http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1004422--montreal-police-kill-homeless-man-innocent-bystander?bn=1

Just saw this on TV and went online to find it.

Seems like police were looking for a homeless guy who has been going around cutting open garbage bags [most likely trying to find food, clothes or whatever he could] to help survive. Well of course, the police did the most logical thing to a homeless guy armed with only a knife from a distance.

Shot him on sight. So, no non-lethal tactics tried. They didn't try to subdue him.

They probably thought "No one will miss another homeless guy".

And then they hit an innocent 36 year old man who was commuting to work..

So.. not only they they completely kill a man who was posing no threat [They said they shot the man on site. Unless he attempted to ambush them, which I highly doubt, I don't think there was any confrontation] who was just trying to survive [granted. he may of deserved to of been arrested or something], they killed ANOTHER guy who was on his way to work.

Am I the ONLY person here who thinks these police forces need to spend more time doing mental health checks on their officers more often?

Kick them out of the police, throw them in jail, and maybe by some unfortuante slip of the tounge the prisoners will find out they are police officers.

[censored]. I feel so bad for both guys, the homeless guy who was just trying to survive and the innocent man just walking to work. I mean, even if the poor homeless guy had a knife, why didnt they give him some warning? Or in the very least shoot him in the leg? Gung-ho idiots should not be allowed in the police force and should certainly not be given guns.

Both police officers should be imprisoned. Pure and simple.

I believe that by "Authorities said Hamel was shot dead on site." they mean Hamel died at the site of the shooting, not that he was shot on sight.

I want to know why they didn't use that NON-LETHAL tazer they carry around. You know. The thing that DOESN'T kill multiple people.

Haha, oh police.

Sadly, there are only 4 tazer police units in Montreal. It's still not widely used when it should be. The two police officers on the scene did not belong to that unit.

Terrible things right here. I'll be following whatever information is released and the spvm's reports.


Oh and by the way, you can visit Montreal anytime. It's a safe city and this is only a very isolated event. So don't worry about being shot when wandering Montreal,s streets.
From the report I saw on TV, the innocent man was at a good distance from the scene and the bullet ricocheted on a nearby object which hit him. A sad and truly random death.

According to other information, Hamel would have tried to jump on one of the police officers with his knife, which then resulted to them to use lethal force. (From Quebec's newspaper "La Presse")
If this information is true, then the police officers did the right thing with what they were equipped with at that time. But it would have been much more preferrable if tazers were widely used in the SPVM... it would have prevented this terrible accident.

Imprisoned? Thats it? In my opinion they should be executed.

Pretty sure they kill some people with them. And tazers are bad, wear a thick coat and the dart may not get through.

Because the use of lethal force is only permitted when lethal force is required. So they shoot at the biggest target (torso), that also happens to have the best chance of putting someone down. Not to mention that a person can easily bleed out very quickly from a leg wound; one's legs have some pretty big arteries, and when they start leakin' they can empty out in minutes.

However, if they had pepper spray or tazers, those would have been far more appropriate (based on what we know).

I feel bad for the guy going to work.

Yeah, they can cause damage, especially when used on people with heart problems. Plus, them being 'non-lethal' kinda encourages their use, and there's at least a few documented incidents of them being used unnecessarily (on someone who's being compliant) or excessively (multiple times on a person who's already down).

It's an awful situation, but the article does not say he was shot on sight, was not a threat (it specifically says he was threatening someone, and that there was a confrontation), or that they were after him for cutting up garbage (they were after him more for publicly brandishing a knife, than for strewing garbage about, not just opening it).


Only person? I rarely see anyone mention the police when not to complain about them.

Because clearly. SHOOTING someone with a GUN has a lower kill rate then a tazer?

I'd ask the guy going to work what he thought. But they didn't use a tazer that would of hit one guy.

It's just as bad in Vancouver too, awful police.

I just edited my post, but I'll add it here:

According to other information, Hamel would have tried to jump on one of the police officers with his knife, which then resulted to them to use lethal force. (From Quebec's newspaper "La Presse")
Hamel, being refused to use his neighbor's truck to go see his children, was filled with anger. He tried pursuing his neighbor with his knife, then teared up garbage bags out of anger. When the police officers arrived, they tried to talk him out of it but without success. Then Hamel tried jumping on one of them with his knife.

If this information is true, then the police officers did the right thing with what they were equipped with at that time. But it would have been much more preferrable if tazers were widely used in the SPVM... it would have prevented this terrible accident.
The part where he jumped on the police officer is still not officially confirmed by the SPVM. We'll need to wait for it.

I was watching the news, and they were interviewing people whom said that he was homeless, and usually searched garbage bags for stuff.

And according to it, the man also had mental health problems.

So while yes, shooting him may of been the first thought. I figure 2 trained officers could be able to subdue someone who probably had very little strength to fight.

And it's not even about just the homeless guy. They killed an innocent bystander going to work.

Edit: Scrap that, perhaps they were not equipped properly. But shouldn′t they still be trained to deal with that kind of a situation even without the proper equipment ?

We'll need to wait for official information for sure.
It is still not determined whether the bystander was killed by a ricochet or if he was really caught in one of the officer's fire.

We also don't know just how filled with anger the homeless man was. If the man did try to jump on the officer, even if he was weak, it is normal for this officer and the others to use lethal force. They must use it when they feel their life or the ones of the others threatened. A weaj man filled with anger armed with a military knife can be just as dangerous as a strong one.

Hopefully, this incident will change the minds of the SPVM and bring more tazer or pepper spray units.

Oh, Police, never ends to amaze me :rolleyes:

What I forgot to add to that post: "Still, I'd prefer something that probably won't kill me to something that probably will". But that's pretty obvious.


A weak guy with a knife. Knives, in most places, are considered lethal weapons. And a properly maintained (and therefore sharp) knife can do a lot of damage without much force behind it. Don't forget that one rule of defending yourself from a knife attack is that you pretty much will be hurt (but you should still try avoid it, of course ).

EDIT: BTW, I'm not really defending the police, I'm just pointing out stuff that's wrong.

Agree'd. Knives are still lethal and dangerous. But my friend goes through basic hand-to-hand combat training for his University police foundations course. They teach you how to disarm someone with concealable weapons.

I understand, yes police need to protect themselves. But you shouldn't be going into law enforcement unless you, are in reality, willing to die, or get seriously injured. Especially with two officers, you can't take down one person?

Bias OP is Bias

The homeless man was not as innocent as you claim in the title



Also,


Or maybe they thought they'd like to go home alive to their families instead of seriously injured or in a body bag after a homeless man stabbed them. You were not at the situation which could have been potentially life threatening. Do you know what it's like to go up to some complete stranger that you have no idea what they are capable of and who had been reported moments before threatening someone with a knife? Then have that man attack you with that very knife?

If the man did indeed attack the police as it says in the article then there is nothing wrong with them using force to defend themselves. It is unfortunate that they did not have a taser and that they could not subdue him through other means but I cannot wholly blame them for defending themselves in the manner they did.

Unfortunately because of this homeless man and the situation that was created because of him one innocent man was caught in the incident.

I'm not unsympathetic to the homeless man however. Mental illness is prevalent among many homeless and often our societies provide little to no help to these people. Unfortunately the article doesn't provide enough information on the homeless man and if he was indeed mentally unstable. It is unfortunate that he could not get help that could have possibly prevented this.

I have very mixed feeling about the police. I'm sure most cops are respectful, well-moralled people but all these stories, coupled with a horribly tragic story between my friend and the police, I've grown to mistrust them greatly. My family as a whole does not trust the police, particularly our county's sherriff station. My father is absolutely convinced that cops should not be allowed to carry a gun but rather non-lethal weapons and a shotgun in the trunk that can only be accessed via calling in for permission from the station. While I don't completely agree with that logic, I do believe a cop needs to be of a higher credential than they are being hired now. I get really angry when the police kill either a child or an innocent who had nothing to do with a certain case (like your story) It also really angers me that the police have such a strong cliquish mentality that promotes their arrogance and mentally justifies they're validating what should be murder.