well, that svcks.

Okay. The police BECOME police to uphold the law. They put their life at risk becoming officers. It's part of the job.

The innocent bystander who DIED, did not choose that course. How do you think HIS family feels, that their husband, father, brother and child are dead, due to a police officer wanting to put his own life before that of anyone else's.

I have respect for officers. I have respect for officers, who go into this profession KNOWING they have a chance of dying trying to do their job. I respect officers who try to detain and restrain people through non-lethal methods, before trying to act with lethal intention to solve a problem.

I do not respect officers who go into a job, which asks you put your life on the line to protect the peace, and put their life before the needs of those their job description is supposed to help protect.

I'm sorry, but if I saw someone coming at me with a knife, and I was an officer, I wouldn't start shooting off my gun in their general direction. How do I know this? Because if I ever was to go into police foundations, I would do so knowing my life will be at risk, and my job is to try and uphold the law and keep casualties to a low. Why am I not a police officer? Because I don't want to put my life on the line. I don't want to get killed while trying to uphold the law. And if officers aren't ready to do the same, why become a cop? So you can abuse your power, shoot people armed with nothing but a knife, and accidently kill people?

I know they 'accidently' killed the bystander, but do you really think the family who lost that person gives a damn if the officer 'accidently' did it? Would you be mad if I 'accidently' burned your house down while trying to light a bug on fire with a magnifying glass? It's not exactly a job where 'accidents' don't have severe consequences. I'v got no tolerance for lazy people, doing their jobs in a lazy fashion. If you want to shoot people, go to the Military and go serve your country by killing people in another country who are actively trying to kill you.

Maybe they could always use rubber bullets, or beanbags, but I doubt they carry them around outisde of riots/protests.

Those damn French Canadians at it again.

Edit: Ummm, why did my avatar change to something I haven't used for months?

The problem i have with that is what if you get a call to a really [censored] situation and you come to find out that the person has an assault rifle and is actually using it against you. Bean bags and rubber bullets will not cut it.

Why were they firing so randomly that it hit a bystander? Check your shots, guys!

They were french, so they were likely running away whilst shooting :happy:

its not that they are random shots its just that its pretty hard to hit a moving target. the article did say something about a chase so i assume they were firing at him while he was running.

I live in Chicago. It's actually pretty safe (and lovely when it's not winter) where I live on the North side, but there are some places I do not go if I can avoid it. The police can't avoid those areas, and unfortunately it's pretty common for them to be injured or killed on the job. I can see both sides of this, really. Police do get overzealous at times, and other times people get startled, make mistakes, etc. I could definitely see a green officer getting nervous and shooting someone that came at them with a knife.

It's easy to criticize from the outside, but when stuff like that happens things can move really quickly, and people don't always have much time to think about what's going on. It's awful when accidents happen, and I'm not saying the officer(s) aren't at fault (don't know enough to judge, obviously). I do know this: I do not screw with Chicago cops. They generally leave you alone if you're not doing anything suspicious. Heck, I see people run red lights right in front of them all the time and they generally don't care. If you do something to really get their attention, it's best not to mess around. You don't want to be on the receiving-end of a self-preservation reflex of someone that had a friend stabbed by someone they pulled over last week.

He sure one-ups Officer Bubbles.

If anyone doesn't visit Montreal over this, I gotta ask.. overreact much?

Mexico must be a pretty good choice...

I hear the cartels are rather homely. Always wanted one of those classic neck massages they do with hunting knives. They're to die for.

Hehe...from what I understand it's only bad at the border. I was just in central Mexico several months ago and it was perfectly safe. :shrug:

So... a police officer officer's life is worth less than that of someone who is attacking him with a lethal weapon?


"armed with nothing but a knife"? Getting in close to a knife is something you really, really want to avoid -- its a close-quarters weapon and is very effective within it's range. Read http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/knifelies.html and do an image search for knife wounds.


Come on! That is so obviously a straw-man anology that it makes you look like a [unskilled] troll!

A more accurate one is: Would you be angry if I somehow accidentally burned down your house while trying to light a fire to keep myself warm on a -40 degree night?

You seem to be assuming that these police officers leaped at the opportunity to shoot someone and sate their bloodlust... which is absurd. They may have made a bad decision (but we don't, can't know that at this point, since we simply don't have enough information), but I VERY much doubt that either of them went into the situation wanting to shoot someone.

better believe it. im only about 10 minutes north of the damn border <_<

Why didn't one of them pummel the homeless guy with his horse? Damn Mounties.

I have to agree. No police officer is going to ignore someone threatening people with a knife in public, and very few police officers are going to attempt to grapple with such a person. Too many cop TV shows. Now, if you're unlucky enough to be pulling shenanigans http://www.steven-seagal.net/gallery/files/7/8/6/family_215.jpg...

It's possible they got carried away, but I think it's far more likely that they did what they were trained to do. Sometimes bad things happen for reasons other than someone being an a-hole. :shrug:


Stay safe. :foodndrink:

People who want power that bad can sometimes be sociopaths, I don't understand that logic at all. I really hope they get full charges for this, absolutely disgusting.

...Does Canada not have Tasers? :unsure:

I'm not one to advocate using a taser in situations that don't warrant them, but this situation definitely did...

As was said earlier in this thread, they do, but only some of them.

Oh, that's what I get for not reading past the first post. :brokencomputer:

In this post I selectively choose certain police stories to make the rest of the police force around the world look bad and stupid. I wouldn't do it for any other profession, but in this case I will. Did you hear about that murder last week.....the guy was a doctor. Oh wait that's not important, but if he was a policeman his profession would be highlighted in the news.

Why am I speaking in the wrong tense?

Innocent until proven guilty? Canada surely has a concept similar to this, yes?

So much rush to judgment here it's not even funny. Just the fact that the homeless guy had a knife is already enough for me to look at this and go "hey, maybe we should ask what the cops have to say about it" before deciding they're just dirty pigs who should be slaughtered.

Perhaps try taking it to court if the situation warrants it before you execute them?

Those beanbags are actually VERY lethal lol. Even getting hit with one of those from 10 feet away with a bullet proof vest on can break your ribs. I think i'd rather get shot with bullets then one of those beanbags ><. Luckily, they are usually only used by specialists, since they require high accuracy to incapacitate targets, rather then break them in half lol.


I agree. I see it from both sides as well. I understand it's a dangerous and often scary job. But I wonder WHY people join the police force when they aren't willing to take a chance with their life. I mean.. my friends instructor for close-combat tactics in his Police Foundations gave a speech at the start of the semester saying "If you aren't prepared to help protect someones life, or lose your own. You are in the wrong program."




Ok ok. I made a bad anology but that's because I couldn't think of how you'd accidently light someones house on fire. But yours is much better.

And, as I said above. My friends prof for his CQT class says to everyone at the start of each semester, if you aren't willing to protect someone elses life, or lose your own, you're in the wrong program. And it's true. When an officer is on duty, his life is important, obviously. But they aren't just responsible for their OWN lives. They are responsible for those they are trying to apprehend, regardless of them being attacked. If it can't be helped, yes, cap a [censored] in the ass. If i'm an officer being SHOT at, i'm going to shoot back. If someone has a weapon that they need to get in close range of me to use, then i'd try not to shoot them instantly, unless it's someone you CAN'T restrain [due to him maybe being, like.. 6'6, running around swinging a super sledge at you or something].

90% of my friends CQ class is about learning to incapacitate suspects, disarm suspect, and avoid being hit by close-range weapons like knives.



Most Canadian officers carry tasers. I know every OPP officer carries a tazer along with the traditional 'bang bang' gun.

Unfortunately, Montreal is a rather.... *cough*... part of a VERY extremist province....

I worked in corrections, its very corrupt and I hate cops.

There really isnt anything else to say.