A cop makes a split-second
> decision about his
> safety -- a tragically wrong decision, as it turns
> out -- and you see
> something criminal going on there? I read a few
> versions of this story,
> and they all seem to come back to only one outcome:
> no indictment.
>
> Tragedy, to be sure. But criminal?
>
> How do you see it?
Ok. Your point is taken. I cannot get inside of the mind of the cop who pulled the trigger. I cant know, based upon the facts at my disposal, if he had any ulterior motives; whereas with the Rodney King beating, the racism and cruelty were apparent. So the comparison with the Rodney Kind case was perhaps unfair.
However, at the very least, I can say that the San Jose Police Dept is guilty...how can you send a policeman into a situation where he shoots and kills a 98 pound vietnamese woman who was armed with just a vegetable peeler? The policeman was called onto the scene because a neighbor said the woman's child was outside...He was not called into a potentially dangerous scene, such as a shoot-out between gangs, etc. How was his life threatened? Why is someone that incompetent allowed on the police force?
I am not sure of the legal nuances concerning manslaughter, but this certainly looks like a case of manslaughter to me. So, yes, it was criminal in my mind, ESPECIALLY since this was a policeman who is supposed to be trained about restraint and measured use of force. Even if I give the cop the benefit of the doubt, isnt there such a thing as shooting at the knees rather than dead in the heart?
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