<< Well, considering this happened in a police force replete with recent corruption and having known to do about a half-dozen "gun drops" on people shot by police, I'm torn here.
The officer used extremely poor judgement by messing around in the bushes and dark areas of someone's private property. This wasn't a man-hunt, it was a noise complaint. He should have walked up to the damned door and knocked. This judgement unnecessarily put the interests of both the officer and victim's safety at odds, with tragic consequences. I can't fault the officer for the shooting, but I do fault him for his judgement leading up to the shooting. He shouldn't be disciplined for the shooting, he should be disciplined for his poor tactics.
I can't find any fault on the victim's part, if he wants to run around inside a house he has permission to be in and play with a rubber gun, he has every right to do so without worring whether there are cops hiding in the bushes and peeking into the windows. >>
I grew up in Indiana, and moved out to LA 'bout 6 months ago. And nothing, note a thing, from the Midwest applies in LA (I'm saying this 'cause yer profile says yer from Michigan). Police tactics out here are much more aggresive, and worst case scenerio<sp?> oriented than the midwest. For example, on a standard traffic violation one officer approaches the stopped car, and the other takes a position at 'bout a 45 degree angle to the stopped car's passanger side and about 10ft behind it. The 2nd officer has his weapon drawn to a "ready" position, and the passenger side door of the squad car is kept open for added cover. The cops out here have been sniped. They've been intentionally called to a house just to be shot in the back from across the block. I wouldn't be surprised if during LAPD training trainee's are told "When you come under fire..." instead of "If you come under fire..." LA is like a blackhole... "normal" rules don't apply, and if yer not paying attention yer sucked into who knows where.
I'm not defending actions, or trying to place blame anywhere I'm just expressing my opinion based of what I've seen, and read since I've been in LA.
Lethal