California has an officer’s “Bill of Rights” that gives them (extra) special rights. California lead the nation, by far, in deaths as result of police encounter in 2015. Coincidence?! I don’t think it is.
In the USA, 1,134 people died in 2015 at the hands of police. 2016 is a little more than halfway gone, and how many this year, so far?
No, unequivocal NO! If suicidal the PD is to intervene on the well being of a citizen, not execute them. You can dance this anyway you like, they had a million options other than kill an unarmed 19 yr old boy.
A 19 year old male does not have a fully developed brain. That’s simply a fact. It can easily be found by searching for such information,. Young males have poor judgment and many just can’t believe that they will be murdered by the police when they’ve done no wrong, The kids defiance to show his hand means the cops are very poorly prepared to deal with much of the age group they encounter. This kind of murder will stop only when cops are well vetted and well trained before being handed a badge and gun or it will stop when every cop involved in such a murder faces life in prison. Sooner or later parents and loved one of cop murdered people will hunt down the killer(s) and mead out vigilante justice. Hopefully only the cops involved will be targets but the mind of someone whose kid has been killed might decide to go after a cops loved ones. Nothing good will happen until we invest in police forces that are trained to respect the people they are working with.
And you’ll likely still get shot, no matter how much you may comply.
I’m gonna need you to explain your reasoning. Use small words, because apparently I’m really stupid for not being able to understand why “FML” = “Please murder me for no god damn reason”.
Did the cops shout “He’s comin’ right for us!”?
If I was making unsupported guesses, I’d say possibly high and scared of being caught with drugs. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he had a bag of weed or somesuch in his hand.
But I don’t make those unsupported guesses, because I wasn’t there, I don’t know, and because premature speculation about these things rarely leads to anything other than slandering the victim and excusing the murderers.
And, more importantly, because:
None of those things give the police a licence to murder.
I am mentally ill, and I have a medication-induced motor disorder that gives me Tourettish physical symptoms. I twitch, and mutter, and squeak, and my limbs fly about of their own volition. And it gets worse when I’m startled, under stress, or when I’m self-conscious about being observed.
If a cop pointed a gun at me and started yelling orders as shown here, I’d be instantly kicked into full-throttle twitching/screaming mode. Given the available evidence of their procedures, I’d be lucky to be alive five seconds after my first encounter with American police.
To be fair, if he actually was trying to commit suicide by cop, that is to say he was mentally ill, he falls under one of the other categories of American that cops have a license to kill.
I don’t like the word “executed” to describe this kind of killing because of the sense of legitimacy it has. “Murdered in cold blood” would be more accurate.
I’m glad you would like to think that.
Meanwhile, I and many others have no such “optimistic faith.”
Too many people have been injured and died unnecessarily at the hands of the police, with no real consequences for those responsible.
Do you have children? Is this how you’d like to explain this tragedy to them? Would you be as dismissive if this happened to your family?
Perhaps a little inner reflection is in order, just a little Dude.
Jesus fucking christ no.
There’s no good reason to play Siskel and Ebert and try to interpret what’s going on in every amateur snuff film.
Roger That!
Beautiful.
I was told as a child that the Police couldn’t shoot someone unless they were shot at first. Was that changed? Or was it never true and we are now finally seeing the truth.
Even if this were true, it presumes one can commit suicide simply by refusing to cooperate with the cops. It’s not the defense you think it is.
Monsters!!!
An internal affairs investigation will look into whether police procedures were followed and whether there were other options.
If procedures were followed, set fire to the rulebook immediately. If not, set fire to the officers (or modern day equivalent).
Options… hard to see any other options in this case 
You’re making the murder victim responsible for his murder. Nice. You sure you’re not a LEO? Are you some kind of wannabe or academy hopeful? Because you talk like the kids who would join Explorer Scouts and talk about becoming a cop someday.
Pretty sure that was never the case. Depending how old you are, it used to be even worse on what the official ROE was.
Not that I’m a fan, but aren’t situations like this what tazers are for?
I mean- the tazer would suck and be no fun, but I’d rather ride the lightning than be dead.
It’s true, but only if you’re white.
