Clark Griffin asked "where you would aim if you had a gun and a person with a machete is coming at you?"
Is this a trick question? Is "shoulder" the right answer? (Easier to hit than an arm, but less fatal than the chest. And it shows a desire to try to spare life.) I guess I would say: "Why shoot? Why not get out of the way? Why not run?" It's not like the guy is going to go very far. There were at least 4 other officers around. Just get out of the guy's way until you all figure out how to subdue him without deadly force. (Apparently in St. Paul they have ideas about how to do that. Maybe we need to get technical assistance and training from Chief Finney over there.) So, why not run. And call it "tactical retreat." Or would that make us lose face? Look unmanly? Not tough enough? This is reminding me of George Orwell's essay "To Kill and Elephant." (Read it if you haven't yet.) Orwell was in the colonial police force in Burma as a young man. One day an elephant in the village went on a bit of a rampage and tore up some property, then calmed down. Orwell went to investigate, meanwhile sending for an elephant rifle. Though he found the elephant was not causing any more trouble, and though he knew that an elephant was important capital good (think bulldozer or crane) and would be a serious loss to its owner, a crowd of natives had started to congregate, hoping for some excitement. When the gun came the crowd urged him on with their eyes. In the end, Orwell felt he had to prove himself--and uphold the honor of England. He shot the elephant though he knew it was wrong to do so. (The event was important in his political development, and made him believe colonialism had a pathological effect on both the colonized and the colonizers.) I wonder if the cops involved in our incident individually felt they had to uphold their honor--"I won't back down"--in the eyes of the civilians present and--maybe more importantly--in the eyes of their fellow cops. We do have to learn more about how many shots were fired by each cop, but it looks like something snapped. Maybe we are seeing an manifestation of (small group) mob psychology. It is a tragedy. Alan Shilepsky Downtown _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
