Comments

1

Don't worry; raindrop supports sending the dog in and then shooting the man to death.

3

I sure didn't see any attempt to de-escalate though. They just about had him cut off both directions when they sent the dog in. I feel bad for the dog, regardless of whether this guy could have been handled another way.

6

Cmon Rich. If NKT couldn’t win in Seattle she has zero chance of winnig a wider race in King County.

7

So many scenarios that could have played, cops aren't perfect - but they're the best we have to prevent people like this poor soul who is compelled by mental illness or drugs to harm society in a psychotic state with a large machete and a large knife. Tremendously sad.

God bless these officers. They'll be haunted by this for the rest of their lives. They come from the same stock as your next door neighbor or favorite barista. They, and the victim's family, deserve our humanity and patience as the investigation continues.

9

Tell us Rich: did The Stranger mostly ignoring & never really following up on the 31 other SPD killings since John T. Williams (many w/edged weapon or no weapon & also in mental health crisis) help make this inevitable? Did The Stranger ignoring the complete failure of our police accountability system help make this inevitable? Did ignoring Terry Caver's murder & the failed OPA investigation help make this inevitable?

When lions & tigers escape the zoo & injure & kill people who should we blame? The lions & tigers that are just doing what they were born to do? The zoo keepers who failed to contain them? Or the journalists who failed to report on all of this?

10

Rich, thank you for sharing the clip from Neilsen's Symphony No. 1: mvt IV. Most enjoyable. How sad to lose Thomas Dausgaard after only three years of his conducting The Seattle Symphony.

YIKES! It's definitely not a good time to travel, between the worst massive flooding ever, high winds, and Snowmageddon II on I-90 and all other mountain passes. Everyone stay healthy and safe. My condolences to everyone impacted by the inclement weather.

11

https://youtu.be/aNQ1wroGzAY

12

The world is not much fun @ the moment. Another cyclone forming, in far Nth Queensland, off Cape York. And the last one, which turned into a low , crossed the coast just Nth of where I live, and major flooding is going on. Our surf has been crazy big.
Going shopping feels like some trek thru the jungle, watching no tigers/ viruses are gonna leap out at one.

13

So many deaths, so much grief. The world is awash with it & still it goes on & on.
Time for a lot of solitude, for many, which can be a positive experience. The general disquiet though, is hard to shake.
Stay warm & safe everyone.

14

@Sir Toby, "The guy refused to stop acting crazy."

Tell us you don't understand mental illness without telling us you don't understand mental illness.

15

US police training and policy are abysmal. You all act like it's impossible to stop a suspect non-fatally. We do it all the time over here in the Netherlands; our police are trained marksmen, who understand their duty to protect life, and to use lethal force judiciously.

Here's a recent incident, May 2021, in Amsterdam's largest and most crowded public park, where a disturbed man was threatening people with a gun. Police warned him, and shot him in the leg. He survived, was arrested and taken to the hospital.

https://www.at5.nl/artikelen/209246/man-die-door-politie-in-been-werd-geschoten-in-vondelpark-had-vuurwapen-bij-zich

The article from the local Amsterdam AT5 Nieuws has a handy but subtle translation button at the top right of the text (set to NL by default). You can select "EN" for an automated translation to English.

And just a week before, a man with a knife was threatening police officers with a knife, standing atop one of their patrol cars (!). He ran towards the officers, and they shot him in the leg. Easy-peezy.

https://www.at5.nl/artikelen/209115/politie-schiet-met-mes-bewapende-man-neer-op-hoofdweg

I blame two things for the routine death at the hands of American police officers: Hiring service staff from former active-duty military personnel, who have been trained to shoot first, who have been desencitized to the value of human life, and who's experiences on military patrols in warzones have made them dangerous in a civilian setting. This hiring practice has created a culture in the police forces nationally, which mimics the do-or-die culture learned in the military. That, and the eroding civility and humanity in American culture generally, which has become increasingly brutal and savage.

Here on this thread, you have people who just think, "that's the way it is", "you just have to kill them", and blaming the disturbed person for not de-escalating. Pitiful.

17

If the cops are guilty of anything it's putting that dog in danger. Very sad to see the animal get stabbed.
Too bad the perp had to get shot and killed, but what ya gonna do. He made his choice. One less violent crazy to suck at the tit of society.

20

@15: I wouldn't extrapolate that hiring former military personnel always makes bad cops. Unfortunately the demonization of cops and the boneheaded "defund the police" movements across the country have drove many good cops out of the profession, and dissuaded young people from choosing the career.

@17 - I agree but just a quibble that we can't say he "made his choice" if the behavior is the manifestation of paranoid schizophrenia.

23

If the dude has no clothes on, would a taser work?

24

Wow. A house on Perkins Lane headed for the Sound after heavy rain. What are the odds?

25

"I blame two things for the routine death at the hands of American police officers: Hiring service staff from former active-duty military personnel, who have been trained to shoot first, who have been desencitized to the value of human life, and who's experiences on military patrols in warzones have made them dangerous in a civilian setting.

This hiring practice has created a culture in the police forces nationally, which mimics the do-or-die culture learned in the military.

That, and the eroding civility and humanity in American culture generally, which has become increasingly brutal and savage.

Here on this thread, you have people who just think, ‘that's the way it is’, ‘you just have to kill them’, and blaming the disturbed person for not de-escalating. Pitiful.”

some peeps here have fully bought into Authority: OBEY or Die cause that’s how they were ‘raised’: DO WHAT I SAY OR ELSE makes life EZ for lazy parents with punishment issues and takes all the Guesswork outta Life.

it’s why Religionists/patriarchyists automatically do whatever they’re told and know it’s Always Wrong to question anything—other than those not Trained to do whatever they’re TOLD.

see also: Taliban

and: ‘Just the Natural Order of Things’
by Bezos/Suckerberg

26

It's been about 25 (!!) years since samurai sword guy was captured alive by Seattle police after they spent hours subduing him with firehoses and whatnot. What has changed in tactics in those 25 years?

Meanwhile, the marines are now testing jetpacks.

27

Royal Marines

32

@22: I reported 8 as threatening and hostile.

33

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS4hf29AggI

34

Also, can we talk about how well that towel was tied onto his waist? Running at a gallop and it didn't fall off? I'm lucky if I can get to the bedroom from the bathroom without the towel wrapped around my waist falling off.

35

So Rich literally shows a video (you know, for the folks who aren't good with this reading thing). It shows police officers from another country handling a similar suspect without resorting to lethal means. And yet it gets completely ignored by the morons who comment here.

"There was nothing they could do" -- Except, you know, do what they do in other countries. Like in the video. Or the countless other examples that aren't caught on video.

"The cops are the best people for a situation like this" -- Are they though?

It is quite possible that a bunch of shrinks could have talked this guy out of trouble. What is clear is that the cops sucked in this situation. If this is the best we have, it is pathetic. They fucked up, big time. We know what works -- we can fucking see it on the video for heaven's sake. Yet it gets ignored by people who have simplistic views of the world that would make a 12 year old scream out for nuance. Good God, do you only watch movies about comic books? Holy shit, people.

41

@29: "The cops 25 years ago had a suspect who was fully contained so that he could not get to the public"

lol, yeah, he was fully contained AFTER they contained him.

initially he was just a guy with a sword on the sidewalk until police spotted him:

"A former mental patient with a samurai-style sword began threatening people on a busy downtown street here before lunchtime on Thursday, then held off the police the rest of the day and into the night"

42

Mr. Vel-DuRay and I got stuck at our country home in Eastern Washington because of all this weather business. We finally just headed down to the Washington/Oregon border and came back to civilization along the gorge.

From what I can tell from the yard signs we encountered upon our journey, the upcoming GOP primary will be a circular firing squad. I think we should start testing Republicans for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy before they are allowed to vote.

43

@40. Thank you, that was insightful and provided much food for thought.

44

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gn_3A9vL8c

45

@30 63% of the time, it works every time...

46

Gaspar @15, what can you do? The US is like a domestic violence situation, many living in it can’t see how dysfunctional it is. Example; those who reacted to your post. Taking human life should be the last recourse. Dead dog or no dead dog

47

Americans aren’t assholes/ arseholes as we say.. Sir Toby @19. Fascinating county, physically & culturally.
Though yes, problematic re the level of inequality & violence.
In my country we would be the same culturally except in early 1970s, we had a Prime Minister who gave the country many social benefits. Socialised medicine, being the big one. Though subsequent conservative govts have been white anting this, it still covers health. And many conscription drugs are subsidised. Like insulin.
Right now our PM has totally stuffed up covid response, as well as causing international incidents with China, France & now Serbia. If you’re not a tennis fan, issues going on here re World No I male player, Novak Djokovic.
Least you have a good man guiding you, in Biden.

50

@42: Despite the political pouting, I trust you still enjoyed the pretty drive.

51

Here's someone who probably needed to die for the safety of others.

A QAnon promoter with tens of thousands of followers on Facebook and Telegram has died after contracting COVID-19.
...
Weldon was virulently anti-vaccine, both online and in real life. In one video posted to her social media channels, she can be seen harassing people in line to be vaccinated against COVID-19. "The vaccines kill. Don't get it," she shouts. "This is how gullible these idiots are. They're all getting vaccines."

https://www.sfgate.com/coronavirus/article/Popular-QAnon-promoter-dies-of-COVID-in-California-16760824.php?IPID=SFGate-HP-CP-Spotlight

52

Hey Catalina, always great to see you.

53

"The vaccines kill. Don't get it," she [the now newly-dead gal] shouts. "This is how gullible these idiots are. They're all getting vaccines."

yep
them Rubes*
are pretty dang Gullible.

*lemmings too

54

I have literally parked on the street next to the house that sild down the hill in Magnolia.

Wowsers.

55

Raindrop dear, these are the hot new candidates for SW Washington state. Which one are you going to endorse? Joe Kent or Heidi St. John? There both horrible people.

https://joekentforcongress.com/

http://www.heidistjohnforcongress.com/action

56

That should be "they're". Mrs, Vel-DuRay regrets the typo.

57

@53 - they're not just gullible, they're alive!

58

@42 - let's just let them vote even with whatever is impairing their brains. Far better they vote stupidly & nominate the Loren Culps of the world instead of someone who can win elections.

59

dvs99 dear, that race will be interesting. Real Republican infighting, and truly insane candidates. We're talking Lauren Boebert/Marjorie Taylor Green level stupidity.

60

@55: Mercy! Joe Kent appears destined for a sex scandal. In Heidi St. John's site there's no close up of her. Her bio pic is a huge Romneyesque family pic - but I can't tell which woman is Heidi. She must be terribly self conscious.

@56: No need to issue corrections for typos we auto correct in our brain.

61

Raindrop dear, think Jerri Blank with a stylist. https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/news/nationally-recognized-speaker-and-author-heidi-st-john-announces-run-for-congress-in-washingtons-third-congressional-district/

62

RepubliKKKans and their MAGA rubes are terminally rabid, unreasonable, shitty excuses for people. It's a pity they're not in canine form. Then it would be perfectly legal to shoot them.


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