“Instead of standing there and teaching a cop when there’s an unarmed person coming at them with a knife or something, shoot them in the leg instead of in the heart,”
Dementia Joe Biden
Which came first? It’s a tough call, is Biden and idiot? Or does he think all democrats are idiots because they have been electing and reelecting hit for over forty years? Joe wants police to shoot suspects in the leg. I guess that means, that in Joe’s view, it is okay to shoot black dudes. It only becomes a problem when the cops shoot accurately and put a round in the Ten ring.
Hit, miss or wound when cops shoot at somebody they employ deadly force. State and Federal law defines circumstances when the use of deadly force is appropriate. There are slight variations from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. But one bedrock principle holds. In order to use deadly force the shooter must have a reasonable fear for his or her life or another’s life. The use of force is justified in defense of those lives.
Unlike the portrayal often seen by way of Hollywood, most shooting are of the spray and pray variety. Most rounds fired in anger, miss. The old, “it’s just a flesh wound,” doesn’t mean the opponent was being benevolent. It means the shooter was a shitty shot.
Color me wrong. I thought this BLM bullshit was about the police use of deadly force under any circumstances. Shooting a gun out of a bad guy’s hand or shooting him in the leg is still using deadly force. Wounding a bad guy just sets up a law suit. I can hear it now: “Due to my injured hand I can no longer pursue my dreams of being a concert pianist. I was gonna start lessons next week, maybe the week after, but now it is all gone.”
Ask the FBI about the Miami Bank robbers. Two guys who were fatally wounded by the FBI in a shootout. That didn’t stop them from killing two FBI agents and wounding others. The Medical Examiner determined that they had sustained wounds in the opening moments of the gunfight. Those wounds would have ultimately killed them. But they didn’t stop the fight.
Here is a teaser for you. This was a shooting I investigated one New Years Eve. Gilbert considered himself a bad ass. There were two things he was known for; terrorizing a cut and shoot bar on Saturday night. Or beating the held out of any guy that dared to date his ex-wife. Gilbert beat one scrawny little dude, but the guy persisted. The next time Gilbert found the little guy we got an ambulance call. We got there, only to find that the little guy had shot Gilbert in the left arm. Two weeks later, Gilbert again. The little guy shot him in the right arm. Each time his used a small caliber gun.
On New Years Eve the little guy, Gilbert’s ex-wife and another couple are having a quiet celebration in the other couple’s home. Gilbert shows up, kicks in the door and announces to all that he is going to kill the little guy. The little guy pulls out his Christmas present, a .38 caliber pistol. He put one round in the ten ring. Gilbert went down. The little guy decided not to hang around. As he passed Gilbert, on his way out the door, he put three rounds into the floor all around Gilbert.
Gilbert, being a shit head survived his wound. The question I used to put to the rookie class was this: “Given the circumstances, if Gilbert had died what was the appropriate charge for the little guy?”
I don’t know anything about brain surgery. But I do know about a variety of other subjects. If you are considering brain surgery talk to a couple of brain surgeons. Don’t talk about brain surgery. Talk about common sense stuff. When one of the candidates goes out where the buses don’t stop, while talking about common sense stuff, go with the other guy.
About Gilbert and the little guy. Given Gilbert’s history, the previous confrontations and his actions on New Years Eve, putting a round in Gilbert’s chest was justifiable, even laudable. It was a clear case of self defense. Had Gilbert died the only viable charge against the little guy would have been attempted murder or aggravated assault for the three rounds that missed.
As it was, Gilbert refused to cooperate. He was standing when he refused EMS. He told us to Fuck off and swilled down a beer. Surrounded by two paramedics and two cops, none of us were able to catch him when he swayed three times and passed out. He went to the hospital anyway. I wrote the incident up as “assist ambulance”, a miscellaneous incident.