In a recent incident, a man attacking an officer with a piece of wood kept coming and coming, It took 12 hits to stop him.
These kinds of things DO happen, though they are rare. However, its not wise to just take the report at face value. Reporters get things wrong. Cops get things wrong. And often while correct, the language used to describe what happened fails to accurately report what actually happened, sometimes, intentionally so...
"It took 12 hits to stop him..."
MAYBE...
No doubt the facts are, he was hit 12 times and he was stopped, but without more detailed information, you can draw the wrong conclusion.
Did it take 12 hits to stop him?? OR was he hit 12 times before he stopped??
There IS a difference. One cop shot him 12 times? More than one cop shooting, 12 hits before he fell down??? Were there 9 hits in non vital parts? 11? 3? These, and other details are important to know before drawing any conclusions.
Saw a morgue photo once, of a guy who took 33 torso hits (thirty-three) before going down. He was a large man (300+lbs) there were 3 cops shooting their 9mms and it was over in about 2 seconds or so.
I am reminded of the comedian who said "I don't know how many guys it takes to throw me out of a bar, but they used six!"
Point here is, when someone says "it took X hits to stop them" and no other details, you don't know enough to base a judgement on.