A Military-Trained Policeman, Fired for Being Less Hasty to Shoot

Re:A Military-Trained Policeman, Fired for Being Less Hasty ... by gyrfalc on Friday December 09, 2016 @10:09PM (#13143786)

This article focuses on the cop/vet, but what I'm stuck on is that the 911 center didn't convey the complete report to the police - that the caller reported the subject's gun was not loaded and that his goal was to get shot. That seems like critical information to communicate to the police so they can respond appropriately.

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Re:A Military-Trained Policeman, Fired for Being Less Hasty ... by morganvachon on Friday December 09, 2016 @10:22PM (#13143833)

Having worked as a dispatcher, I can say that my training would have led me to get that information to the incident commander for the area (the "boss" of the cops that responded inluding Mader), but not via radio. I would have had a coworker relay the information to the IC via cellphone or telex.

Even so, that information may or may not have saved the subject's life. The IC could have decided the information is unsubstantiated and not have relayed it to the responding officers, or if he had relayed it, the one who took the fatal shot may still have felt enough of a threat to take the same action.

One more thing: I feel that Mader (the cop who initially responded) acted correctly in trying to talk the subject down, but when the man started raising the hand with the gun, Mader would have been justified if he had fired his weapon as well (remember, no cop on the scene knew the gun wasn't loaded).

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Re:A Military-Trained Policeman, Fired for Being Less Hasty ... by CalChris on Friday December 09, 2016 @10:35PM (#13143875)

That was the case with Tamir Rice as well. The dispatcher didn't relay that the caller twice said the gun was probably a fake and the kid was a kid. Two seconds after they arrived, Tamir was dead.

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