Footage of two New York City police officers opening fire at a subway station as they confronted a man holding a knife shows they shot at him as he was standing still, his arms by his side and his back to a train.
In the days since Sunday’s shooting, police officials have repeatedly emphasized that the officers fired after Derell Mickles “charged” at one of them, and when their attempts to deescalate the situation and use Tasers had failed — leaving them with little choice but to resort to deadly force to protect themselves and passengers.
The footage, uploaded to the NYPD’s YouTube page Friday, offers a different view of the shooting that not only wounded Mickles but also a bystander, who was hit in the head with a stray bullet. Gregory Delpeche, 49, was sent to the hospital in critical condition, where doctors had to open up his skull to reduce brain swelling, according to his family.
Yes, at one point they had a justification to fire, although that was clearly a dangerous action at any point. They did not have a reason to shoot him and the 3 other people when they did.
There needs to be an imminent threat to them or bystanders when using deadly force. He was an immediate threat to neither at the time. Their recklessness has effectively ended one innocent persons life, and injured several other people.
Stopwatch estimate - that one point was at most 2.75 seconds before the first shot was fired.
Guns (violent use thereof)/violence suck, feel like you would need a lifetime of training to ignore the adrenaline that had built three seconds earlier and be able to say to yourself “OK, I was being chased with a knife just now but upon turning my head I was no longer being chased so back to verbal negotiations“.
[not defending anybody but-]
If I studied for a quiz with the question:
…and the study material were copies of every police training manual in the world… and every single training manual said:
…I would answer the question “you’re gonna get shot” :)
Poor bystanders :(
I am enjoying the heavy peppering of “not defending the cops, but” every few sentences as you defend them, but overall these cops let adrenaline override good sense and what I expect is at least some training to shoot wildly at a train car full of people.
All to “stop” a man who was not actively working to injury them or others. Their lack of professionalism and reliance on dumping lead into a crowded train has left an innocent man now effectively dead.
No amount of “poor bystanders, but with emoji sad face” will make their actions okay. A hearty “thoughts and prayers” isn’t enough here.
Don’t believe we disagree