Victor Perez, 17, who also had cerebral palsy, had been in a coma since the April 5 shooting, and tests Friday showed that he had no brain activity, his aunt, Ana Vazquez, told The Associated Press. He had undergone several surgeries, with doctors removing nine bullets and amputating his leg.
The shooting outraged Perez’s family and Pocatello residents, and about 200 people attended a vigil Saturday morning outside the Pocatello hospital where he was treated. Another crowd of protesters gathered outside the Pocatello City Hall building, which also houses the police department, on Saturday afternoon. Police snipers were stationed on a nearby rooftop during the protest, though no violence was reported. Many of the protesters held signs with phrases like, “Do better, PPD” and “Justice for Victor,” and passing cars honked in acknowledgment.
People overestimate the stopping power of bullets. Bullets will indeed kill somebody but it’s not instant like in the movies.
Then maybe bullets aren’t the best way to stop someone with a knife… Pepper spray is pretty much instant, so is a taser. So is a baton to the wrist
Police are trained that it is an “us or them” situation every time they encounter someone. Everyone will try to kill you unless proven otherwise.
They are taught if someone has a knife pulled they will be able to kill them.
Now obviously a severely disabled teen would not be able to rush them before they pulled their weapons. But they are not taught to evaluate or deescalate these situations. They are taught to kill
True, which is why I think we should take away their guns. They want to waste money on toys? Let them get fishing nets and people catchers. Give them tactical weighted blankets
And if they actually need a gun, have them call a unit dedicated to having guns - another tier that doesn’t do traffic stops and wellness checks
Unfortunately I don’t think that would be practical in the US. We do have many people with guns and weapons in general. An overhaul of training and giving access to appropriate tools would be most important. As it stands US cops are taught that a gun is their best tool and that’s how they use it. Maybe enforce pairs where only the senior most trained officer has a gun?
Otherwise I would like to see a lot more unarmed units focused on community policing issues. Whether that be a part of the police force or not. I also agree with units that only do traffic enforcement nothing more. That alone would reduce cop shootings massively. Many departments treat traffic stops as a way to catch other crimes and could care less about enforcing traffic laws that keep us safe
“iD rAtHeR bE tRiEd By 12 tHaN cArriEd bY 6”
Amazing how police in other countries manage to de-escalate
They aren’t concerned with actual effectiveness. For attacking them with a weapon the pigs see summary execution as necessary.
Absolutely.
There are a lot of variables.
Yes, absolutely. But you you have somebody running towards you with a knife you don’t have time to consider and evaluate all of them. “Are they still moving” is pretty much all the input you can evaluate.
I’m not excusing the cops here. I’m just pointing out the misunderstanding of “why so many bullets” for which I will be heavily down-voted and shouted at.
Only lightly downvoted, nice
# of bullets is always an entirely understandable distraction
Was a firearm drawn? Was it discharged? Don’t care about # of bullets personally, one could kill my loved one just like 10,000 could.
Fair enough, but it seems like the cops should have the intelligence and situational awareness to understand the stopping power of a chain-link fence.
Im not a TRAINED cop, but I know that as long as he’s on the other side of the fence, armed only with a knife, I’m in no immediate danger, and I would use my words and my intelligence to try to talk him down.
If he jumps the fence, then it’s a different situation, but as long as he is caged, there are a LOT more steps to go through before we land on a magdump by multiple cops.
Frankly, I think the situation here is that one super-cowardly (or overly aggresive and trigger-happy) cop panicked and fired, and the rest unloaded, too, just to cover for the first one. Now they can’t just blame one bad cop, they have a bunch, which makes it look more justified. They probably talk about this strategy in the locker room - “If one fires, we all fire.”
I have heard multiple firearms trainers give statements to the effect of
And if you watch police body-cam footage, you can see their panic switch pull the trigger, and then the cadence of gunfire rapidly picks up after that first shot.
Go look at any police force in Europe where the ‘suspect with a knife’ gets vastly different treatment.
Euro cops almost always have a pistol, but the mentality is completely different regarding shoot v no-shoot
Yeah - it’s the panicy bit that’s such a problem. They failed the moment they opened fire. Cops need to be better trained to understand the difference between life threatening and not. And that frankly that their job is to accept some risk on behalf of the public.
The purpose is not to kill