"Sandy's attorney, Sam Bregman, said he disagrees with McGinn's decision to bring the charges."
Uh... isn't that what he is paid to do?
"Keith was a police officer protecting a fellow officer when he shot a mentally unstable man wielding two knives. There is simply no criminal intent."
And here we arrive at the crux of the argument. The whole bit about protecting themselves and their fellow officers kills me, pun intended. Not just in this instance, but in any where police use deadly force to subdue and outnumbered, outgunned, and outclassed person. They offer the pitiful "do as we say, or die," line, and open fire, when there are so many good examples of officers putting their lives second with respect to their duty to the people they protect.
Maybe I assume too much, and police aren't here to protect us at all. I give them the benefit of the doubt, as long as they continue to roll with "protect and serve" on the side of the squad car.
These two creeps aren't representative of police as a whole, but they certainly are representative of a small and violent minority of police who justify their blood lust with the tired old "protecting our brothers in arms" bit. YOU AREN'T IN THE FUCKING MILITARY. YOU ARE A PUBLIC SERVANT CHARGED WITH PROTECTING US, FIRST, AND YOURSELVES, SECOND. It's the difference between a warrior mentality, and a protector mentality.
Bottom line is, if you're the type of person who puts on the blue uniform to go to battle, you picked the wrong job. Go enlist in the Marines, get your shit pushed in, and only then do you deserve the tough guy persona you put on each day. But stay the fuck out of the civilian police force.
Just look at that video again. Someone who is clearly not in a very coherent state of mind, but poses no immediate threat, is given the ultimatum to either submit or die. He turns his back, probably because he's severely distraught and has no clue what's really going on, and is shot in the back. Where was the lunge for the officer's weapon? Where was the slash with the knife that put the officers at risk? Even after falling to the ground, mortally wounded, they continue to hit him with beanbag rounds and scream orders at him.
As though the first priority of a dying man's mind is to follow procedure. What the fuck. These two deserve the jail sentence.