Jesus (video plays automatically at the link).
The Thurston County Prosecutor announced that the Olympia police officer who shot two men earlier this year will not face criminal charges.
Thurston County Prosecutor Jon Tunheim said that assault charges have been filed against Bryson Chaplin, 21, and Andre Thompson, 24. They are scheduled to be in court on September 22.
Tunheim said Officer Ryan Donald was “acting without malice” and had a “good faith fear” when he shot two men in May.
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In documents released by the sheriff’s office last week, Donald reported that one of the men had been threatening him with a skateboard before the shooting.
Coming at a person with a skateboard is obviously not OK, if that’s what those people did (and let’s be honest, at this point we can’t take a cop’s word for these sorts of things). But even if you accept that’s what they did, it’s not something to get shot over.
Cops should be calming these situations down, not pulling out and using deadly weapons. They have Tasers and other non-lethal methods (not that those are without problems, but they aren’t bullets). So once again, I’ll say if police can’t do their job while armed, we should take away their guns.
There is plenty of police abuse of citizens in this country, and much in police culture that needs to change, but this is not a case with which to make that case. These guys were thieves who assaulted a store employee who tried to stop them. Some news reports have referred to them as “unarmed,” but a skateboard is in fact a deadly weapon when wielded as a weapon. These aren’t kids, they’re full-grown men, and any such person who attacks a cop with a skateboard should expect to get shot. If there’s any second-guessing to be done here, then the question to ask is why the cop took on these guys alone, instead of calling for backup; this situation possibly could have been resolved peacefully if these guys had been swarmed by officers — but there’s no guarantee of that, they might have fought the cops anyway, it just seems to me more tempting and likely when it’s two-against-one than when many-against-two.
This cop was doing his job, and cops have a right to defend themselves. As I said, there is much that needs to change in America’s policing, but I don’t think you get there by disarming the police. Rather, what’s needed is changes in recruiting, training, supervision, discipline, use-of-force policies, etc. It’s clear that people are being hired who shouldn’t be; racist cops and trigger-happy cops need to be weeded out; police managers need to fire the bad apples instead of defending them and covering up their misdeeds. And police — from chiefs to patrol officers — need to get off their high horse, set aside their “us-vs.-them” mentality, and remember what their job is: To protect and serve the general public.
Taser on two assailants?
Maybe the cop should politely ask them to join hands so the current will affect each of them, and then tase them, bro?
@2 You’d rather see their brains splattered on the sidewalk? As a doctor, you’re probably used to seeing blood and gore. Maybe you even revel in it. Sicko.
“Coming at a person with a skateboard is … not something to get shot over.”
Tell that to Dimitri Andrews, beaten to death with a skateboard, in the U District, in 2002.
They’re lucky they didn’t get the “dirt nap.” Never bring a skateboard to a gunfight.
What were those morons thinking? That they could just steal beer, assault a cop, and make it home in time for the 10 o’clock news?
That’s a hell of an assumption of guilt there, Roger. No innocent until proven guilty anymore?