Idaho: Body camera video of LEO shooting man with knife

[A-R]

Posting this more for the training/thought process benefits of a real life-or-death use of deadly force defensive gun use (not intending it to become a cop-bashing thread).

Incident is from August. Man crashed his truck, then went into a friend's apartment and pulled out a knife (or knives), apparently contemplating hurting himself. Officer enters apartment very cautiously, gun drawn, calling for the man to come out. When man appears with knife in hand, officer commands him multiple times to drop the knife, but man continues advancing as the officer retreats. Then officer fires 5 rounds in rapid succession at the man.

The man died. Prosecutor did not charge the officer.

Details: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2014/01/1 ... oting.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnOBfCmled8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=HnOBfCmled8[/youtube]

[jbarn]

As a former officer that just gives me chills. No one wants to shoot another. Well, psychopaths and sociopaths aside.

[A-R]

As a former officer that just gives me chills. No one wants to shoot another. Well, psychopaths and sociopaths aside.

Curious your thoughts on anything he could've done differently? I certainly think given totality of circumstances he was justified. But tactically/procedurally, could he have better avoided the confrontation somehow? Seems to me his decision to shoot had as much to do with running out of space to safely retreat/create space (not a good idea to blindly back out the front door and down those steps while holding a gun on a man with knife only a few feet away - too easy to trip/fall). He needed to enter the apartment in the first place to check on the man's welfare based on the information he had, but he did best he could to avoid confrontation directly (staying cautiously around the corner until man appeared with knife).

Only other possible option I can think of is wait for backup? But then he's not checking on welfare of a possibly suicidal individual.

Tough situation.

[03Lightningrocks]

The officer had absolutely no other choice. I would call that a good shoot. If the guy was trying to use the knife to hurt himself before the officer aproached, it is quite possible he just did the old "suicide by cop" routine.

[cb1000rider]

I think that these types of cameras should be mandatory for all LEOs that are on duty. This is a great example of how a camera can exonerate a LEO that does the right thing in an unfortunate circumstance...

[TomV]

My first inclination is that this was suicide by cop. He was shuffling towards the officer. I am also curious of the results of any tox screen the individual had performed post mortem.

Second, I wonder how much they had to restrain the lady of the house. At the tail end, she did sound like she was escalating, but that's no surprise either.

The commentary on videos like this is always interesting.

[03Lightningrocks]

Yeah, I bet it was pretty traumatic for her. My guess is she thought they would just take the knife away and haul him to jail. I would not be surprised to hear he has a history of doing wacky things.

[Oldgringo]

Five (5) shots? Apparently, there was no intention of bringing him in alive?

[mojo84]

Pretty impressive how calm the cop was prior to shooting the guy. When he was calling for the guy to come out from the doorway, he sounds calm and not angry or wound up. It's a shame the guy had to be shot but the cop could only retreat so far until other people could have been put in jeopardy.

I too think it was suicide by cop. If the guy really wanted to fight, he would have ran at the cop.

[GlockDude26]

Five (5) shots? Apparently, there was no intention of bringing him in alive?

in not a cop or anything but when the man kept advancing with the knife then the situation turns into SD for the officer.

i was taught to shoot only to stop a serious threat and how many rounds is irrelevant as long as the threat persists.

[03Lightningrocks]

Five (5) shots? Apparently, there was no intention of bringing him in alive?

in not a cop or anything but when the man kept advancing with the knife then the situation turns into SD for the officer.

i was taught to shoot only to stop a serious threat and how many rounds is irrelevant as long as the threat persists.

That was what I though as well. Truth is, I could tell he had cop training by his self control with how many rounds he fired. If it were me, I would have wigged out and probably emptied the magazine.

[Beiruty]

A liberal would say why a Taser was not deployed. I would say there was no time to switch tools.

[txglock21]

The officer had absolutely no other choice. I would call that a good shoot. If the guy was trying to use the knife to hurt himself before the officer aproached, it is quite possible he just did the old "suicide by cop" routine.

My thoughts exactly!

[jbarn]

Five (5) shots? Apparently, there was no intention of bringing him in alive?

What does that mean?

If you are not ready to accept the person can die, don't shoot. Deadly force is force that can cause death. He shot until it was clear the guy was no longer advancing. IMO, the officer let the guy get too close.

[jbarn]

A liberal would say why a Taser was not deployed. I would say there was no time to switch tools.

TASER is OK when faced with a knife (deadly force), IF you have deadly force as a backup. Officer was alone and the TASER was not appropriate.