whose life is worth more? the cops or the victims?

S

SmarterthanYou

rebel
man calls 911 to report burglars in his home

then the cops arrive and kill the victim.

Maybe if the police officer had arrived just a minute later, the young man would still be alive. That’s what the friends and family of Destin Thomas say, after Columbus police confirmed yesterday that it was one of their own officers who shot and killed Thomas while responding to a 911 call he had made on Tuesday morning.

Police gave few details yesterday about what happened between the 21-year-old Thomas and Officer William Kaufman, a 17-year veteran, citing the ongoing investigation.

They said that Kaufman shot Thomas twice, in his hip and chest. Thomas died at the scene.

Thomas was found with a gun next to his body, but police haven’t said where that gun came from or whether Thomas even had it in his hand when he was shot.

His roommate and cousin have both said that Thomas didn’t own a gun, and they think he somehow got the weapon off the men who broke into his apartment at 7277 Brooke Blvd.

Thomas’ roommate, DelShawn Walker, 22, said his friend had no interest in guns. “He said on several occasions, ‘I don’t plan on getting a gun. I don’t need one,’” he said.

Walker and Harris are angry with police. Thomas was the one the police were supposed to be protecting, they said.

When Thomas called 911 at 8:46 a.m. Tuesday, he said in a whispered voice that people had broken into his apartment and he could hear them talking.

Because of the rash of recent police shootings, officers held a demonstration of how they handle confrontations with armed people for media representatives at the Police Training Academy today.

Columbus Police Chief Kimberley Jacobs said it’s impossible for officers to predict what a person intends to do when that person approaches with a weapon.

“We have to be able to react in instantaneous fashion,” she said.

Asked if she was concerned that Thomas might have been wrongly shot, she said it “would be concerning if someone who has no (malicious intent) toward an officer was shot.”

“But we can’t predict that, and we can’t know that when someone has a gun in their hand.”
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Report armed burglars in house, then have weapon in hand when police arrive... And then be surprised when the police react poorly to be approached by an armed man when they have been told that unarmed civilians are in danger.
 
Disillusioned said:
Report armed burglars in house, then have weapon in hand when police arrive... And then be surprised when the police react poorly to be approached by an armed man when they have been told that unarmed civilians are in danger.
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maybe you didn't read the same story as I posted, but the police were not told that the intruders were armed, nor were the police approached by a man with gun in hand. what the story says is that the police saw a man chasing after another carrying a gun in hand, so the police weren't threatened at all. what they did do, though, is shoot said man carrying a gun without telling him to stop or freeze or drop the gun. they just shot him. dead. no trial or nothing.

now, this may be the way you police staters want things. sort of a 'judge dredd' type atmosphere where cops can kill with impunity and as long as it's not you or your loved ones, you don't need to really be bothered with it. i could be wrong, but you'd have to try to convince me of that.
 
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