Cops defend firing 59 shots at one man

I saw this term used.
How dead was this guy?
Was he completely dead or just a little dead?
I think cops should only shoot until the suspects are just barely dead.
Not overly dead but dead.
I also think they should wait until the suspecttry to shoot them like Matt Dillon did on Gunsmoke

Is that like being just a little bit pregnant? Matt Dillon was so much faster than anyone else he could wait on the other guy like a lot of gun carriers of today. Cops normally don't get enough training to have that advantage. :D
 
I thought the cop rule went something like this: "When one of us (cops) starts shooting, all the cops empty their guns into the threat." Also, "A cop who doesn't observe this rule is an unreliable partner."
That's just what I've heard.
I neglected to add that I am not a law enforcement officer.
 
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If someone is trying to kill me and I have a gun in hand, I probably will keep shooting until I perceive the guy is no longer a threat. I cannot fault the officers involved for the number of shots fired.

Whether it was a justified shooting gets decided by colleagues of those who did the shooting. In fact, they announced their decision on that point pdq.

I thought the cop rule went something like this: "When one of us (cops) starts shooting, all the cops empty their guns into the threat." Also, "A cop who doesn't observe this rule is an unreliable partner."
That's just what I've heard.
Its not far from the truth. But it is not just cop culture. It is human nature. If someone is shooting you feel the need to do so too. Especially once your adrenaline gets going and you are on a hair trigger.

The reality is that if it happened the way the police tell the story, is the guy was not rational and trying to reason with someone who is not rational is not likely to be successful. At some point the cops may have had little choice in the matter.

One might argue about their tactics, or the way they choose to handle the situation, but once it started to go down, its tough to see it going any other way than how it did.
 
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"3. Those cops could have easily killed a bystander with that much shooting. "

I'm sorry but bystanders who are watching six cops face of with an armed crazy person? Kind of like watching a train wreck from on the train isn't it? I am not saying they deserve to be shot but if people start pulling out guns and im not one of them...i will be vacating the premises.
 
Here's a few thoughts for those without any LE background. When you get a call on something like this everybody who is remotely close to the scene runs hot to get there. Adrenalin pumping like mad. Generally speaking the first to respond will be the primary officer. Of course a supervisor will be enroute too, sometimes, but not always, he will take the role of PO when he arrives. Depending on the call.
6 regular patrol officers do not train together like a SWAT team will. I can only imagine the amount of confusion and chaos that might have gone on before the shooting began. One of the biggest clusterf#### I've ever seen happened at a multi agency felony stop. Poor sucker, armed robbery suspect, at gunpoint by 4-5 officers and each of them telling him to do something different. "Hands in the air," Hands behind your head." "On the ground." 'Don't move." "Turn around slowly." "Get on your knees." "Stand up, sit down, fight fight fight"

Each officer at the OP had a different perspective, different experience, different gun handling ability, and different mindset in how they intended to deal with such a situation. I seriously doubt that any one of them could tell you who fired the first shot. But I will bet that since all of them fired in unison, they all saw the same thing. One might have reacted a hair faster than the others.

The notion that every officer has to empty his gun is not completely farfetched but actually not completely true in my experience. I backed up a situation once that ended in an OIS. The guy and his partner emptied their guns into a car and wounded the BG. I didn't have a clear shot at the BG so I didn't shoot. It kind of reminded me of recon by fire but I didn't think I needed to add to the suppressive fire. This particular BG never fired a shot. He did pull a gun from under the seat however. Nobody said a thing about it to me. The partner caught hell from the rest about 15 rounds fired and no hits, though.
 
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