I understand the need to shoot a person that is wielding a weapon. I really do. But when it’s a 3 inch blade do you really need to put 9 bullets into the guy?
Could you not shoot him in the legs and incapacitate him? Could you not taser him? Especially when he is alone, cornered on a street car?
I’m sure that the first three bullets he took did not kill him…because you can hear the cops still telling him to “drop the weapon”…perhaps taser him then rather than empty your clip, no?
Be warned that the video in this news item is graphic.
Re: Sammy Yatim - Teen Killed in Interaction with Toronto Police
Understood.
I’m sure that this not my area of expertise…but if you see the video accounts of the whole thing it seems that everything started and ended in less than 10 minutes. From the guy becoming irate, the bus emptying to all 9 shots being delivered. There was no real attempt at de-escalation…particularly when there was no immediate threat to anyone’s life: the guy was on board the street car at a safe distance from more than a dozen cops.
More video has been released showing Yatim on the floor of the street car after the first three shots were fired at him. He lies there and his legs, which appear to be propped up due to the position of his fall, eventually collapse…and THEN another 6 shots are emptied at him. Still doesn’t make sense to me.
Re: Sammy Yatim - Teen Killed in Interaction with Toronto Police
This is ridiculous. I just don’t see the need to fire 9 shots. And there was no one to “save” on the bus as Sammy Yatim was the only one left on the bus. In a few days this will be brushed under the rug. The police officer responsible will get something written in his file and will be back on the job. SIU investigations are usually nothing but a show.
Re: Sammy Yatim - Teen Killed in Interaction with Toronto Police
That’s the problem…things like this do get brushed under the rug. There needs to be stronger action by the public and answers must be demanded. If we, as general public, do not understand the technicalities of “appropriate use of force” then someone from the SIU or even the police training authority should come forward and help us to understand how this was the right thing to do.
Re: Sammy Yatim - Teen Killed in Interaction with Toronto Police
Just read a comment by a reader in one of the articles where he says that perhaps the police should all be given bicycles too instead of guns since the one witness managed to get himself and many others off the street car simply by raising the front wheel of his bike and positioning it between himself and the knife-wielding Yatim. Too funny!
Re: Sammy Yatim - Teen Killed in Interaction with Toronto Police
These are the side effects of living in multicultural society.
Police is being trained now a days to use no risk approach.
My roommate was a cop, I was shocked when he told me how they are trained to shoot
in nose/eye area because bullet gets to brain the fastest. So no chance for other person to move
or any thing. Like a dead stop. Literally( even in bbq terms.)
Interesting thing is when ever he told me that, it followed by some jamacian man’s story, that he was so
strong it took half a dozed officers to arrest him. And I always saw fear on his face while telling the story.
So their training comes from the fear.
Now if they were allowed to racially profile, perhaps they would only shoot black people in such situations. And no one else.
But things have to uniform for every one. So every one gets piece of the pie, no matter what race.
Back then when N-amreeka was a big white country only, police knew people and what they were made of so, there where no such lethal shootings among white officers and white small time trouble makers.
Re: Sammy Yatim - Teen Killed in Interaction with Toronto Police
a month after Yatim’s death the recommendation is made to have the majority of “front line officers” carry tasers…
and a father of a victim that died after being administered a taser shock steps up to say that this is not the way to go…rather de-escalation training and resources are needed.
