> Outside, the man jumped into a black Dodge Challenger as officers drew their firearms and told him to stop
Not sure how this was justified for shoplifting.
Not sure how this was justified for shoplifting.
When I was maybe 11, we were in eastern Washington, I was on the back of the bike, and we got pulled over for failing to signal when pulling out of a gas station. Which I don't think is a violation? And also we did signal. But in any case, the cop approached the bike with gun drawn and pointed at us.
It's not about the suspected violation. These are cops willing to aggressively threaten lethal force when they are experiencing fear/anxiety/uncertainty based on what the suspect looks like, be it their skin color or their clothing.
The CHP called for backup forced them over and drew their weapons on them.
Same for friends at a University. High, and in possession they tried ditching the cops; bad move. Cops caught them drew weapons extremely infuriated at them.
There are also a fair amount of bully cowboys out there hiding behind the badge.
I was a teenage passenger in a car when a friend of mine held up his wallet in the light of the back window to see if he had his bank card or w/e. Cop car was behind us in traffic, pulls us over, and two cops get out guns drawn instructing everyone to get face down on the pavement.
Turns out they thought they saw a knife/gun when my friend had held us wallet up in the light, and they figured we were brandishing a weapon at them. We all got searched and when they found half of us Boy Scouts were carrying pocket knives things got really stupid really fast. We had to beg them to be rational with us, nose down on the pavement. Still makes my blood boil.
This is anecdotal in rural small-town Iowa.
It feels to me that the only solution is to completely shut it down
A couple of examples:
https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/12/police-...
https://www.startribune.com/fear-based-training-for-police-o...
https://www.minnpost.com/community-voices/2020/06/warrior-or...
> the suspect shoplifted candy and other snacks from the hotel gift shop and darted into a men’s room after a hotel staffer called police.
> When two officers arrived, the man handed over a driver’s license from Tennessee identifying him as Jamal Owens.
> But police ran the name through the computer in the patrol car and determined the license was not valid and possibly fraudulent, according to the report.
> When the police pulled out their handcuffs to arrest the man, he fled out the back door of the hotel, losing a sneaker on the way.
The police outside has no idea about the threat-level it seems, for them it's just someone running from the law, possibly dangerous person.
That the situation even escalates to this point for some shoplifting and invalid license though, is quite telling of the public's feeling and fear for the police.
Not sure how you characterize that as "shoplifting". They had already questioned him about the shoplifting, without pulling their guns. It was the escape, driving at the officers, and ramming that got the guns pulled.
It doesn't make sense to use the fact that he hit some stuff while fleeing from the men with guns to justify drawing the guns. In fact, provoking panicked flight seems like a pretty foreseeable outcome of drawing a gun on someone. If I had a gun drawn on me I might very well flee in a panic, potentially hitting cars with mine. They drew the guns before he did any of that and it's reasonable to think them drawing them made those outcomes more likely.
Edit: Here are the NJ deadly use of force standards [1]. My reading of the standards would not allow the use of deadly force in this situation. The rules also state that officers should only unholster their weapons when "circumstances create a reasonable belief that display of a firearm as an element of constructive authority helps establish or maintain control in a potentially dangerous situation." It's hard to see what was "potentially dangerous" in this situation before the guns were drawn.
People then use the mere word justified to determine if it matches their predisposition. Most of that comes from an appeal to authority, if an organization they respect (the district attorney, mayor, etc) gives them a confirmation that it was justified, then they feel comfortable in their world view. Despite not really knowing that the legal term justified is not universal or predictable, and just comes down to an officer choosing from a catalogue of available options, instead of being judged on which option they chose like a civilian would.