then I can't fault the cops. Sometimes they really do need to protect themselves.

Especially if you want to keep the person alive. Cops always seem to be happy to dispatch anyone thinking of suicide.

They are not trained to handle people who are in total despair and they don't seem to want to help either.

The same thing happened in a friend's family here. And to a woman less than a year before.

When your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

or any other kind of intense psychological event.

Who coulda predicted they would react like that.

of arming everybody everywhere.

Why doesn't anyone ever seem to point out that part of the reason cops are so fucking trigger happy is that anybody and everybody could have a gun or three? (and yes, before you jump in, I realize that does not apply here).

N.T.

If the story is true, that's a more accurate headline.

I doubt the officers were interested in why he was pointing a gun at them.

as indicated in the short article.

NRA logic.

would not have committed suicide or threatened police if he did not have a firearm?

I would remind you that our suicide rate is comparable to places generally untouched by the NRA such as Canada, Europe and Australia, and the rate is significantly lower than gun control havens like Japan and South Korea.

I would similarly note that if the man threatened the police with a knife or other weapon besides a gun, the outcome would almost certainly have been the same.

Anyone believe in a single word that the police says, stand on your head....

about the incident, that conflict with the account in the OP?

The original article described a 30+ minute interaction with a known suicidal individual with a gun that turned deadly. Sadly, this is not an unknown or totally unusual phenomenon, and there's even a phrase for it, "suicide by cop."

There is no doubt that police sometimes engage in poor policy and procedure, their actions are even sometimes criminal, but each interaction must still be judged on its own merits. I am repulsed by conservative stereotyping and generalizations about matters and people like the purported criminality and violence of "minority youth," and I have no intention of assuming malfeasance simply because an incident involves the police.

No.

But we know how the police lies through their teeth...and the gullible public eat every word they say.

As far as American cops goes, I can only make judgement from the news I see. And your cops seem to be insane. Psychopath racists on a roid rage and massive caffeine high and poor training. And you come and talk about generalization?

I'm calling it a sick culture of violence and legalized criminality. Everything from brutalizing, nay, killing citizens for everything from "talking back" to a cop to saggy pants, and driving while black.

They guy was suicidal. Is oit not the police task to DE-escalate, and SAVE the mans life?

Instead I see a pathetic apologetic for another cop shooting.

In a civilized country where the safety of the people and civil rights comes first, there would be a public inquiry and suspension. In the "land of the free", there are people who defend the police state mentality and shrug off any thug cop who kills citizens.

how do you expect the cops to react? Do the electric slide to dodge a bullet?

I swear some people have no common sense; if somebody points a gun at you and you have a gun of your own, would you not use your gun to protect yourself?

What have we become as a people?

For all the legitimate complaints we have against some (not all) police
for their heavy-handed, abusive tactics, this is not an example of one.

Police are first responders to every kind of emergency -- criminal, civil, and
medical. They ARE taught how to handle situations like this, which is never
easy. In a "suicide by cop" scenario, the police are often put into a no win
situation: if the person kills himself, then they are criticized for failing to protect
him. If the person makes a threatening move with a weapon , they do not
have the luxury to wait and see if he really means to attack them. They shoot
in self-defense and are criticized for failing to protect him. This has become a
too common and disturbing trend. No one bats .1000 when it comes to talking
someone down from suicide.

If you want to get mad, get mad at the jerk who made someone else responsible
for his suicide. It's a living nightmare for the man who now has to live with the
outcome. Let's not be so knee-jerk in our reactions.