More monday morning quarterbacking

Recently a 15 year old male was shot and killed by Cleveland Police Officers conducting a search of his home. It seems he was suspected of multiple cases of robbing pizza deliverymen at knifepoint. The officers went to his home with a search warrant and while conducting their search, were "allegedly" attacked by the young man wielding a knife.

Of course the community is outraged that these two officers found it necessary to protect themeselves by shooting this fine upstanding citizen.

This morning, Cleveland Plain Dealer Reporter Regina Brett raised several issues surrounding this incident. Following is a copy of an email I sent her. Since it will never make it to the paper, I publish it here...

Regina...

You really disapointed me today. You are usually level headed, fair, and right on point. Today however I think you are WAY out...

Near the end of your article you asked the question; "Did it take 10 shots to stop him? Couldn't armed police wearing bulletproof vests disarm a boy with a knife?"

Please Regina consider the following...

1) Bulletproof vests are NO protection from knives. This is primarily due to the fact that they do not cover arms, hands, faces, necks, legs, groins, etc.

2) This "boy" is 15 years old. a man by physical standards.

3) "armed police"; these are key words. Police are armed to protect themselves and society from "clear and present dangers". When an officer draws his/her weapon it is because either they, their partner, or another individual is in grave danger. These decisions must be made in split seconds. I believe that even the most liberal of liberals would have to admit that a knife wielding man lunging at you would be considered a clear and present danger.

4) Consider "split seconds"; How large was Brandon's bedroom? Let's assume it is a larger than normal bedroom, say...15'x15'. Do this experiment; either at home or in the comfort of your office have someone lunge at you from 15' away. How long does it take them to cover that ground and be on top of you? Now have your "attacker" pick up a knife ( how long of a knife? Use something the length of the one Brandon was caught with previously. Oh wait, that's not fair we don't know if it was that large. Let's make it only 3" instead of 8".) Now, have your "attacker" lunge at you brandishing that knife. Still not convinced? Replace your "attacker" with someone you don't know. Replace him with someone who is known to have used a knife on multiple occassions to rob other people. Is the scenario getting more intense?

5) Consider that even with 1 or 2 fatal shots in a lunging body, death does not come fast enough to protect you from attack in the final few "split seconds" before life ends. The attacker will continue to move toward you and most likely still be in attack mode. ( Shooting to wound would not be an option either now would it?)

In those few "split seconds" you consider the safety of yourself, your partner, anyone else in the vacinity. You consider your loved ones who you might be leaving behind... You don't have a taser because they have not been approved yet by your department because somewhere someone on crack-cocaine with a pre-existing heart condition might die if they are tasered... ( sorry this is another topic all together.)

Now ask yourself Regina... How many times would you pull the trigger?