YACT: Cop shoots woodcarver minding his own business and.....

[SandEagle]

BAM! dead......... :\

he couldnt just tase him?




http://www.king5.com/news/local/Vid...hooting-of-woodcarver-released-112106374.html

Seattle Police Officer Ian Birk's dashboard camera shows woodcarver John T. Williams apparently carving on a piece of wood as he walks in front of the patrol car. He's looking down and appears to be minding his own busine

Birk, a two-year veteran officer, follows Williams and yells.


"Hey. Hey. Hey. Put the knife down. Put the knife down. Put the knife down."

Then, five gunshots are heard in rapid succession.

From the time Birk makes initial contact by yelling "Hey," seven seconds passes before he fires.

Williams' friends say he likely did not hear Birk yelling.

"He was deaf in one ear, so he probably didn't understand what the officer was saying," said Lila Lewis.

Shortly after the shooting, you hear a female witness yell to Birk, "He didn't do anything."

Birk responds, "Ma'am, he had a knife and he wouldn't drop it."

 

[deadlyapp]

This happened several months ago, the movie was just released a couple days ago. Unfortunately its still hard to tell what exactly happened since the video does not focus directly on what happened, but 8 seconds from initial contact to the final shot is extreme. It looks like the cop is definitely in the wrong for this one.

 

[Jeff7]

Shot five times? And the other guy's only holding a knife? What'd the guy do, charge at him in an insane rage?


And why'd he even go after the guy in the first place? Is public whittling illegal in Seattle?

 

[MotF Bane]

Be nice to see the cop be charged with first degree murder, and spend the rest of his life in jail. But he'll get a light slap on the wrist and wander off.

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Curious as to why the officer already had his gun out of his holster. Good to hear that the SPD said the shooting wasn't justified.

 

[thescreensavers]

Wow, now this is fucking ridiculous.

Upon googling

These knifes are tiny, even on college campus you could Carrie these.

The Cop is completely in the wrong here.

 

[101mpg]

Well I don't know the whole story but I think it's safe to jump to conclusions anyway and pass judgement

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Cold blooded murder, in broad daylight, and in public. Yeah, he'll just get a slap on the wrist.

 

[bfdd]

well hope this cop ends up in jail, what a piece of shit. what did he expect yelling at someone to drop the knife? how the fuck are they supposed to verify you're a cop if they aren't going to turn around?

 

[Triumph]

Looks like yet another cop on a power trip. Unfortunately, the type of people that typically want to be cops are the exact opposite of who you want to be cops. Pathetic. Yeah that guy looked like a real threat to the public!

 

[chusteczka]

First, walking while operating a knife is inherently dangerous. This is something we all learn when young. There was no reason to be walking along a downtown street carving wood. This is questionable behavior.

Second, no threatening behavior was displayed to create the need for lethal force. Questionable, yes. Threatening, no. There are non-lethal methods a police officer has for investigating questionable behavior. Six shots in the back is not one of them.

 

[chusteczka]

double post

 

[gophins72]

did they stop using tazers?

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Well I don't know the whole story but I think it's safe to jump to conclusions anyway and pass judgement

If the police can do it, why can't we?

 

[tcsenter]

The problem with these incidents is that cops are NOT trained to negotiate and use de-escalation techniques with someone holding a potentially lethal weapon. Its basically "put it down/drop it" and if you don't after being instructed a few times, you're dead. That is the full extent of the training that a lot of cops receive.

Until there is reform in training standards, protocols, and approaches for dealing with someone holding a potentially lethal weapon but who does not actually charge an officer or attempt to assault him with it, these things are going to happen.

 

[Turin39789]

First, walking while operating a knife is inherently dangerous. This is something we all learn when young. There was no reason to be walking along a downtown street carving wood. This is questionable behavior.

Second, no threatening behavior was displayed to create the need for lethal force. Questionable, yes. Threatening, no. There are non-lethal methods a police officer has for investigating questionable behavior. Six shots in the back is not one of them.

wait, what? Whittling is questionable behavior?

 

[SandEagle]

"From the time Birk makes initial contact by yelling "Hey ,"
seven seconds passes before he fires ."

This is the part that irks me. It takes about 7 seconds just to turn around and see who's yelling at you.

 

[Jumpem]

Cop should get the death penalty.

 

[SphinxnihpS]

Cop should get the death penalty.

Where's the ATOT cop defense crowd?

 

[ahenkel]

Where's the ATOT cop defense crowd?

Wait let me try one on.

The officer was justified in shooting the woodcarver as a preemptive strike because if he had been given more than 7 seconds to react the woodcarver would have flown into a cop hating rage and cut the officer. So the cop needed to put him down.

 

[SphinxnihpS]

Here's a link to a cop forum thread on this issue. The mentality of police makes me sick.

 

[KK]

Here's a link to a cop forum thread on this issue. The mentality of police makes me sick.

Yeah, a bunch of sick fucking bitches.

 

[Perknose]

None of us know the entire story, but with such evidence as we do have access to, this looks bad. For instance:

Police source: The knife was found closed at the scene of the shooting.

 

[Red Dawn]

Where's the ATOT cop defense crowd?

These videos show this guy was no kindly Geppetto that his acquaintancesmake him out to be.
It seems he was mentally ill and becoming more and more aggressive. I doubt that the cop just executed him. Now it's hard to say if he actually came at the cop aggresively but it's very possible if he was drunk and out of his gourd.

 

[erikistired]

Where's the ATOT cop defense crowd?

this is pretty obviously cut and dry. the cop was wrong. the only defense he might have is if the guy turned and tried to stab him, but i can't imagine that would get covered up with witnesses right there. it's too bad the shooting happened off camera so we all knew exactly what happened.

edit: although after the videos red dawn posted, who knows.

also,

and I hope no troll will come in here and say $15.00 binocular would have saved the innocent man with a knife.

i wonder if that guy (from the cop forum) posts here haha.