Opuscula Is deadly force Always needed?

I DON’T HAVE ALL THE FACTS. but after another Broward County Sheriff’s Office (BSO) deputy kills another person I am beginning to wonder about BSO’s rules of engagement.

According to local tv “news” reporting on what a BSO spokesperson told the stations^{1, 2}

• A local man stabs his ex-girlfriend to death with a knife.
• Officers from multiple jurisdictions respond.
• Responding Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) see a man with a knife
• The knife-wielding man is ordered by the officers to put down the knife.
• The man refuses.
• A BSO sergeant shoots and kills the man with the knife.

 

My First Born is a LEO in another jurisdiction.

When I related the incident to him, his response was “meet deadly force with deadly force.”

I expect that is the mindset of all, or at least most, LEOs. I can understand that, but  . . .

 

Maybe the knife-wielding man was “high” on something and was incapable of making a reasoned decision.

Maybe the knife-wielding man was remorseful for slaying his ex-girlfriend and wanted to commit “suicide by cop,” an all too frequent nightmare for most LEOs.

There could be many “maybe”s; the responding officers from the BSO and other jurisdictions couldn’t know the man’s thoughts.

Still.

With the number of responding LEOs — there were three from the BSO alone — why did they have to kill the man?

There were

• Multiple LEOs on the scene
• Most must have been armed with Tasers³, a/k/a normally non-deadly stun guns
• Most must have been provided batons (billy clubs or night sticks).

Was the man with the knife threatening the LEOs? Was he focusing on one specific LEO?

I wasn’t there so everything here is speculation.

Could the LEOs, who had the man outnumbered at least 3-to1 (and the suggestion from the tv is that there were more LEOs on scene than just the three from the BSO) have disarmed him using non-lethal means: Tasers, batons.?

I am not a criminal coddling liberal and I stand solidly with LEOs who truly are threatened; I agree with my First Born, “meet deadly force with deadly force.”

But I wonder: Was the knife-wielding person capable of using “deadly force” against the LEOs? Was there no other way to subdue the person?

I repeat: I was not at the scene and all the above is speculation.

Will body cameras show what happened from the time the LEOs arrived on scene until the fatal shot was fired?

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Sources

1. http://tinyurl.com/yy62zod9

2. http://tinyurl.com/yyxtubke

3. Taser is a product of Axon (https://www.axon.com/)

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