http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/attorney-teen-was-shot-having-wii-controller-hand/ndSrL/ Fuck DA po-lice
Shoot first and ask questions later, eh? Simply tragic. Can't even open a door with a remote in hand.
Would you prefer "Teen shot and killed for opening door", or "Teen shot and killed because father violated probation", or...?
Fatal non-accidental mistakes with deadly weapons are generally classified as murder. Unless you have a badge.
My problem is with the wording of it, saying he was "killed... ...for having Wii controller in hand." He wasn't shot for having a Wii controller in his hand, he was (allegedly) shot because the cop thought he had a gun in his hand. Just like that Occupy dingbat who was suing the cops because she got pepper-sprayed in the face. She wasn't sprayed for protesting like a shitload of headlines said, she was sprayed for being an asshole.
"Officer kills teen after mistaking Wii controller for gun". Satisfactory? the problem I (and most) have is with the minimization of the officer's responsibility in situations such as these. If it's anyone else mistaking an innocuous object for a weapon, the shooter is arrested immediately. Because it's a police officer, she's put on paid leave. The people who are charged with enforcing our laws and ensuring our safety should be held to a higher standard than the general public, but instead we generally see the opposite.
The way I feel about it is simple. Our police are being improperly trained in how to deal with these situations. It should NEVER be shoot first, ask questions later. I get that their lives are on the line, but this isn't a combat situation. Not everyone around you should be considered hostile. Part of the problem is that we have an extremely high number of former military in law enforcement. When you have spent four or five years in the armed services, and you have trained regularly on one SOP/Rules of engagement, I highly doubt that six months of DPSST training is going to change how your muscle memory works. Those are two completely different types of thinking. One is policing your own people. The other is operating in a hostile environment where you have no idea when a threat might present itself. I feel we should either stop hiring military to police our people, OR extend the training period and train on a more regular basis.
