Times: Man shot by officer was armed with a 3-inch blade

Police said during a briefing Tuesday afternoon that Williams was armed with a folding knife with a three-inch blade when he was shot Monday afternoon. Police say Williams was shot when he refused an officer's orders to drop the knife.
Williams was reportedly a carver, according to an employee of the Chief Seattle Club.
Police spokeswoman Renee Witt said the officer was driving his patrol car south on Boren Avenue near Howell Street 4:15 p.m. when he saw a man holding a knife, seated on a sh

www.msnbc.msn.com...

Okay, so here a man is minding his own business and has police shoot him for whittling on a piece of wood?? What is going on in this country that people cannot whittle on wood without being shot?

If someone is not being threatening someone, why can he or she not whittle on a piece of wood?

This country is so crazy that I don't know how anyone stays sane in it.

I did not see this posted anywhere when I performed a search.

I hope someone comes forward with camera footage of the incident, otherwise i can see this being swept under the carpet like so many other cases.

I used to regulary carve wooden items, much of this was done in public and on occasions i was approached by the police here in the UK, more out of interest than anything else though.

They were always fine once they saw what i was making, however if they had asked me to put the knife down i would have.

It's hard to judge this situation though as it clearly sounds like there are two very different sides of the story.

CX.

the guy should have known better then bringing a knife to a gun fight.
dont know the guy did have the knife that much must be true and i immange the cop did tell him to put it down.
so the guy stands up? why?

reply to post by xxcalbier


Why is "having a knife in your hand" justification for your murder?

Having a knife in your hand =/= putting anyone in danger

Not following a command also is not in and of itself threatening. If you tell a dog to sit and it doesn't does that mean the dog is threatening you?

Why was he stopped in the first place? Sometimes I feel like these cops just look for excuses to murder.

How nice.... the cop even gets a few days off for having to shoot someone who was not breaking the law

reply to post by Jessicamsa


Without knowing too much about this case I can say the man should have outsmarted the cop and dropped the ....."weapon".
But something got in the way of his thought process.
I myself if challenged and I had a small knife and someone had drawn down on me, I think I would have put the knife down.
Whether I was right or wrong.
But the guy whittling I guess wins this round, I sure hope he survives to realize he is a winner.
(Edit)
Bummer I just read the story and it appears the gentleman only turned around to face the officer, I do hope there were witnesses to this happening.
Officer involved was a rookie also.

[edit on 31-8-2010 by g146541]

I find it hard to believe he was just minding his own business. When you are holding a weapon and a cop tells you to drop it, you drop it unless you want to be shot.

A 3" blade will cut you open just as good as a 12" one

The same kind of incident happened in Toronto on Sunday. In the Toronto case a witness also claimed they saw the officer fire 3 shots.

The Star

Originally posted by g146541
reply to post by Jessicamsa

 

Bummer I just read the story and it appears the gentleman only turned around to face the officer, I do hope there were witnesses to this happening.
Officer involved was a rookie also.

[edit on 31-8-2010 by g146541]

He could have been hard of hearing and turned around to see what the person had said. I have to do that sometimes as well. I could be standing there one day, have a cop come up behind me, and blow me away because I turn to face him. Yeah, that makes me feel really good about having a cop approach me...

www.king5.com...

An update on this. Video of shooting has been released. Preliminary hearing indicated shooting was unjustified. Cop was stripped of badge and gun.

Well, the video doesn't lie, the cop is a psycho and a murderer. Time for him to rot in prison.

Originally posted by SmokeandShadow
Well, the video doesn't lie, the cop is a psycho and a murderer. Time for him to rot in prison.

I doubt he'll do prison time. He might just not be allowed to be a cop again or something.

reply to post by Jessicamsa


This is a racist crime, against an obvious Native man. I simply can't see anything else than that.

Not only knives are NOT illegal, but the man was just, indeed, walking on with his business, not bothering anyone. And that sick racist goon went after him, and shot him only a few seconds later!

Vicious, cowardly crime. For abuse like this, cops deserve a massive riot, at the least.

Originally posted by Jessicamsa

Originally posted by SmokeandShadow
Well, the video doesn't lie, the cop is a psycho and a murderer. Time for him to rot in prison.

I doubt he'll do prison time. He might just not be allowed to be a cop again or something.

That's how they end up, usually. May they end up in jail, they'll get their arse wiped by inmates anyways... which would do them justice!

The police have their hands stained with the blood of the people. That's why they deserve no cooperation.

There is an existing thread on this.

The existing thread has 54 flags and is currently 7 pages long - lots of good discussion, articles, the vid, etc..

It is at the link below...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by Frogs
There is an existing thread on this.

The existing thread has 54 flags and is currently 7 pages long - lots of good discussion, articles, the vid, etc..

It is at the link below...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

existing thread?

LOL

My thread was the existing thread.