Of course they are. Because more often than not, by the time you, as the object of serious life-threatening aggression, have confirmation of that fact, it's in the form of being killed by it.SuzyRidr2 wrote: I also believe they've been trained to respond with deadly force first and sort it out later.
Now when they dump full mags into a car they say was coming at them...well...I've had people try to run me down before. You get out the way. It's no big deal. I understand it indicates a willingness to kill or injure, but the act itself is not particularly life- or injury-threatening. You step aside. Now if they got you pinned or cornered or something...sure.
BUT...sometimes it seems excessive. But I wasn't there, either.
Now a couple of years ago we had an interesting deadly force case. Probably the most egregiously inappropriate use of deadly force by a cop in recent memory. You didn't hear about it because:
1. It wasn't fatal, and
2. It was a white guy he shot
Cops in Springfield got called to the Walmart Neighborhood Market about a panhandler bothering customers near the entrance. When they arrived they recognized the guy, and detained him because he was breaking the law, and they knew him well enough to know he probably had some kind of warrants, he was a known tweaker goofball in the area.
When they confirmed that he had warrants and should be arrested, he struggled and broke away and started running across the lot. At the point one of the cops drew his .40 and shot him one time in the ass cheek. Sounds like a scene I saw on Reno 911.
The cop said it was mistake. He meant to taser him, but grabbed the wrong implement. I say bullshit. They don't look or feel remotely like each other. This was in broad daylight too.
I think this guy was tired of being a cop, tired of playing this retarded daily game with these druggie shitbags, and just said fuck it, I'ma shoot this jerk in the ass and take retirement.
And as indication of how much of a lowlife this dude actually was, he settled out of court for $125,000, out of which he was responsible for the hospital bill. This dude by all rights should have OWNED the city of Springfield if he'd gotten even a halfway competent lawyer.
But I'm sure that sounded like a shit-ton of rock or meth or heroin or whatever his drug of choice was.
It's the Springfield effect...things happen here that you just wouldn't believe anywhere else.