The U.S. Department of Justice recently reported that Portland police officers “use more force than necessary” when dealing with the mentally ill. More specifically, “[P]olice used Tasers in situations where use of a stun gun ‘is not justified’ or fire Tasers repeatedly when only a single shot is justified,” The Oregonian wrote in its bullet-pointed breakdown of the 42-page document.
Now, the DOJ is investigating six Saginaw, MI, police officers who shot a mentally ill man 46 times in July, according to MLive.com. Last month, Anderson Cooper aired an onlooker’s video of the shooting, in which the viewer is able to hear at least 30 rounds.
Police arrived on the scene when 49-year-old Milton Hall allegedly had an altercation with a convenience store clerk. Officers told Hall to put his knife down. He refused and told them to sic the K-9 on him. Without provocation, the officers opened fire.
As one CNN commenter wrote, “The man was walking backwards! You would have thought a wild elephant was charging them with the force they used! It's plain as day that these cops overreacted and I would not want them serving and ‘PROTECTING’ in my city!! They need to see some prison time, this is ridiculous…”
Veteran Long Island police officer Lou Palumbo agreed. "This wasn't a scenario where he was discharging a weapon in their direction," he said.
Many of the 4,011 comments ask why police didn’t just taze Hall.
Palumbo suggests the officers need better training.
What do you think?
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