If it is the one in Athens, GA, which I think was discussed here, you see the police officers responding to a report of a man with a knife - but repeatedly trying to talk the person down. I think the officers in this situation did everything possible to avoid shooting the knife wielding suspect. When charged, the officer shot suspect multiple times. But he still got back up and he attacked the officer when he was trying to switch to non lethal weapon. His partner shot the suspect while he was fighting with the first officer. https://www.classiccitynews.com/post/po ... r-shootingExcaliber wrote: ↑Mon Nov 25, 2019 7:48 amDifferent situations require different responses. If the answer to the question of whether there is any option other than deadly force for protecting innocent life in a given circumstance and the answer is no, then deadly force is the required response.G.A. Heath wrote: ↑Sat Nov 23, 2019 9:45 pm A few months ago we had a suspect shot and killed by a Deputy, after the deputy was stabbed. Suspect was from Georgia IIRC.
A suspect who suddenly draws a knife and charges the officer from close range is much different from one where an officer is responding to a call of a distraught individual holding a knife.
Many situations are not so black and white, and they require on the spot judgment calls with decisions on what level of risk is acceptable. How good that judgment was is ultimately determined only by the final outcome, and all such calls have to be based on very little if any information beyond what can be physically seen at the time.
Welcome to the world of police work where making the right decision in each and every case is required many times over the course of a career.
I agree that each situation needs to be treated individually. I know that desk jockeys and lawyers like a written policy for everything, but dangerous situations need to be like jazz (improvisation), not an orchestra (follow every note exactly). Guidelines and instinct are important and should not be eliminated from how one responds to a dangerous situation.