Comments

1
Whittlers of the World unite!

It may be legal to have a whittling knife but they will take your life.
2
Don't police carry tazers for fucks sake?
3
Suicide by cop, consider it a service provided by the TPD.
4
WHAT IS WITH THE SPD? They have less than lethal weapons in their cars, right? They need to start using them.
5
Quick, call the anarchists!
6
Dear Police: please stop executing people.
7
Dear people: Stop threatening police with weapons.
8
Suggestion: whenever a cop starts talking to you, put down any knives you might be carrying.
9
You guys know Tasers are also lethal weapons, right? Go google "taser death."

Don't police carry nightsticks anymore?
10
don't police carry flowers and puppies anymore?
11
Why is it that the police taze people when the don't need to, but don't taze people when they actually do need to as in this case?
12
I haven't examined a cops belt in a while, so I'm not sure if they still carry expandable batons as standard equipment. Batons can still be deadly and require getting much closer, something best avoided when facing a threatening suspect.

Ideally there would be some perfect stun-mode phaser, but it doesn't exist. Tasers can kill, and can create as many problems as they solve. The best solution is to play it cool when a cop is pointing a gun at you. If you didn't do anything wrong, let the lawyers sort it out. Vindication after the fact isn't much good if you are dead.

I was listening to KUOW today and somebody (Josh Feit? maybe?) this morning was commenting on the whittling guy shooting. "He was shot four times! In the chest!" You shoot to stop the threat, you don't try to shoot the knife out of the hand like a fucking movie.
13
while all the after the fact keyboard commandos advice of "listen to the cop, put down the knife" is sound and well taken for what it is; that alone, just doesn't absolve the officer of the law from any wrongdoing or misjudgment in each or every case.
14
Jesus, can't they run these cops like Predator drones or something, with a more experienced hand on the joystick/fire button back in the sitch room?

/sarc
15
Apparently cops in this region don't know how to keep a reasonable distance.
16
@13 - No it doesn't, but the automatic response from many people seems to be assuming the cop was just trigger happy. Police have an extremely difficult (and often thankless) job and I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt until I hear otherwise.* An investigation into the circumstances of each incident is still necessary and will happen, so we shouldn't jump to conclusions just yet.

*cue the anarchists
17
@16: I try not to assume that I know all the circumstances, but what seems a bit off-kilter is the pattern of a lack real accountability that officers are often afforded in far to many cases for far too long.
18
* cue the apologists
19
Oh, right, Rodney King. I'd like to withdraw my night stick statement.

Pepper Spray, pepper spray. Ranged AND non-lethal.
20
Because of the Isaiah Thomas - University of Washington angle, I've commented about this on some Seattle sports blogs. It'll be interesting to see if and what those blog contributors will have to say.
21
You'd think in the wake of this explosive situation the Seattle Police Department would be fanning out, across Western Washington and especially down in Tacoma, to prevent any other departments from making this any worse with another of these shootings. Diaz, particularly, should have had his eye on Tacoma. McGinn, too, has some explaining to do. If he didn't want to the buck to stop with him he shouldn't have run for mayor of Western Washington.
22
I think it is completely appropriate to take deadly firearms away from police officers, at least in Seattle, until they prove they can curb their violence. Recent events have proven they can't handle the responsibility, and if someone wants to kill an armed police officer, they will anyway.
23
Only one comment on a sports blog along the lines of "I didn't know Isaiah Thomas witnessed that Seattle death, but knives can cut through bulletproof vests so you can't fault the cops."

Sad sad sad. I attempted to correct the dude, but whatevs.
24
@21: You're missing the point, sir. Even though Western Washington voters elected regional mayor McGinn on a platform of making waving a knife around the lowest priority weapons violation, this string of shooting people for no other reason than waving a knife around has occurred entirely under his administration. Clearly, he is not listening to people.
25
"Me and @DomWill253 jus seen..."

I see the UW is continuing to allow only its best and brightest into its sports programs.
26
@25 Um, I'm pretty sure he knows what the proper English is. He just doesn't want to sound that way in front of his peers. Nice way to expose your prejudices, tho.
27
What the fuck are they spiking the water coolers with at police stations in Western Washington?
28
@24 Well done!!
29
a pig is a pig is a pig is a pig is a pig is a pig is a pig is a pig
no exceptions
30
Cops will be cops. With legal authority and sanctioned lethal force, should come great responsibility and restraint where at all possible. However, that is not what we have. Instead we have corrupt cops http://www.truth-or-consequences.com/bad… , victimized citizens, easily exonerated police use of deadly force and high speed chases, politically protected or targeted prosecutions, and racism in hiring, promoting, and policing practices, ..so on and so forth. Unfortunately, the pervasive 'us versus them' polarization prevents any serious discourse about what they should be lawfully empowered to do. The police, particularly at the higher levels really are part of the political structure, and the primary goal of most political animals is to maintain their power. Many may justify this with the notion that they cannot do good, without the proper means. So, sadly, here we are.
31
Judge Jury and Executioner. You should be thanking the police for not burdening you with paying 50k a year for some criminal to live. Cut out the middle man, isn't that what all you hippies preach?

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