Folsom Police

(This post is about a tragic shooting by the Folsom Police on a out of control man attacking them with a knife). My condolences to the family. I understand the loss may be tragic and seem senseless. I don't know many of the specifics of this event but what I do know is that the family called the police because their son was out of control. They had no idea why he had been like this for 2 days or so. That is important. The family could not handle this. they needed the police to try and control their son. They police arrived to a call where all they knew was that this man was out of control. He attacked the officers and they attempted to use a taser on him. For an unknon reason the taser did not work even when he was tased AGAIN. Now we have a man with a deadly weapon threatening the police officers. They have little room to manuaver, to be able to take him down gently, in fact the small area makes this man a much more dangerous threat. The distance at which a knife wielder becomes a threat is considered to be about 12' which is the distance the average person could move in 1 1/2 seconds. Obviously this was much closer. At this point the officers really only had one choice and that was to use deadly force. Police NEVER aim to wound. One reason is that if they use deadly force then it is because there is a deadly force threat against them or someone else. Another reason is that even at close distances it is almost impossible to "shoot to wound". And unlike TV an arm wound or even a leg wound will not necessarily stop an attack. The best way to stop an advancing attacker is to shoot into the pelvic girdle which is what supports the body. That however is likely to be a killing shot also.

I am truly sorry for the loss the family suffered, but to try and blame it on the officers who are trying to get home to their own families (think of 4 dead officers in Oakland recently who did not make it home) is simply wrong. If they do bring suit against the officers it will lessen each of us in many ways. Other officers are going to be less willing to put their life in danger due to the threat of being sued. The cost of a trial, the suffering the officers will go through during a trial, not to mention that they are already going to carry around inside of them the knowledge that they took a human life. Be sad for the family. Feel badly for the son. But feel also for the officers.

One last thing though. If the same thing occurred in Iraq, would you tell the soldiers not to fire but to try and subdue this person intent on injuring or killing them? This is no different. The wide view changes of course since it is more like a war in Iraq (although the war has been over a long time), but on a microscopic view, taking just these people and this incidence the officers have the same right to protect themselves as do the soldiers.

Thank You to the officers and soldiers that protect this country and its people.