‘TV’ trained Oz police shoot 15yo boy dead - International Injustice/Law

Three fully armed police confronted a disturbed teenager wielding two knives in Melbourne today. After further aggravating the situation by spraying the kid with capsicum spray our highly trained and ‘skilled’ police shot the youth dead when he failed to heed orders to stand down!

The first thing that strikes you about this tragic incident is that the behaviour of the youth is not uncommon but the reaction of police -- in response to a minimal lethal threat -- was ‘over the top.’

We are aware that today’s (TV) Police are trained to draw their firearms when confronted by anyone bearing any kind of weapon – AND THAT IS CLEARLY A PROBLEM!

Weapons offer varying degrees of threat dependant on a wide range of variables; two primary considerations would be the type of weapon and the nature or condition of the person wielding it; for example, a stick in the hands of a martial arts expert is far more lethal than an untrained kid armed with a handgun; notwithstanding the unfortunate youth killed by police today was only armed with knives.

The blanket response to draw firearms when confronted by a weapon of any kind, without first assessing the level of threat, is not only stupid it increases the level of danger for police and citizens.

Prior to citing examples of well-trained police in extremely dangerous situations I would first put to rest all the uninformed opinions/comments made by some commentators.

Police are trained to kill not wound; any comments relating to shooting to disable or temporarily incapacitate reveal a lack of knowledge, research or just plain naivety. Handguns are notoriously inaccurate; police throughout the world are trained to target the (torso) largest body mass containing the vital organs. It is ‘assumed’ that when police draw their weapons the situation is critical and that no alternative responses exist.

However, it soon becomes apparent that today’s cowardly police are not able to accurately assess levels of threat confronting them or citizens.

Some years past I had the displeasure to watch -- on TV news -- four or five police with weapons fully extended and in crouching position poised to fire. That image conjured an impression of rioting hordes or heavily armed criminals attacking these poor police, who were clearly not in control of the situation or themselves. Imagine the shock when the camera panned to the cause of this American TV scene in real life; the camera focused on a very obviously medicated (lone) man waste-deep in the surf on Bondi Beach wielding a knife. How this person presented an immediate danger to anyone was certainly not apparent, the medicated man could barely stand in the surf! Nevertheless, the police opened fire and the man subsequently died of multiple bullet wounds. A tragedy and indictment of our poorly trained, badly screened, inept police.

One would have thought the police learn, like the rest of us, from experience not some Texan police training manual -- which recalls another incident of an Australian tourist caught jay-walking in Texas. When the Aussie failed to return to the curb on orders from Texan police – apparently the Aussie was about to step onto the opposite curb; the Texan policeman drew his handgun and threatened to shoot if the shocked Aussie didn’t return to the curb from which he alighted!

But now to the reaction of a well-trained, unarmed police constable directing traffic in Sydney’s red light, hoodlum area, Kings Cross. This story is first hand, as I witnessed it personally, so be assured dear reader you have it straight for the horse’s mouth.

All red light areas in the world are essentially the same, whores, drugs, thieves, illegal gambling and a host of other sordid characters and activities. On this particular day in the Cross, a friend alerted me to a verbal altercation between an adult Italian male and some punks known as ‘sharpies’ in those days. The sharpies were harassing the ‘wog, dago,’ for reasons not known to us but the Italian, which Italians were apt to do in those days, pulled a knife and threatened the six sharpies. My friend and I knew the Cross very well and that bladed gesture should have been enough for anyone to say have a nice day, sir! But not these punks, who prided themselves on fighting and thuggery.

As one sharpie approached the Italian, threatening to take the knife and shove it up his arse, the Italian, not unexpectedly, plunged the knife into the sharpie’s guts -- down went the sharpie who hit the ground calling on his mates to call an ambulance; silly sharpies!

I am a firm believer in Karma so was not inclined to pursue the matter of an angry and frightened man fleeing the scene with a bloodied knife in his hands! However, my fuckin’ crazy friend leaped in hot pursuit after the Italian – what the fuck he was thinking, I don’t know – but he left me little choice but to pursue him in defence of a close mate.

The Italian headed for a back lane off the Mansions pub, notorious for its illegal baccarat clubs; my friend took a wider approach and ran into a busy intersection to enlist the support of an unarmed policeman directing traffic! Fuck! I could scarcely believe the sequence of events, as no one in ‘our scene’ would be caught dead talking to the PIGS for any reason other than to slang off at them.

My friend paused long enough for me to catch up and try and drag him away, the PIG then asked me to confirm the stabbing, which I did, hoping that I could then drag my lunatic friend back to our favourite coffee shop! No such luck as the unarmed traffic cop sprang in hot pursuit of the Italian.

What I witnessed next changed my opinion of that generation of PIGS. After cornering the Italian in the lane and demanding that he drop the knife the lone, unarmed policeman lunged/attacked to subdue the Italian wielding his bloodied knife with no restraint whatsoever at the policeman. In two beautiful movements (revealing expert training) the policeman blocked the knife-wielding arm with his left arm and landed a right to the jaw of the offender with his right fist, which dropped the Italian on the spot! It was over, incredible! I would emphasise that at no stage did that traffic cop flinch or hesitate. He was clearly the product of good screening and expert training; now compare that story with the disgusting excuses that call themselves police today – what a bunch of cowardly shits.

I have personally witnessed, on numerous occasions, today’s police intimidated and clearly fearful of the people they are supposed to protect society from. It is no surprise these trigger-happy cowards over react in situations that do not warrant lethal force. Do not allow these cowards to utilise their incompetence to justify the use of Tasers, which they would no doubt abuse. Throw the bloody book at them and review all training and screening procedures.

Fifteen years old against three armed adults, for Pete’s sake! Would you trust these people with Tasers, which have proven fatal on numerous occasions?

Have we all noticed how our cringing, puppet Prime Minister, Kevin '07' Rudd, screams like a stuck pig when Aussie artists depict naked teens but is deafeningly SILENT when INCOMPETENT Police SLAUGHTER a 15yo disturbed teenager. SIX bullets to the upper body from 3 armed adults confronting a kid, for Christ's sake!

Where is custard-faced Rudd on issues that REALLY COUNT, like the murder of five Aussie journos in Timor-Leste and the unnecessary killing of a traumatised youth?

Intervention and a review of police training and screening procedures is clearly required, you gutless piece of shit, Rudd!

Maybe you should ring Rupert or Washington and ask for advice, you internet filtering lackey!

On Sept. 24, in Brooklyn, N.Y., a 35-year-old man named Iman Morales fell to his death after a 22-minute standoff with New York Police. Morales, who was described as "emotionally disturbed," had climbed onto the fire escape of a building in Bedford-Stuyvesant, naked and waving a metal pole. Unable to talk him down, one officer, under order from his lieutenant, shot Morales with a Taser gun, at which point he fell to the sidewalk, head-first.

He was taken to the hospital, where he was declared dead.

One week later, the officer who gave the order, Lt. Michael W. Pigott, drove to Brooklyn's Floyd Bennett Field, a former air base used by the NYPD, took a 9mm Glock from a locker room, and shot himself in the head.

It's hard to know which are more ubiquitous at this point: stories of accidental death by Tasers, or stories of police brutality involving bullets. Just this week, in New York, a Bronx man was shot and killed after he allegedly waved a baseball bat at police officers who entered his home. In theory, these sorts of confrontations are the reason such "non-lethal" weapons as Tasers exist. But news reports tell a different tale. In the United States and Canada, more than 400 people have died after being Tasered since 2001.

Apart from his suicide, what sets Pigott apart from most police officers who kill people using Tasers is that he must have realized that the order to Taser Morales could deal a fatal blow. Why he decided to do it anyway will remain unanswered. And it's impossible to know whether remorse over Morales' death was the driving factor behind his decision to take his life, or whether it was the stripping of his badge after over 20 years on the force -- or something else.

Regardless, for people who carry a Taser as an alternative to a gun, the realization that they are actually deadly weapons must deal a hard blow.

Despite the rather old news that Tasers can kill, the news media continue to be littered with reports of trigger-happy Taserers, many of whom should be relieved that their victims lived. This week in Oklahoma, police Tasered a man who had gone into diabetic shock while driving, which caused him to spin out of control on the road. (The officers felt "extremely bad" upon realizing that he was not drunk or high but rather in need of medical attention.) In another report, last month, undercover cops in North Carolina Tasered a man acting as a pallbearer at his father's funeral. (The local sheriff apologized for the deputies' behavior. "Family, friends, relatives. … That was a bad decision.")

Appalling social behavior aside, it doesn't seem hard to unearth the psychology behind excessive Taser use. It must be easy to be quick on the draw when toting a weapon that is like a pretend firearm. Like guns, Tasers are about much more than self-defense. For civilians (and cops), the sense of power that comes from carrying a weapon is a central part of the appeal. Taser International, Inc. has capitalized on this -- a trio of new C2 Taser models, which have been aggressively marketed toward women, come in leopard print and two styles of camouflage. ("Who says safety can't be stylish?" reads the marketing tag on the Taser Web site.) Tasers fulfill a powerful, violent fantasy: the ability to shoot someone without deadly consequences.

Taser's marketing coup has been to convince consumers that there is such a thing as a gun that won't kill. The number of deaths caused by Tasers cuts through this myth.

Recently, a new study discovered that the most common model of Taser used by police officers are far more hazardous than the company claims, capable of firing dangerous levels of electricity that can raise the risk of heart attack by as much as 50 percent. Shortly after the release of the findings, Canadian police departments pulled Tasers from their forces. ("Police departments in the United States, however, appear to have taken no similar action," reported the Arizona Republic.)

Pierre Savard, a biomedical engineer at the University of Montreal, led the study, which Taser International claims is composed of "false allegations based on scientifically flawed data". Last year, he also examined the high-profile death of Robert Dziekanski, a Polish immigrant who died after being Tasered by police at Vancouver International Airport.

"At first, I thought (Taser) was a great product," Savard told the Arizona Republic. "My point of view is that police officers already carry firearms, which are definitely more dangerous. So the Taser is much less dangerous to start with. But it should be used in a cautious manner.

"As a scientist … the risk is not zero."

© 2008 Independent Media Institute

Yet another tragic example of the Americanisation of Australia. Do we really want to follow our gutless and incompetent leaders down this road?

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