He's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't, depending on the result. If it had been a weapon and the other officer was shot and killed he would be wrong for not defending the other officer, and now he is blamed because it was only a "pen" that the guy was waving around. Unfortunately (or fortunately) he cannot be judged by what was discovered after the shooting ... it is a reasonable subject standard based on the information available immediately prior to the shooting.
Originally Posted by LexusLover
"if it had been a weapon?"
"he cannot be judged by what was discovered after the shooting?"
Dude what country or planet are you living on?
If you or I were to blow someone away under any circumstances like these we'd have no defense....NONE.
My daddy taught me when I was 6 years old to never shoot at anything unless I knew what I was shooting at....duh.
What happened here is what happens every day with municipal policemen in this country. They are frightened and over-react and shoot at the first sign that there might be danger. Then when they start shooting they shoot uncontrolled and often don't stop til their clips are empty. They're just out of control in dangerous situations. Many policemen on our municipal police forces shouldn't be police. They are weak, frightened, very badly trained and even worse managed. Strong, confident individuals are not so prone to over-react with force. We need to get the wimps out of the police. It's the wimps who also over-react by brutalizing ordinary citizens who just don't want to comply. It's the wimps who become bullies because they're too scared to use normal caution or else they have something to prove....to themselves and their buddies.
Back in the days of the old west the most disgraceful thing anyone could do would be to shoot an unarmed man. But today it's just a mistake if you couldn't see all that well.