17 year old girls shot by US police. Uncalled police violence or "suicide by cop"?
First and foremost a disclaimer: I am aware of the Ferguson topic also dealing with (perhaps related) cases of alledged police violence. However these are seperate incidents and I'd like to seperate this as good as I can from the heated atmosphere and the topics of race, immigration and such that come up with Ferguson and the events in New York.
On to the topic of this thread: Last week 17 year old Kristiana Coignard was shoot by officers in a police station in Longview, Texas. This week officers in Denver shot another 17 year old girl, Jessica Hernandez, in an apparently stolen car. Reports say that Coignard had entered the police station after closure and called in via one of the phones in the lobby. When the officer at the other end got worried about her, a police officer approaches the girl in the lobby and seeks to talk to her. He later claimed that now Coignard threatened to pull a weapon. The two fight, but the officers gains the upper hand. When the situation appears to be under control, he lets go and turns away. If one is to believe police reports the girl then drew a knife to threaten the officer. Two other policemen intervene. All three pull their guns and shoot the girl with 5 shots when she assaults them. She's announced dead not soon after.
In Denver the policement opened fire on the car that Hernandez drove when she threatened to run one of the policemen over with said car.
Sources:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/p...ill-teenagers/
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_27...was?source=pkg
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...police-killing
Uncalled police violence or "suicide by cop"?
In the former case critics argue that the police is reacting unreasonably violent towards mentally ill people and is insufficiently trained to do so, as Coignard was reportedly suffering from mental illness. In the latter case, it is argued that US police does again overly readily fall back on deadly violence where it may not be necessary. The Denver police stated, regarding the issue, that policemen were instructed to only open fire if a moving vehicle "poses an immediate threat of death or serious physical injury" and that "An officer threatened by an oncoming vehicle shall, if feasible, move out of the way rather than discharging a firearm".
Critics argue that overall police forces are to quick to rely on fatal tactics and that cases like the presented ones could be resolved non-fatally. A prime argument here is that both teenagers did not carry, as far as can be told, a firearm of any kind. As such the Denver Post reported that Hernandez' father asked: "How can they shoot her when she doesnt have a gun?". Reportedly the Denver incident lead to a large crowd gathering in protest outside a police station. Meanwhile the police officers in question in both cases are on paid adminstrative leave, probably until investigations in both cases finished. Both police departments have assured a transparent investigation.
At the same time police officials in the US are being quoted saying that police and police stations are more and more transformed into a helpdesk for mentally ill but also all sorts of other affairs. The buttom line of that is likely that police force is not primarily responsible for taking care of mental illnesses but has other obligations.
Personally I find both cases interesting as they present a base to reflect on violence usage by police forces, away from the above mentioned Ferguson complex. In case of Coignard I'd argue that it is indeed a bit harsh to hold the officers involved responsible. It is hard to tell what had been said in the conversation between the officer and the girl and one may argue that there was several officers in the room that physically easily outmatched the girl. But what would we ask them to do? The girl clearly charged towards one of the officers and it looks as if she was indeed armed with a knife or another object suitable to stab someone. As such she clearly posed a threat to the safety and perhaps life of the officer in question. Realisticly, without putting that officer at risk, what other ways were there to stop her? It is perhaps a bit early to make that call, but the video can only make one assume that she indeed aimed to kill herself. Charging at 3 policement, pointing guns at her, leaves little room for other conclusions. That would indeed render it "suicide by cop". Now that is not the first report of such I hear, so is it a growing trend?
In the latter case a lot depends on the circumstances. I'll argue though that generally speaking I think evasion is by far the more promising aproach, when looking at the officers' safety. It sounds a lot like the officers were "in her way". And if the car was indeed stolen, she feared being caught. If that were the case, it would be unlikely for her to "turn around and try again" or to even specifically aim for any of the policemen in the first place. I'd find it more likely that she was simply wanting to get past them and get away. Again, I do not want to judge overly quick. But it does seem as if Hernandez may not have had to die. Yes it appears she's been in a stolen car. Perhaps she stole it herself. She threatened to violently clear a police control. But was shoting her the only way and if not, should fatal violence really be the course of action if avoidable? Denver police says no. I'd even question if discharging weapons was the safest approach with regard to the officers' safety. Perhaps some (I do not want to generalise here) US policemen are indeed a bit quick to fire their guns?
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Originally Posted by TASS07
ed up. That doesn't mean prosecution but this attitude alone would maybe inspire self improvement rather shrugging shoulders and accepting it.
