Ferguson - Myth, Reality, and PBS Chart Revisit

[Jimmy Higgins]

I'm curious. When is it justified for an officer to open fire if he has other viable options?

Perhaps you should have researched this before taking a position on this topic.

Sorry. I should have used the "rhetorical" tags in that post. Deadly force is a last resort, not one of many equal options.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

Holy shit, someone is in need of some serious lessons in designing readable charts.

It took me a while to decipher it, which requires a close reading of the Chart Legend. After doing a little investigation, the chart was created by a member of a conservative site called The Last Refuge, which has intensively followed the controversy. While they are mainly reliable, the were at least a few prior errors on Ferguson that make me reserve judgement on this chart.

None the less, the poster "DumbScribblyUnctious" has tweeted it to PBS who is reviewing it, apparently to revise their own chart.

https://twitter.com/ScriblyUnctious

The most important take away from the chart is that it illuminates the complexity of issues like "hands up" (e.g. all the way, half way, palms up, palms down, etc.).

Yes because he had Wonder Woman bracelets, so the position of the hands matter when bullets are deflected.

 

[Shadowy Man]

I don't believe I have ever heard anyone say that Wilson's only option was to shoot Brown. The question is whether it was justified, not required.

Wilson claims it was his only option

And he has said, in a TV interview, that looking back he could not see what he could have done differently.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Wilson claims it was his only option

And he has said, in a TV interview, that looking back he could not see what he could have done differently.

Like wait for backup before initiating a pursuit? Of course, waiting that long, the adrenaline spike would have diminished and firing the gun again wouldn't seem as good an option.

Of the final shooting... the officer wasn't touched (or really even harmed through the entire incident).

 

[Nice Squirrel]

Wilson claims it was his only option

And he has said, in a TV interview, that looking back he could not see what he could have done differently.

Yes. There were no other options. Michael Brown had grown to 30 feet high and could smash his police car with his fist. He could never retreat to his car and all for back up. Only he could bring down MegaGiant.

 

[laughing dog]

Wilson claims it was his only option

And he has said, in a TV interview, that looking back he could not see what he could have done differently.

Even if Wilson thought he could have done something differently, he is not going to admit it in public until after he is safe from any criminal or civil penalties.

 

[dismal]

Wilson claims it was his only option

And he has said, in a TV interview, that looking back he could not see what he could have done differently.

There are objectively an infinite number of things he could have done differently. I'm sure he can think of a few. He could have hopped on one leg or done the hokey-pokey. What he probably means there is that he thinks he acted correctly. This is not particularly relevant legally. What matters is if he was in reasonable fear for his life at the time he used deadly force.

 

[Angry Floof]

That is the worst infographic I've ever seen.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

That is the worst infographic I've ever seen.

The big problem is that someone apparently did a screen capture and reposted it. That version is extremely hard to read. I linked the original image. It's not good but it's about as good as can be expected under the circumstances (he was modifying the original PBS file rather than creating something from scratch.)

 

[Angry Floof]

That is the worst infographic I've ever seen.

The big problem is that someone apparently did a screen capture and reposted it. That version is extremely hard to read. I linked the original image. It's not good but it's about as good as can be expected under the circumstances (he was modifying the original PBS file rather than creating something from scratch.)

I could read it fine after I saved it and zoomed in. But as infographics go, this one's an abomination. It's like going to a meeting where the powerpoint presentation has 150 slides crammed with tiny font. This is not what infographics are for.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

The big problem is that someone apparently did a screen capture and reposted it. That version is extremely hard to read. I linked the original image. It's not good but it's about as good as can be expected under the circumstances (he was modifying the original PBS file rather than creating something from scratch.)

I could read it fine after I saved it and zoomed in. But as infographics go, this one's an abomination. It's like going to a meeting where the powerpoint presentation has 150 slides crammed with tiny font. This is not what infographics are for.

The problem is that he was adding information to an existing infographic. Of course it's too busy.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

This is how to do an infographic, the facts are easy to understand:

 

[Crazy Eddie]

And he has said, in a TV interview, that looking back he could not see what he could have done differently.

There are objectively an infinite number of things he could have done differently. I'm sure he can think of a few. He could have hopped on one leg or done the hokey-pokey. What he probably means there is that he thinks he acted correctly. This is not particularly relevant legally. What matters is if he was in reasonable fear for his life at the time he used deadly force.

I don't think police departments really understand how much it undermines public trust in their officers when "He frightened me!" is a valid justification for killing someone.

Given America's love affair with guns, vigilantes and the proliferation of mass shootings, it's only a matter of time before the Spirit of Second Amendment Neurosis begins to turn its attention on a Police Department Near You. At which point, "Reasonable fear for his life" may take on a whole new meaning.

 

[Shadowy Man]

What he probably means there is that he thinks he acted correctly.

But thinking that you acted correctly in a situation at the time does not preclude you from thinking that in retrospect, with the knowledge of the outcome of your actions, there wasn't another way you could have acted, that you may have also considered "correct", that would result in a different outcome.

It gives the impression that he doesn't particularly care that he killed a man. That he spent no time reflecting upon his actions and perhaps hoping that there were a way to not kill a man.