In this medium, we try to document as many of the police killings as we possibly can. Realistically, we can only document a small amount of the illicit killings, and the blatant acts of abuse carried out under the name of law enforcement. Most of the information provided here is sourced from independent citizens, journalists, and other non-corporate media entities, as we do not have the financial resources or the staff to research and document this dilemma of police violence.
The family of this victim speaks in simple, common-sense terms that the officer did not need to shoot; they could have opted not to kick in the door…
Officers do not have to place themself close to a person wielding a knife so that they may claim justification for using lethal force. Suppose there are ways for the officer/s to gain space between themselves and the assailant wielding a knife, machete, sword, or other objects. In that case, the officer should use that option as long as the assailant does not pose an existential threat to anyone else.
Unless the objective is to kill all offenders wielding a weapon, regardless of the circumstances and reasons surrounding the person’s actions.
We see instances of police officers shooting a person wielding a fan rake. Others threaten someone with lethal force with a pail bucket, cell phone, screwdriver, or hammer.
This leaves us with the only conclusion we can arrive at, which is that the objective is not to help but to dominate, and if they cannot gain compliance through threats and intimidation, then the person’s family must bury him or her.
Far too many Americans have come to accept this kind of dangerously domineering thuggery as policing. It is not good policing. A good officer cannot seek to take someone’s life because he knows the system will legally exonerate him.
A good officer is conscientious and does not only rely on legal exoneration but is guided by a strict moral compass.
.
.
Mike Beckles is a former Police Detective, businessman, freelance writer, black achiever honoree, and creator of the blog mikebeckles.com.
Family members and community protesters are demanding criminal charges against the St. Paul police officer who shot and killed Yia Xiong, a 65-year-old Hmong war hero. On Feb. 11, Saint Paul Police Department (SPPD) officers responded to a call regarding a man threatening residents with a knife at an apartment complex in the 100 block of Western Avenue in the West Seventh neighborhood. In footage recorded by body cameras worn by officers Noushue Cha and Abdirahman Dahir, police can be seen entering the St. Paul apartment building. When officers find Xiong wielding a 16-inch knife, the officers can be heard yelling at the man to “drop the knife” and “get on the ground.” However, Xiong, whose daughter said he spoke limited English and was hard of hearing, disregards the officers’ commands and enters an apartment
Officer Cha can then be seen kicking the apartment door open before Xiong steps out. He comes forward with the knife in-hand as Officer Dahir fires his rifle and Officer Cha deploys his taser.
According to Xiong’s family, he lost his hearing five decades ago while fighting for the U.S. in the U.S. Secret War in Laos.
Xiong reportedly fought for the CIA and climbed the ranks of the Royal Lao Army before being left in a refugee camp for years after exile in May 1975. Xiong’s younger brother, Wallor, said that the 65-year-old could not hear anything unless someone was close by and yelling at him. He added that Xiong was in the process of getting hearing aids. “He cannot hear anyone, he doesn’t speak English and they opened the door and just shot him,” Wallor Xiong told St. Paul Pioneer Press. “They just shot him like an animal, and it just broke my heart.”
Read the full story here; https://news.yahoo.com/family-hmong-war-hero-killed-211420369.html