Van Terror In Toronto...

[JimL]

They should just shoot to wound!!

I agree, there is no need to put 18 bullets into a suspect after one or two bullets has already killed him and certainly has incapacitated them. So often it is reported suspect shot by police 16, 17, 18 times. It's simply target practice at that point.

[One Bad Pig]

I agree, there is no need to put 18 bullets into a suspect after one or two bullets has already killed him and certainly has incapacitated them. So often it is reported suspect shot by police 16, 17, 18 times. It's simply target practice at that point.

I see by your post that you have no idea how quickly that many shots can be fired by someone pumped full of adrenaline.

[JimL]

That turns the perpetrator into a victim who can then sue for damages. You're just trying to get your law firm more work!

Ah, at that point they are called suspects, OBP, not perpetrators.

[Cow Poke]

I agree, there is no need to put 18 bullets into a suspect after one or two bullets has already killed him and certainly has incapacitated them. So often it is reported suspect shot by police 16, 17, 18 times. It's simply target practice at that point.

I don't think it's ever "target practice". I think, too often, there are multiple officers covering the scene, and they individually perceive a threat and respond - there's not time to say "ok, officer Wilson, you take the shot, and the rest of us will stand here and wait to see if you stop the guy". Better training is needed - in a SWAT situation, there's much more control, with a police sniper given a green light when appropriate to "take the shot".

[Cow Poke]

Ah, at that point they are called suspects, OBP, not perpetrators.

In many situations, for example, the guy is coming out of a bank he just robbed, and hunkering down for a gunfight, it's more than obvious he's not just a "suspect", but, indeed, a perpetrator. A guy getting out of a car in a vehicle stop shooting at officers is not a "suspect" - he's a perpetrator.

per·pe·tra·tor
noun: perpetrator; plural noun: perpetrators

a person who carries out a harmful, illegal, or immoral act.
"the perpetrators of this horrific crime must be brought to justice"

[JimL]

I don't think it's ever "target practice". I think, too often, there are multiple officers covering the scene, and they individually perceive a threat and respond - there's not time to say "ok, officer Wilson, you take the shot, and the rest of us will stand here and wait to see if you stop the guy". Better training is needed - in a SWAT situation, there's much more control, with a police sniper given a green light when appropriate to "take the shot".

Really, never, CP?

[Cow Poke]

Really, never, CP?

Correct - never "target practice". That's just asinine. Show me the exception, and I'll gladly condemn it.

[JimL]

Correct - never "target practice". That's just asinine. Show me the exception, and I'll gladly condemn it.

Off the top of my head, the guy in Carolina shot in the back 8 times as he ran from officer at traffic stop.

[Cow Poke]

Off the top of my head, the guy in Carolina shot in the back 8 times as he ran from officer at traffic stop.

You seriously call that "target practice"?

[Cow Poke]

Off the top of my head, the guy in Carolina shot in the back 8 times as he ran from officer at traffic stop.

Ex-South Carolina police officer who killed Walter Scott sentenced to 20 years in prison

It was South Carolina, and the guy is no longer a cop - he's serving time for murder.

Michael Slager, the white former South Carolina police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black man in the back as he fled a traffic stop, was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison.

In a rare case of a law enforcement officer being imprisoned for an on-duty shooting, U.S. District Judge David Norton of the South Carolina District sentenced Slager after ruling that he committed second-degree murder when he shot 50-year-old Walter Scott in April 2015.

"This is the day that the Lord has made and I am rejoicing," Scott's mother, Judy Scott, said outside the downtown Charleston courthouse as she clutched a framed photo of her son. "My soul is rejoicing right now."

The killing was captured on video by a bystander, and civil rights leaders in South Carolina said it proved what many in the black community had long known — that officers used excessive force on African Americans when they thought no one was watching and tried to alter crime scenes to hide their misdeeds.

As promised, I hereby condemn this outrageous abuse of power by an ex-police officer. It was not, however, "target practice".

[JimL]

Ex-South Carolina police officer who killed Walter Scott sentenced to 20 years in prison

It was South Carolina, and the guy is no longer a cop - he's serving time for murder.

Michael Slager, the white former South Carolina police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black man in the back as he fled a traffic stop, was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison.

In a rare case of a law enforcement officer being imprisoned for an on-duty shooting, U.S. District Judge David Norton of the South Carolina District sentenced Slager after ruling that he committed second-degree murder when he shot 50-year-old Walter Scott in April 2015.

"This is the day that the Lord has made and I am rejoicing," Scott's mother, Judy Scott, said outside the downtown Charleston courthouse as she clutched a framed photo of her son. "My soul is rejoicing right now."

The killing was captured on video by a bystander, and civil rights leaders in South Carolina said it proved what many in the black community had long known — that officers used excessive force on African Americans when they thought no one was watching and tried to alter crime scenes to hide their misdeeds.

As promised, I hereby condemn this outrageous abuse of power by an ex-police officer. It was not, however, "target practice".

Wasn't target practice? What would you call it?

[Roy]

As promised, I hereby condemn this outrageous abuse of power by an ex-police officer. It was not, however, "target practice".

Nitpick: it was not an outrageous abuse of power by an ex-police officer. It was an outrageous abuse of power by a police officer.

[Cow Poke]

Nitpick: it was not an outrageous abuse of power by an ex-police officer. It was an outrageous abuse of power by a police officer.

Correct.

[Cow Poke]

Wasn't target practice? What would you call it?

Murder.

[JimL]

Murder.

Murder-target practice, same thing, CP