Scenario

Here is a scenario that played out a couple of weeks ago in a park near my house. Im curious to know your opinion on it.

At about noon on a weekday, someone called 911 to report a shirtless man bransishing a large knife at a major intersection. Police arrived on scene and found the man in a nearby park. 3 cops surrounded him and told him to put the knife down. He lunged at one of the cops. All 3 of the cops pulled their guns and shot at the guy. One hit him in the chest, one missed, and one hit a tree and deflected into his partner.

Soudns straightforward enough. But afterwards I heard calls of police brutality. People were arguing that the cops used excessive force by shooting. Granted this is canada, and if a cop even touches his gun its 30 pages of paperwork, but Im curious to know everyones reaction to this.

BTW, the guy with the knife is black, the cops are white.

Sorry if this is the wrong forum, but it seemed the closest.

Found a link : www.theglobeandmail.com...

[edit on 30-6-2004 by PB]

I would have shot the man too, wouldn't you?

I absolutely agree, I dont think there should be any question.

What I was hearing afterwards though, were people saying that the officers should have used a stun gun. Calling for "equivalent force" or something like that. I havent heard much about it lately, fortunately, but Im curious to see if there is a consensus that the cops were in the right.

Sorry, old news. This also happened in Halifax almost a decade ago and they didn't even have an inquery. Coked out guy vs the Cops, won't get much press.