Reply #81: He didn't do what the cop told him to do fast enough. [View All]

[Mariana]

Who knows why - maybe he didn't understand what the cop said. Of course, the cop couldn't have backed off to a safe distance (or not got so close to him in the first place) to observe the situation to see if there was actually any threat there.

This pisses me off. My dad often whittles while my mom is shopping, in public, in the mall or on a bench in front of whatever store she's in. Sometimes he draws a small crowd of people watching him - children in particular are fascinated with what he's doing. If he finishes in time, he'll give his creation to one of the kids. No one ever freaks out about the old man sitting on the bench carving a piece of wood with a pocketknife. I hate to think he could be shot and killed because he's hard of hearing and might not understand some order barked at him by a cop.