Quote:
Originally Posted by flameswin
I don't think you quite understand how police shootings work. They're based on a threat to civilians and the responsing officers lives, not on how bad of a crime has been commited. Police don't get to say "Oh my god, what a terrible crime he's commited, let's shoot him". Because like Valo43 said, that would be manslaughter, if not murder.
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No, I do perfectly understand the rules, when the cops first approached the bus Lin, by press accounts, stood by the door of the bus waving the head of his victim and his hunting knife, he refused to drop the knife, the cop was about 3 feet away from him seperated by a door controlled from inside the bus (ie concevably controlled by Lin).
Under similer circumstance cops have decided that by refusing to drop the knife, and acting in a threatening manner, they were at risk, and shot people quite legally. It is a mistake to think the police have to be actually attacked to use lethal force.
From the Vancouver Sun
No charge against Vancouver officer who fatally shot man
The Canadian Press
A Vancouver police officer who repeatedly fired at a man and killed him with a shot to the head nearly five years ago will not be charged.
Police Complaint Commissioner Stan Lowe said Monday that extensive investigations have not produced any evidence to suggest Const. Lee Chipperfield used unnecessary or excessive force in handling the incident.
Chipperfield was among several officers who responded to a 911 call about a man's erratic behaviour on the night of August 13, 2007.
He fired multiple shots at Paul Boyd, who was mentally ill and swinging a bicycle chain.
A coroner's inquest in 2010 heard Chipperfield shot Boyd eight times and fired the final shot, which hit the illustrator's head -- even after his partner told him to hold fire and disarmed the man.
Now I agree you could argue that in the above case the cops could have and should have disarmed the guy with a bit of bike chain, after all they were never in any danger of being killed and barely at risk of being hurt to be frank, but it was still a legal shooting, so some guy waving a hunting knife and someones bloody decapitated head on a bus would clearly pass muster under canadian law.