California sheriff releases bodycam video of killing of boy, 15, holding gardening tool

Comments

• ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I think shooting someone trying to attack you with a hoe generally counts as self-defense, but I don’t understand why

  “The use of a Taser in this situation with the amount of time or the use of pepper-spray would not have been something we would have been able to react to quick enough. Ultimately we have to stop this problem … law enforcement officers are not required to be hit over the head with something. What happens when they get incapacitated? … The deputies followed through with what their training protocols are.”

  This seems like exactly the situation tasers are meant for.

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  • ReallyKinda@kbin.social ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    That statement also admits that this is in line with protocol, Idk who in their right mind would call a protocol acceptable where 3 guys show up to a distress call with guns and can’t manage to deescalate one kid with a hoe without loss of life.

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  • Tb0n3@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Tasers are not as effective as a gun. If you are fighting for your life you take no chances.

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    • Rampsquatch@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      And if this were a story about some random person defending themselves I might agree, but it’s not. It’s about a police officer who supposedly has the physical fitness and training to take the extra risk of using less than lethal options.

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    • ParetoOptimalDev@lemmy.today ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Pull out both and position taser like flashlight?

      Pull taser out immediately to reduce time drawing it if their is slight indication of violence.

      I’m not sure someone running at you with a gardening tool counts as fighting for your life.

      Police around the world manage not to shoot people in these situations.

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    • 520@kbin.social ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      A taser would have been enough. That 15 year old kid wouldn't be able to shrug off a taser.

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  • Xanis@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    The question I’m asking is:

    Why is there no time for a taser or pepper spray? Those should release just as quickly and easily as a firearm. Moreover, I’m rather confident I could take someone coming at me with a gardening tool, and I’m no police officer. Sure, don’t risk a physical altercation, though at what point did that situation warrant the use of a firearm?

    And a taser holds little real risk for the officer firing it. Hell, even a gun can have issues.

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  • Crikeste@lemm.ee ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    But in your first sentence you clarified this is okay. No change will happen until you, and every other American, change that thinking.

    You don’t understand why a cop killed a kid in a country that will do backflips in order to find justification for said violence?

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• The_Picard_Maneuver@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  This is a tragic story and I’m against police brutality as much as anyone, but it feels a little sensationalist to word a news article title this way. “Holding a gardening tool” makes me picture someone who was just minding his own business and planting flowers, but a quick google search shows him trying to attack the officers with a garden hoe.

  Shame on The Guardian for muddying the waters to try to farm clicks from a terrible situation.

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  • blackbirdbiryani@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Yet almost every other police force in the world would’ve handled this without shooting him…

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    • The_Picard_Maneuver@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Agreed. It’s a serious problem, but the discussion gets so muddied by websites with low integrity running headlines that are intentionally dishonest, just for clicks. They know they’ll get more outrage and $$ by wording it this way, and it’s gross behavior.

      How many people across the web do you think saw this headline and assumed, like I did before looking into it, that this was another case of police mistaking some harmless object for a gun? Probably lots.

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  • PrinceWith999Enemies@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    It was a hula hoe - basically a stick. It was not the kind of hoe with a blade. They killed a kid that they knew was in a mental health crisis for running at them with a stick.

    They could have tackled him. They could have tased him. They could have pepper sprayed him. They could have tried entering the home more gently and used de-escalation practices like most medical professionals use. If a patient in crisis picks up an IV pole and threatens hospital workers with it, their response is not to shoot the patient three times.

    This is an American cop problem, period.

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• johnlobo@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  american cop is such a wuss, southeastasian cop handle crazy machete guy without even touching their gun.

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• tygerprints@kbin.social ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  It is not possible to know when you are confronted with coming at you holding a tool in a threatening manner whether or not he's autistic or "having a mental health crisis." An officer cannot afford to sit and wait to see if the attacker strikes him in the skull first.

  I'm not saying this couldn't have been handled better and it should have been - but I can understand how it happens. Taking a reasonable amount of risk has to be balanced with instantaneous assessment of whether this person who's on a rampage is about to strike you or a family member in a lethal way. This may not be the happiest outcome, but people need to stop instantly criticizing every move the police make.

  If YOU were the officer standing there having to make a snap judgment, you very likely would do the same thing, even if you think you wouldn't.

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  • FfaerieOxide@kbin.social ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Why were the officers even there?

    A nation whose only recourse to it citizenry having mental health crises is sending men to shoot them is a damned one.

    Take some that change you're clanging 'round to buy local sheriffs F-18s and equip nurses and counselors with bearsuits and a living wage.

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  • PrinceWith999Enemies@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Then why is the US the only country where this kind of thing happens so regularly that every time a story like this comes out, I have to wonder if it’s about a new one or the last one? Cops shot a guy in his backyard for holding a cell phone.

    American police are on a literal hair trigger for lethal violence, especially against minorities, and most especially against African Americans. They are taught that their lives are in constant danger, and their use of force regulations are ridiculously loose. There’s even an entire training course for law enforcement called “killology.”

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  • Nudding@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    It’s a good thing they have like 4 different “less lethal” methods to handle that sort of thing. Oh wait they just shoot you dead and get a paid vacation until everyone forgets. Great system.

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  • Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    No, I would not do the same thing if I were an officer. I just feel like this needs to be said. Not everyone is seeking to preserve their own life at the expense of others.

    I’m sick of cops acting like they are supposed to do this. It’s the opposite of why we pay them hazard pay.

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  • Hegar@kbin.social ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    standing there having to make a snap judgment, you very likely would do the same thing

    If a police officer is as likely as me to freak out and fuck up in an emergency, they don't have the required training or character to do their job.

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• brbposting@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Bodycam Footage: 17 seconds

  Piped Mirror

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  • brbposting@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    This sucks, y’all

    Image

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    • ParetoOptimalDev@lemmy.today ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      1st frame should be back up and get ready to taze.

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