was the cop right?

crazygeryy

http://news.sky.com/story/1110555/cctv-shows-cop-killing-child-snatcher

i think he was most definitely right. that guy should have been taken down the minute he put his hands on the child.

Fart

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm... I think it could have been resolved peacefully.

Sunnyisland

After 30 minutes of tense negotiation, police said Wallace began talking about a satanic cult and counting down from 60.
One of the officers, Captain David Huff, determined that the only way to ensure the safety of the toddler would be to take drastic action.
On the video he is seen moving quickly towards the hostage-taker and preparing to fire a single shot at his head.
The pictures stop at that point, but the police commentary continues and confirms Wallace was killed. The child was unharmed



Good call cop.

Phill Ewinn

Too late to ask now OP.

Grayditch

I feel bad for the guy who was shot. He had a broken brain, but it resulted in him holding a knife to a kids throat. Probably best he's not around anymore for his and everyone else's sake.

The poor kid is going to need a lot of help. Seriously traumatic. Fair play to the cop. He assesed th threat to be real and made the call. The kid is alive. Not the perfect ending to the scenario, but a slighty less tragic one than could have been.

desbrook

crazygeryy wrote: »

http://news.sky.com/story/1110555/cctv-shows-cop-killing-child-snatcher

i think he was most definitely right. that guy should have been taken down the minute he put his hands on the child.

I think "child snatcher " doesn't adequately cover the guy. If he was dangerous and deranged enough to take a child in the middle of a supermarket and hold a knife to his/her throat he was capable of killing the child in an instant. 100% correct action. Overall I actually don't support the routine arming of police but I have to admit if it happened here there's a strong possibility the child would have been killed.

_Kaiser_

Cop was 100% right in this instance

There was a real threat to the child's life and he took the necessary steps to decisively deal with that threat.

He should be given a medal

tallus

Looks like the cop was trying to resolve the situation peacefully, he even sat down low to be on the same level as the kidnapper which indicates that he wasn't trying to intimidate bully etc.
It just HAD to be hard to pull the trigger like that.
I feel for the dude with the mental problems, but I feel more for the cop as he had more of an idea of what was happening, and did what he felt he had to do.

Grayditch

He was counting down from 30. If it wasn't "real" enough before then, it was about to get real.

Festy

Could the cop not have used pepper spray ?

Ruudi_Mentari

That is video is one of the weirdest things.

Racial tension, again looks like. Coulda bn high on crack... who knows

Gummy Panda

Festy wrote: »

Could the cop not have used pepper spray ?

Would you risk it though?

You can still lash out after being pepper sprayed

SV

Could not see the knife in the video and was going to say that it was a stupid decision to shoot.
After reading up on it and seeing more facts like the fact there was a knife and a countdown then yes, absolutely 100% the right decision was to shoot.

Great decision by the cop.

bumper234

Death by cop...starts a 60 second count down and that gives the cop no choice but to fire. No winners in this sad situation imo.

Ruudi_Mentari

Finally gauged it; he actually really is trying to casually abduct her. And I thought I was vigilant

Kettleson

In the circumstance that it was my child? The guy would have got it even before he had sat down on the chair. Bang.

Crimson King

In situations like that the child is of paramount importance, being the victim and all. After God knows how long of negotiations the cop has to decide what is best for the child and in this case obviously he took the drastic action of shooting the aggressor. No problems as far I am concerned.

BizzyC

Cop was 100% right.

He tried to talk the psycho down for as long as he could, but once the countdown began it was never going end well for the child and he took the action as a last resort to protect the child's life.

Frank Black

Ideally, a person who holds a knife to a 2 year olds throat should be first shot in the balls and both kneecaps 10 minutes prior to being shot in the head.
However, this was probably not a feasable option in this situation - so I say 'Good call Mr Policeman, good call'.

Duckjob

SV wrote: »

Could not see the knife in the video and was going to say that it was a stupid decision to shoot.
After reading up on it and seeing more facts like the fact there was a knife and a countdown then yes, absolutely 100% the right decision was to shoot.

Great decision by the cop.

You can clearly see him holding the knife to the childs neck at 0:25

Did the cop do the right thing? Of course he did. Silly question really. The guy was clearly an immediate threat to the child and she could have been killed at any moment.

aaakev

Hard decision to make, fair play to the cop

Fukuyama

I feel for the cop more than anything. The toddler is quite young so will likely forget.

He has to remember how he was forced to execute a person.

Ruudi_Mentari

It provided a real opportunity, but I'm sorry the kid had to witness it.

Duckjob

Dean0088 wrote: »

I feel for the cop more than anything. The toddler is quite young so will likely forget.

He has to remember how he was forced to execute a person.

True, but the reality is, he more than likely saved an innocent young girls life. He can be proud that he acted so bravely and decisively.

aaakev

Duckjob wrote: »

True, but the reality is, he more than likely saved an innocent young girls life. He can be proud that he acted so bravely and decisively.

Agreed i think the feeling that he saved a childs life will outweigh any guilt he feels for killimg the guy, at least i would hope so

Grayditch

I'd say he'll definitely feel guilty. He sat down with the guy and tried his best, so he clearly wanted it resolved peacefully. I just hope the thanks from the parents will help with that guilt. It would be a whole different kind of guilt if he hadn't acted and the girl died.

IK09

Never been in a a situation remotely like this, but i would like to think that i would have acted as calmly as the cop. Taking a life is not something he woke up thinking he was going to do. Lethal force was the only option.

The man was obviously sick and if in his right state of mind, the situation would have been different im sure. Its like talking to someone with depression or any other mental illness. We just dont know what the man was capable of. Fair play to the cop, protected the innocent and saved a childs life by all accounts. That guy obviously needed help, when you are dealing with someone who is not themselves anything can happen. With a knife to a child? he was never leaving alive. end of story.If i have children, I hope there are gardai out there who would protect my child the same way.

Super-Rush

There would be some uproar if it were a dog that was shot.

sbsquarepants

If it was my child, i'd be happy enough with the outcome. The guy had mental problems and that's sad and all that, but at the end of the day fúck him, his problems are just that - his problems, not some innocent childs.

mathie

Grayditch wrote: »

I feel bad for the guy who was shot. He had a broken brain, but it resulted in him holding a knife to a kids throat. Probably best he's not around anymore for his and everyone else's sake.

The poor kid is going to need a lot of help. Seriously traumatic. Fair play to the cop. He assesed th threat to be real and made the call. The kid is alive. Not the perfect ending to the scenario, but a slighty less tragic one than could have been.

The child being killed was only slightly more tragic?

SV

Super-Rush wrote: »

There would be some uproar if it were a dog that was shot.

If the dog had it's teeth around the child's neck and was magically barking some kind of countdown then I'm sure there wouldn't be any uproar.


pretty obvious what you're trying to refer to and it isn't even slightly relevant.

EyeSight

I think what people always forget in these situations is that the cops usually have a split second to make a life/death situation. It's very easy for us to sit behind a computer and think if it was right/wrong.

I think it was right