jesus christ, Denis. Do you accept that the deceased pointed the fake gun at the cops? If not, say so. If you DO, there's really nothing else to be said about it. For example, do you really expect them to make sure the area behind them is clear (for deceased family) before they shoot to defend their own lives?
I appreciate what you're doing in making sure the questions are asked, but it just seems like there's never a quantum of evidence that will ever lead you to be satisfied with armed police action.
Commenty Colin you appear to be responding to your own prejudices. You should wait until Denis actually commits journalistic errors, then your second paragraph will be much stronger.
OK, I might have been a little harsh (... in the bitter, drunken wake of last night's game).
Denis definitely lays out the cops' side of this, indeed everyone's sides of this, but I'm still convinced there really wasn't any other way this could have ended, after Ferguson answers the door with what appears to be a gun, points it at the cop's head and "Everyone agrees the officers ordered Ferguson to drop the BB gun before firing their own sidearms at him."
Contrary to sexbot, that really isn't my default position - I'm just a big fan of people coming out and saying what they mean, particularly when they have the privilege of working for a publication that is forward-thinking enough to embrace it's reporter's subjective viewpoints.
It just seems like every time cops' guns leave their holsters, the cops are guilty until proven innocent, and no amount of contrary evidence is ever enough to dispel the "troubling" aspects that "raise [yet more] questions."
Colin, it just seems that maybe if they had announced themselves as police, he wouldn't have answered the door with a gin in his hand. Or not. Maybe he really wanted suicide by cop. I have to agree with #8, how could you miss that many times at that range. And apparently one of the officers had time to reload.
Commenty Colin with your new comment you are a new Colin. Indeed these "questions about what might have gone differently" are advertised but never delivered. The utter lack of explicit alternatives or questions in the mass of text below the jump makes a liar of Denis; as any regular blogtown reader will know, this fits a known pattern.
In other words I agree with you but when you act the same way you're no better.
I appreciate what you're doing in making sure the questions are asked, but it just seems like there's never a quantum of evidence that will ever lead you to be satisfied with armed police action.
Denis definitely lays out the cops' side of this, indeed everyone's sides of this, but I'm still convinced there really wasn't any other way this could have ended, after Ferguson answers the door with what appears to be a gun, points it at the cop's head and "Everyone agrees the officers ordered Ferguson to drop the BB gun before firing their own sidearms at him."
Contrary to sexbot, that really isn't my default position - I'm just a big fan of people coming out and saying what they mean, particularly when they have the privilege of working for a publication that is forward-thinking enough to embrace it's reporter's subjective viewpoints.
It just seems like every time cops' guns leave their holsters, the cops are guilty until proven innocent, and no amount of contrary evidence is ever enough to dispel the "troubling" aspects that "raise [yet more] questions."
In other words I agree with you but when you act the same way you're no better.