Bystanders, cop shot as NYPD opens fire on alleged fare-beater in Brooklyn subway

zero_gravitas@aussie.zone to Not The Onion@lemmy.world – 215 points –
Bystanders, cop shot as NYPD opens fire on alleged fare-beater in Brooklyn subway
nbcnewyork.com
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NYPD brass said the alleged fare-beater had charged at the officers with a knife and made verbal threats against their lives; he was last said to be in critical condition, along with one of the bystanders

Yeah, that may have been how it started.

Body-worn camera footage, which Maddrey said he reviewed before the press conference, allegedly showed the man make a verbal threat to the officers. He told the cops, "I'm going to kill you if you don't stop following me," the chief said.

Definitely sounds like the police at fault, and the guy wasn't a walking time bomb or anything.

I get that the situation with the police in the US is cooked, but saying this was over a $2 fare isn't really being honest about the situation.

I mean, for discharging your firearm in an enclosed space with tons of people around? Yeah, I definitely would consider the police at fault. Should the guy with the knife have been persued once it was revealed he was armed? Sure, I can accept that. But what I do not accept is that the police seem to, despite the absurd modern toolkit at their disposal, only have two tools they actually use: their taser and their gun.

Why is it that seemingly anywhere else a knife-wielding assailant can be subdued without blood being drawn, but here it results in several people suffering life threatening injuries and one dead?

It's much cheaper (and better for psychological conditioning to the Policed States of America) to just hire the cheapest community college dropouts with a pant size bigger than their IQ than it is to attract, train, and maintain a respectable (read: "for the community") police force. If the US adopted similar requirements for their police as a country like Germany, I'd imagine we'd lose well over half of our force instantly, with most of the rest quitting soon after being asked to not shoot people at the first sign of noncompliance.

I think the argument being made here is that what you have described is egregious enough and also a fair take on what is alleged to have happened.

Unlike saying "a guy jumped a turnstile and police opened fire for $2" which now looks like a ragebait equivocation.

I will concede that. The original comment was an oversimplification

seemingly anywhere else a knife-wielding assailant can be subdued without blood being drawn,

Where has this actually happened though? I very much doubt it's standard practice for any police force.

The japanese use the sasumata for this purpose.

My mans knife attacks are the primary deadly assault weapon used basically anywhere else on earth that you cant get guns from vending machines. I know that is hyperbole, but only just.

guns from vending machines.

We're working toward it. Texas got bullet vending machines.

Except there is no evidence of a knife outside of the police story, bystanders say there was no knife and to my knowledge they still haven't found a knife