Sorry, Marie, you are entirely wrong. The standard definition, per both law enforcement and armed forces is the force which a person uses, causing—or that a person knows, or should know, would create a substantial risk of causing—death, serious bodily harm or injury. So, quibbling aside, there is a universal definition which Hanna has correctly stated.
Wait, I agree with that. But, that is not unholstering a weapon with no intention of firing. Whether he should have done that or not in this situation I don’t know but I expect they think it was okay or we would have heard something by now. Instead, the investigation continues.
Hunt,
What you have stated in #199 is quite obviously the standard procedure, as evidenced by the fact that this incident was an anomaly for the campus. But there are missing facts in this case, that do not allow some of us to draw a conclusion yet. As far as I know, there was one column written by Blow Jr’s father, and one Yale Daily news article, both that included limited and second-hand facts. We don’t know that the suspect is nonviolent, or that there is no evidence that he was armed, or that there was evidence that he was a danger to others. You, like many on this thread, are comfortable condemning this officer’s actions on very little information.
And you, Bay, are comfortable asserting that what he did was justified, despite the fact that you yourself recognize that it was outside normal procedure. While I understand the idea of giving the police the benefit of the doubt, my kid is still on the Yale campus, and I’m not too excited by the idea of a shootout on Cross Campus. I want a really, really good explanation on why a police officer is drawing his gun there. I mean a REALLY good explanation.
I have never asserted that it was justified.
Many public relations faux pas are responded to immediately by sincere statements that an investigation is underway. The results of said investigation are often delayed as long as possible in the hopes that most of the public will have forgotten about the outcry.
That said, it would be very helpful to hear about the results of this particular investigation.
Sure you did, Bay. For example:
You made a lot of posts along the same line. You made it clear that you think it’s appropriate to pull a gun on a suspect in these kinds of crimes, even if he hasn’t shown a weapon or hurt anybody. I don’t agree with that. I don’t think it’s worth shooting anybody over some stolen laptops, even the thief, and I certainly don’t want anybody else endangered over some property crimes that are largely the result of students failing to lock their doors.
Hunt,
That paragraph of mine you quoted was in reference to the racism question. I was not second-guessing his decision to draw his weapon because I wasn’t there, and I don’t know what he knew about the suspect. But yes, to me, the suspect sounds like a dangerous person.
Did you really just write that?
Alas Hunt, we know that Mother Yale has a vast public relations machine. By way of example, who can forget the promising tenured Yale english professor who died in police custody, after being arrested for a domestic disturbance, about two years ago, and the lurid back-story of him also simultaneously running a male escort service. It barely made any headlines nationally and regionally, and was certainly buried…
Oh my- is his name really Blow jr?
No, but their last name really is Blow.
Funny, I remember reading all about that. Your description of the facts isn’t exactly right, either. What’s your connection with Yale, exactly?
Yeah, I remember reading that story in the New York Times too; not exactly ‘under the radar’!
Here’s the permalink to the story for future readers:
Although I don’t remember reading in the Times of the medical examiner’s determination two months later, so maybe @boolaHI has a point too:
http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/medical_examiner_meth_killed_samuel_see/
It turns out the Times did cover the medical examiner’s findings: I just missed it: http://nyti.ms/1dNUt6M
It’s a sad, sad story. The questions remaining are really about the New Haven Police, not Yale.
Cops in the UK don’t carry guns. I wonder how they manage it.
When I got my license, I was taught that when you got pulled over, you should be prepared with your license and registration to hand to the officer - which would require rummaging.
I don’t envy the police - with the favored interpretation of the 2nd amendment, they have to assume that anyone they interact with could be armed. This is apparently the flavor of freedom that we prefer.
Just a note–my daughter tells me that the gun-drawing story has largely blown over among Yale students, mostly because their attention was drawn to a much sadder story involving a student’s death.