11-25-2015, 09:04 PM
Police have training and protocols when it comes to handling such situations, Biggie.
That training and those protocols don't include unloading your weapon on a knife-wielding suspect who's moving away from you and other options are available, even if you are within 21 feet of the suspect.
The first set of officers was reportedly staying on top of Laquan, rather than confronting him, because they did not have a taser. They were waiting for back up from officers with a taser. Instead, Van Dyke decided to unload his weapon into the teen. Van Dyke was reloading his 9mm-semi service weapon after he shot Laquan 16 times; his partner ordered him to hold his fire.
In any case, Van Dyke's original statement was that he shot Laquan in the chest as Laquan lunged at him and his partner with a knife, so it was self defense. After having watched the video, we know he lied his ass off about that. Still, he may be able to sell the self-defense claim to a jury; it's sometimes hard to prove that a person wasn't in reasonable fear for his life in his own mind, even when the fear doesn't seem reasonable to observers.
Anyhow, in my opinion, this was clearly a terrible shooting. The autopsy found that only 2 of the bullets could have hit Laquan when he was standing. The remaining 14 bullets tore through his body as he was lying in a fetal position in the street, posing no threat to anyone boasting more than a couple of brain cells.
That training and those protocols don't include unloading your weapon on a knife-wielding suspect who's moving away from you and other options are available, even if you are within 21 feet of the suspect.
The first set of officers was reportedly staying on top of Laquan, rather than confronting him, because they did not have a taser. They were waiting for back up from officers with a taser. Instead, Van Dyke decided to unload his weapon into the teen. Van Dyke was reloading his 9mm-semi service weapon after he shot Laquan 16 times; his partner ordered him to hold his fire.
In any case, Van Dyke's original statement was that he shot Laquan in the chest as Laquan lunged at him and his partner with a knife, so it was self defense. After having watched the video, we know he lied his ass off about that. Still, he may be able to sell the self-defense claim to a jury; it's sometimes hard to prove that a person wasn't in reasonable fear for his life in his own mind, even when the fear doesn't seem reasonable to observers.
Anyhow, in my opinion, this was clearly a terrible shooting. The autopsy found that only 2 of the bullets could have hit Laquan when he was standing. The remaining 14 bullets tore through his body as he was lying in a fetal position in the street, posing no threat to anyone boasting more than a couple of brain cells.