Police guns down homeless man…wrongly? Probably not.

Police in Inglewood is yet again under scrutiny after a homeless man was killed in an episode where officers opened fire when they saw him reach for a gun after being told to keep his hands in the air.

The man was described as latino, the LA Times inform us. How or why that would or could matter is not specified…

The police get, as expected, a less-than-positive response from media, as is the apparent norm when something happens with an unclear chain of events. Most things that happen have more sides to it than one, but no matter what comes to the surface in this case, we here at SB would like to say a few things.

We’ve known, and we still know, quite a few cops, from several countries. Never, ever have we met one whose biggest nightmare isn’t to have to end another human being’s life. It doesn’t matter if it’s a criminal’s with intent or an innocent by accident.

The story today seems to be from August 31st, so we’re a couple of days behind on this one, but as coincidence would have it, I (Daylight) had a conversation with a friend today about just this kind of thing. He’s a former cop, US east coast, for 8 years.

He told me, explained to me, that what a cop is confronted with in a situation like that is basically a split second to decide whether or not to end a person’s life, a person you’re face to face with, often standing so close to them that you can see how many days of stubble is on their chin. Or let them end yours.

Imagine yourself in that situation, the next time you feel like criticizing a police officer and his shooting. Or her, for that matter.
Done that? Good.
Now imagine what the streets would be like without cops. Think about it for a while, why don’t you, and come back to it next time you feel like criticizing cops without having all the facts.

Also, even in Norwegian papers.