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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsUsing Google Earth, I was able to determine how far away Kajieme was from PO
I used this video to determine the locations of the PO's and Kajieme Powell (TYT zoomed in, which was helpful to determine the locations of the police and Kajieme - WARNING GRAPHIC VIDEO):
With that knowledge, I went to Google Earth, placed the parties in the locations shown in the video, and used the measurement tool:
It measured 16 feet. And, as is clearly shown in the video, Kajieme's arms were at his sides. Given the distance, and Kajieme's posture at the moment he was shot, it's my opinion that the police grossly overreacted.
valerief
(53,235 posts)JayhawkSD
(3,163 posts)Somewhere and at some point in time both our military and our police got in into their training that their first responsibility was maintaining their own safety. There is some sort of sophistry that goes "we can't do our job if we're dead." They fail to realize that they also can't do their job if they are unwilling to take risk.
I think part of it stems from 9/11 and the outpouring of grief over first responders who died in that event; just another example of taking the wrong lessons from that event. Instead of focusing on the heroic nature of them doing their jobs, we focused on the tragedy of them losing their lives, and so law enforcement is more focused on loss of officers' life now than it is on doing the job properly and actually protecting the public.
The upshot is that they are more and more creating an "us versus them" mentality that makes them willing to take the lives they are supposed to be protecting.
Schema Thing
(10,283 posts)the militarization we need to worry about most and first.
It got this mentally ill person killed, and allows the cops to almost assuredly be protected legally - but it's also what got Michael Brown killed and Darren Wilson thinking he could do this and get away with it.
librechik
(30,674 posts)9/11 gave them the opportunity to "change everything"--for the nice controlled fully surveilled and absolutely powerless citizenry.
Rhiannon12866
(205,251 posts)And, having seen this horrific video on the news much more than I'd like, I can't help but agree.
treestar
(82,383 posts)They pulled up, he got on the wall, and they shot him. In a matter of seconds.
There was much else they could have done.