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I did 5 deployments. I’ve shot people and never lost a minute of sleep over it because I was lucky enough to never have an ambiguous situation. I look at that video [of the shooting at Carl Jr.s’] and think that if the officers had reacted a bit more professionally or put a moment’s thought into how they approached an unhinged guy with a big blunt object then they likely wouldn’t have been put into a situation where a questionable shooting was necessary . . .
The officer who chose to shoot a taser at a guy in a thick hoody with the hood up should have retreated the moment he realized that the prongs hadn’t set. Instead he fumbles trying to reholster while at the same time approaching within swinging distance while his hands are still busy. At that point the guy raises what appears to be a pipe bender as if to swing and is shot 5 times by the K9 handler. The first officer, at least a second behind the action, manages to get his firearm out and fire five very probably unnecessary rounds.
It doesn’t matter if the guy was a dirtbag or not. If the officers had used a bit more prudence this death would have likely been prevented. If the first officer had treated the situation with the respect it deserved instead of treating his taser as an easy button I doubt the bad guy would have needed to be shot. His poor decisions under pressure led to what I perceive as a preventable death.
On top of that, according to some sources, the officers’ initial reports described the individual swinging at the officers twice before they fired—not merely raising the weapon threateningly. I’m sure the officers were very displeased when they realized their cover-my-ass fabrication was ruined by a couple of idiots in a car with a smartphone.
Honestly, the lies seem worse than the shooting to me. If officers will blatantly lie about something that took place in full view of many witnesses what are the odds that they have lied before when it was their word against a citizen?