Toronto No Longer "The Good"

Bruce M. Thomson

Gold Member
Here is shocking video of a police shooting on Friday night. The deceased was a teenager who for some unknown reason brandished a 3" knife and told the passengers to get off. So he is alone and contained inside the street car with the aforementioned 3" knife where upon he is shot 9 times and then tasered afterwards. He is initially shot 4 times and then there is a pause and shot 5 more times. This has been happening a lot here lately with mentally ill citizens just being shot out right. I am not anti police but seriously folks, don't you think that there could have easily been a more appropriate way to handle this.
This young man had only been here a while to live with his Dad and to get away from the violence in Syria.


http://youtu.be/Pi4In494rAg
 
This is very sad. The events are not yet fully understood, but it is hard to understand what the kid did with his 3" knife to make an officer feel threatened enough to unload. (and the apparent Tasering after the shooting is mind boggling ... isn't that supposed to be first?) ... but ... there may have been some dialogue and motion that is unknown right now.

The kid was a new immigrant from Syria and understandably trying to fit in ... I'm sure he had been all over the place emotionally since getting here. Poor father has to be in shock - this was what he was trying to avoid.

And yes, Bruce, I too am not anti-police. I can't imagine being a cop in this day and age ... with all the "unknowns" ... I know I couldn't do it.

Hug your loved ones daily ....

radman
 
Real tragedy. Is it me or is there a rise in these kind of incidents - unnecassary uses of brutal force even when suspect is outnumbered and/or lesser armed. The 2nd set of shots was surely not needed. And the taser afterward?!
On the other hand, there is a real heat of the moment in such situations that make them very unpredictable.
 
It's sad when things like this happen. But I've stopped reading too far into them simply because I wasn't there. Police reports can be full of inconsistencies and factual information withheld. And then once the sensationalist media gets a hold of it, they can't even get the basic information straight most of the time.

Every time I've played armchair investigator, I've just made myself into a fool, so I just offer my condolences and move on.
 
That sounds bad, but put yourself in the police's shoes. You go everyday to keep things peaceful, and have to deal with criminals that may just shoot you if you try to stop them. Sure there are some tragedies and things like this that happen, but how much do they stop? I'm not saying whoever shot him was right, but we don't know what happened and how do we know that the policeman was not attacked or otherwise threatened?
 
It's sad when things like this happen. But I've stopped reading too far into them simply because I wasn't there. Police reports can be full of inconsistencies and factual information withheld. And then once the sensationalist media gets a hold of it, they can't even get the basic information straight most of the time.

Every time I've played armchair investigator, I've just made myself into a fool, so I just offer my condolences and move on.

Exactly. Let's watch the news and not speculate. Please be very careful where this thread goes.
 
This is very sad. The events are not yet fully understood, but it is hard to understand what the kid did with his 3" knife to make an officer feel threatened enough to unload. (and the apparent Tasering after the shooting is mind boggling ... isn't that supposed to be first?) ... but ... there may have been some dialogue and motion that is unknown right now.

The kid was a new immigrant from Syria and understandably trying to fit in ... I'm sure he had been all over the place emotionally since getting here. Poor father has to be in shock - this was what he was trying to avoid.

And yes, Bruce, I too am not anti-police. I can't imagine being a cop in this day and age ... with all the "unknowns" ... I know I couldn't do it.

Hug your loved ones daily ....

radman

Good advice; There is quite a bit of anger in this city at the moment; We had the G 20 summit here in 2010 and there are still lingering emotions over that.
 
Real tragedy. Is it me or is there a rise in these kind of incidents - unnecassary uses of brutal force even when suspect is outnumbered and/or lesser armed. The 2nd set of shots was surely not needed. And the taser afterward?!
On the other hand, there is a real heat of the moment in such situations that make them very unpredictable.

On top of that there is concern as to where all of the bullets went. If all nine went in then that is just overkill, if he was shot at multiple times because some missed then innocents could have been hit.
 
That sounds bad, but put yourself in the police's shoes. You go everyday to keep things peaceful, and have to deal with criminals that may just shoot you if you try to stop them. Sure there are some tragedies and things like this that happen, but how much do they stop? I'm not saying whoever shot him was right, but we don't know what happened and how do we know that the policeman was not attacked or otherwise threatened?

There is additional footage that show that there were many other actions that could have been employed. This is only one of a series of incidents like this in the last 2 years and it is a trend that is something this city is not used to.
 
Opinions are wonderful ..and always given in HINDSIGHT.

It must be wonderful to be able to dissect an even from the comfort of a chair ,desk and computer keyboard.Especially not bein trained in police tactics or the use of lethal/non lethal force and justification of deady physical force.

This,and the added benefit of not logging a single minute as a rank and file police officer.Not knowing what it's like to answer radio runs of armed robberies,man with a gun,domestic disputes,pulling over stolen vehicles at night or respondin to a call of an emotionally distirbed person...with a knife.

You can Monday morning quarterback any situation all you want an come up with hundreds of "what if" and "yoo could have/should have done this instead.

I retired from the NYPD with over 20 years of experence.I was shot once,stabbed twice.I drew my weapon numerous times,but never fired it,except to qualify at the police range.

I consider myself lucky,to never have used it,though I could have...numerous times.

I will also NEVER,second guess those cops even having been in similar situations myself.Unless you were actually standing there,in uniform,charged with taking this armed person into custody...you don't have the right to judge..especially never having to have faced a similar situation.

That's all I have to say,and I will not respond to posts on this thread in reguard with my opinion on this tragedy.

Steve B
 
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