To the Editor:
Cops around the country are catching a great deal of flak for the actions of a few which resulted in deaths. A few were just plain wrong and absolutely stupid. Shooting someone 16 times indicates poor training and someone who should have been put on a desk long ago.
The death of the 55-year-old woman was obviously an accident. It happened when a cop was defending himself against a bat-wielding man. The cop lost fire control and sprayed the area with bullets.
The Chicago Police said it will put more tasers out for use, but having them in the trunk will not change the need to shoot or not to shoot. Each cop in a one-man car or one of a two-man car should be carrying a taser. It would give cops the option before resorting to a bullet. However, several cities did away with tasers because they can also be lethal to some people resulting in lawsuits.
The 12-year-old boy shot in Cleveland is alleged to have pointed a pellet pistol at the police when they drove up. The pellet pistol looked just like the .38 caliber pistols that have flooded the stores and streets.
As we all know, a trigger doesn’t know how old the finger is. The real question should be, “Why did the parents allow him to go out with a pellet gun?”
I have talked with cops from Chicago to Morris and Aurora and Kankakee and several chiefs. The consensus seems to be the closer a cop comes to a high-crime area the more likely the cop is to resort to a gun. They must make split second life or death decisions on whether to shoot or maybe wait a few moments and die. Wearing that vest reminds them they are in a dangerous job. We are stuck with humans; not robo-cops.
Chuck Johnson
Morris