Merry 187 MDK Christmas from the Chicago police

I think it is very dangerous to call the police for help, especially if you are in Chicago.  In today's sad story of trigger happy criminals with a badge, two cops who were responding to a domestic disturbance call ended up pumping 7 bullets into a college kid who was described as emotionally disturbed.  Apparently the cops were called because he was brandishing a baseball bat at family members.  He had not hurt anyone though, he was just very threatening.

So here are the facts.  The cops arrived knowing full well the situation.  The appearance of the kid with the bat cannot have been a surprise.  They knew what to expect.  Two officers responded.  So it was never a case of "it was him or me ".  Even if I was by myself in that situation (armed with a gun and proficient in its use) against someone with a baseball bat I would never be in any danger.  You just can't bring a baseball bat to a gun fight and expect to win.  But with two guns in the room there is just zero danger for the cops.  So why did they have to lead with gunfire?  Why couldn't one cop have a Taser out and the other back him up with a gun?  This was clearly a Taser situation if for no other reason than it was a domestic situation in an inhabited dwelling.

The saddest part is that the trigger happy assholes actually fired 8 rounds.  Seven of them cut the college kid to shreds and the 8th struck a completely innocent bystander in the neck, killing her.  What do you think is going to happen when you just start blasting away in a home?  Even if they didn't have the common sense to lead with the Taser, why did they have to fire their weapons so many times?  It only took one shot to kill the innocent lady, why are 7 rounds needed to subdue a bat wielding college kid?  1 shot, 2 at most is all it would take to drop and kill.  And keep in mind these cops are wearing bullet proof vests.  Even a good hard whack to the upper torso with a baseball bat would not produce any real damage.

Obviously the shooting of the college kid was very bad judgement (unless you want to consider an execution style "because we can" murder a "judgement") at the very least.  But the death of the innocent bystander?  I'm sorry, an apology isn't going to cut it there.  The cop who killed her is guilty of some form of homicide.  I know he did not intend to kill her and I'm sure he very much regrets that it happened but he should have thought of that before going trigger happy in a housing unit.  Where is the common sense there?

So again, they can make up whatever excuse for killing the kid, they can say their lives were in danger from a baseball bat (which makes them the biggest pussies on the planet IMO).  But they can say it and the system can back them if it wants to and that part can get swept under the rug like it has so many other times.  The death of the lady, however, cannot be explained away.  Someone has to go to jail for that.  Loss of job is not punishment for homicide.  If I were the guy doing all that shooting in self defense, do you think that the system would hold me harmless for the death of the innocent?  NO WAY.  The system would say, "and that's why citizens shouldn't have guns".  So there is no justice unless the same standards are applied to the cops.

It's going to be interesting to see how this is handled.  I suggest that the police department let the officer be tried for manslaughter and then implement rule changes wherein there is a designated Taser officer and a designated gun officer in every situation where the cops fear for their lives from someone who does not have a gun.  If the criminal is carrying a gun, all cops responding can use a gun.  But with a knife, baseball bat or bare hands as the threat, the Taser should be the lead weapon and the gun should only be used as a backup should something go wrong with the Tasering.  This is so simple to come up with, why haven't the cops already figured it out?  Of course they have but they will not impose any controls like this upon themselves until the people force them to.

One way or another.

To the cop who killed someone's mother: thank your lucky stars it was not my mother.