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Attachment 2895http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...d-8215805.html
I always thought Policemen were trained "observers".According to Wiki a taser can only be used 10 metres or less, at that distance how can you mistake a white stick for a Samuri sword ?.
just a trigger happy bizzie, Classic reason why the police force as a whole should not be armed.And who had the white stick ?
as an ex bizzie, for once i am speechless. i can not understand how the hell an old man with a white stick can be mistaken for a drunk with a sword. this is absolutely unbelievable and totally unacceptable.
i totally agree steve that on a general basis the cops should not be armed if need be then have armed response units. i believe that the responsibility on a civilian force that is armed is much greater than that of a military unit. and my own personal view i that a tazer is not an appropriate weapon for police officers.
i would expect this officer to face serious disciplinary charges with a possibility of his being dismissed from the service.
ivor
I thought that currently, only fire arms officers carry Tazers, I'm probably wrong, if I'm right or I presume that these were armed response officers due to the nature of the call, what would have happened if they didn't have the Tazer ? I'm not one for police bashing, but even allowing for the " fog of war" this is going to be hard one to justify.(or cover up).
My guess is that this guy had an ND and is trying to cover it up . Like you have all said before , you cannot mistake what you have seen as the variables are massive .
I am not knocking the boys in blue but could you see the scenario, A council estate on a November night drunken youths and fireworks goading the police. Lets just stick to the current set up.
Having read the statement of the victim, it seems it was a very aggressive encounter even after he hit the deck, I know you can't take chances in hot situations but "controlled aggression" surely should be the order of the day. Bad pennies in every group including the police, as my lad came up against a couple of them the other night,he wouldn't have minded being stopped as the police thought he'd come out from the pub car park (his girlfriend lives down the road next to it) he didn't mind being accused off drinking or taking drugs as his eye's were a bit weird as he'd fallen asleep on the settee, woke up and thought **** ! it's that time, I've got work in the morning, the thing that really got him wound up was the sheer aggression, rudeness & and attitude shown by them from the first question, they then slammed him up against the car & body searched him, they then ripped his car apart (drug search) again no problem, but it was the way they threw his stuff about & left it strewn on the road, they left with no apology, goodnight or anything. One ****** off lad who said "f**k em the next time they want help" !! Dan is one of the mildest lads I know & is not exactly Charles Atlas in the body dept & like he said, no problem with the stop just the attitude. how to win the hearts & minds of the community, !!! Rant over.
Nice rant ritchie, but remarkably mild very few asterisks and not once did you question their knowledge of their fathers. a few more good old Anglo-Saxon words and phrases might have, in the circumstances, been in order.:winkicon:
but joking apart. am going to assume that this old man with his samurai sword, sorry white stick, was trying to evade arrest by racing down the road at a pace that might just have caused a Tortoise a few problems. but caused this big,fit,hairy a**ed cop some concerns. obviously he couldn't catch the old man so he shot him in the back ( at this point i did think of using several well known expletives and calling his parentage into question.but i suppose his mother, at least, might be a nice person).
Now a question ?
I grew up on a hill farm in N.E. Wales where shotguns ( 12 Bore/4.10's ) were used regularly so the rules of use were explained to me from a quite early age, and these rules were to be OBEYED,no compromise. as an ATC Cadet the rules were again explained in relation to firing on ranges.
Now,and i hope someone can confirm this, my understanding is that, with a loaded weapon you DO Not put your finger on the trigger until you are about to fire. this is to prevent an accidental discharge which might result in you shooting yourself in the foot. or possibly injuring a friend.
if i am correct then this officer was in breach of the rule or had already made the decision to take the old man down without knowing the full picture. there can be NO excuse for this. a firearm of any type, when in use by a CIVY Police Force, MUST be a weapon of LAST RESORT. anything else is Not acceptable.
ivor