has presumably undergone extensive hand-to-hand combat training that the assailant likely had not, would have been murder, plain and simple. The second that assailant has the cop's gun, it goes from murder to justifiable homicide. I don't see what's so hard to get about that. If cops are having second thoughts about shooting unarmed men, good. It's a sign that we've at least made the first little baby step towards reigning them back in.

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