Cop shoots wheelchair bound double amputee

[bivenator]

I try to be on the side of the LEO's. I know they have a hard job, and then a story like this comes to light. We have had some questionable police shootings here in Houston recently but this is over the top with bad judgement.

HPD officer shoots, kills wheelchair-bound man at group home for the mentally ill | abc13.com

[masraum]

Yeah, I know they have a crappy job, but damn. What, no taser?

[tevake]

You know what they say, you have to watch out for the power of the pen.
This will be white washed.

[9dreizig]

missing and arm and a leg.. sorry but can't get Monte Python scene out of my head ..
I'm sure the pen he had in his hand looked JUST LIKE A GLOCK

[Joeaksa]

"had a pen in his hand and had been doodling".... and the cop shot him.

Where in the hell are we getting cops like this? Why are they allowed on the force?

[SPerron]

This kind of stuff is complete insanity!!!
No wonder people try and evade police, they fear for their lives.

[aigel]

The story doesn't bode well for the cops, that's for sure. A man missing an arm and a leg subduing an able bodied cop with a pen? That itself is laughable - the cop can't be fit for the job. Was he one of those 350 pounds tubs of lard? Do they ever do minimum fitness tests and take guys off the force for being unable to serve?

How about using a taser instead of a head shot? A good head lock on the guy by cop two probably would have made him let go as well.

What always worries me are the "internal investigations". I don't think we have an independent system to shed light on police brutality and police crime. The only thing that saves us these days are videos.

G

[tevake]

The one armed, one legged guy was probably trying to run over the cops foot with his wheel chair, while going for the juggler with his pen.

There clearly was no other option.

[intakexhaust]

Originally Posted by aigel

The story doesn't bode well for the cops, that's for sure. A man missing an arm and a leg subduing an able bodied cop with a pen? That itself is laughable - the cop can't be fit for the job. Was he one of those 350 pounds tubs of lard? Do they ever do minimum fitness tests and take guys off the force for being unable to serve?

How about using a taser instead of a head shot? A good head lock on the guy by cop two probably would have made him let go as well.

What always worries me are the "internal investigations". I don't think we have an independent system to shed light on police brutality and police crime. The only thing that saves us these days are videos.

G

The phat cops are dying off and more physically fit requirements are now the new norm in big metro's. But the becoming problem is many of the replacements are jacked on testo supplements. Medical science has proven that it alter's the temperance but nobody dares to contest a happy trigger situation.

[exc911ence]

You have to consider exactly what type of person would want to be a cop in the first place. It used to be a person who had the desire to help their fellow citizens and neighbours... these days it just seems that it's people with the only the desire to possess enough power/authority to bully the rest of society around. The days of "To Serve and Protect" are history...

They don't need physical fitness tests for these folks, they need mental fitness tests.

[kach22i]

Frack, that's one messed up story.

Maybe he had a hook for a hand and could not "drop" his attached hook.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by exc911ence

these days it just seems that it's people with the only the desire to possess enough power/authority to bully the rest of society around. The days of "To Serve and Protect" are history...

I imagine life is pretty sweet for a cop; if you get in any sort of sticky situation and you can just play the "I'm a cop" card and walk away. If you do screw up on the job and actually get taken to task for it, you get put on paid administrative leave until the dust settles and everyone forgets about it. Then, the year before you hit 55, you sock in all the overtime you can muster, so you can retire with 120% of your pay.

[flatbutt]

sammy will explain it to us.

[vash]

I would have chocked his wheels.

[flatbutt]

he might have stabbed you with the pen. it IS mightier than the sword you know.

[john70t]

Are cops drug tested?

[Mark Henry]

Originally Posted by john70t

Are cops drug tested?

Not in Canada...against union rules.

But then a local cop convicted of dealing and using hillbilly heroin here is treated for substance abuse and keeps his job.

[atcjorg]

just wow a future paralympian cut down in his prime after out maneuvering and cornering police with his wheelchair, (with 1 arm and 1 leg and a pen in his only hand ) this is just mind boggling

[rsNINESOOPER]

Unchecked aggression and poor judgement will continue to plague the system until actual punishment occurs that delivers real consequences for actions such as this. There are a few people on the board here who seem to always to make excuses favoring law enforcement in cases like this. It will be interesting to see what they have to say and even more fascinating that they will believe the excuses they will provide.

Out of the large group of friends I grew up with and I am only one of two out of the group that did not become a police officer. They all have said that the system is structured poorly in regards to punishing their own and in most cases stuff is swept under the rug whenever possible by any officer from top to bottom for the most part. One of these friends has a brother that joined the force a few years ago and immediately began doing dirty/shady things and drew the attention of IA. He should have gone to jail for a long time but he was instead fired, and the matter was hushed out the door of the department he worked for. His brother who is still a police officer (good one) to this day has not spoken to his crooked cop brother since he was fired- No one talks to him anymore, he has been cast out of our tight group of friends. I have also been made aware that for as many stories like this that make it to the news there are many many more that didn't.

Funny how society has strangely accepted this dirty aggressive cop behavior. By not getting more involved as a community and pressuring the Police departments with oversight groups and audits that have more teeth. Because of this we are all guilty of allowing it to continue. It's truly disgusting to hear about a story like this and then remember how many preceded it and how many are going to follow it.

[intakexhaust]

I guess until the facts are truly exposed for that unfortanate end, who is perfect today? I've known many cops and have seen or heard both sides of the good or bad judged. But when situations go wrong, does it seem they get a pass... DAMN YES to that.

But who are we, such perfect citizens of the world? As one ages, I can recollect changes in attitudes or mood between generations of people. From a simple grocery store shopping excursion watching a ho-wife go ballistic about something and whack some clerk. That stuff is now the norm. For criminals today, if one is mugged, car-jacked, its more likely you'll be shot vs. getting beat-up for a purse, phone whatever. The road rage on country roads is way over-the-top, recreation drugs have evolved leading to much worse violent ends.

Cops today have to balance 'Catch-22 type' changes in laws too plus see the more bizarre and crazed. They can't do this or can't do that. Such things as a cop in a gang infested territory and didn't know the 12 year old kid out at 10:00 pm is running away with a squirt gun and is deaf. With warnings, kid doesn't stop and is shot. Or the pukeing drunk biotch spits in a cops face, kicks his nuts and the next thing he's in the court for roughing her wrist up.

I once worked with a former cop of a large metro who left because he saw the ugly sides of family's... children, women getting beat or neglected, horrible living conditions. He also cruised around with a posse and if they would see a drunkard homeless or of other color in a neighborhood, he would watch his comrades beat the schitz out of them. I'm not defending him or other cops but did that make him any less of an individual? Hard to face a man like that. Makes you wonder what would you do? Easier said then done of what else could he do? Then you have corrupt pockets of law enforcement in certain metro area run like the movie 'The Departed'.

I also know quite a few who joined small town departments as they really wanted job security, get their thirty in and without much riff-raff... as if it was Mayberry RFD. Seriously. They now suggest everyone for themselves and do whatever it takes to defend yourself or family.