The cowardice of Chicago officials
Updated 9:29 PM ET, Tue November 24, 2015
It has been 400 days since Chicago officer Jason Van Dyke shoot and killed knife wielding Laquan McDonald. Van Dyke wanted to make sure he didn’t miss his target, so he shot McDonald 16 times.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (ex-right-hand man to Mr. O) really drug his feet before pressing charges against the gun happy officer. Based on his VERY liberal PC background, I would have thought Rahm would have had the officer standing tall in front of the judge the next morning.
For 400 days Rambo was on the payroll; for 400 days the city fought the release of the tapes that shows how the shooting went down.
Was the shooting justified? I say absolutely not based on what I can saw in the video. If the man had a gun it would have been an entirely different story. The knife Mc Donald wielding had a 3″ blade and he was about 20 feet away from any of the cops so stabbing one of them should not have been a concern.
Was McDonald out of line, out of control and clearly intoxicated? Yes but that does not justify Rambo’s actions. Rambo shot at McDonald 16 times, firing for 13 seconds – 9 of the rounds fired were in a downward direction indicating McDonald was shot while laying on the ground.
This case is similar to the one in Cleveland where the cops, mainly one of Rambo’s cousins, shot at two unarmed suspects 137 times after a lengthy car chase. The cops thought that they suspects had a gun. Rambo’s cousin really put the icing on the cake when he jumped on the hood of the car firing directly into the car killing the two suspects. He was found not guilty. What a miscarriage of justice. Like the case in Chicago, it was complete overkill.
I don’t have as much of a problem with the cops taking someone down if they are forced to but to shoot them so many times is outrageous.
The city officials in The Windy City must have recognized the dilemma they were in and offered McDonald’s family a 5 million dollar settlement before any charges were filed against the cop.
Prior to McDonald being shot it was reported that he was breaking into cars, an offense that does not justify killing the guy.
Can I understand the stress the cops are under especially in the Killing Kapitol of the country? Yes, but the cops should be trained to handle these types of situations. None of the other cops on the scene saw the necessity of shoot the guy because he was not a threat to them.
I would think by now that the cops around the country would be a little more cautious in their line of duty; if for no other reason, Big Brother is always watching them.
If McDonald had a gun I would be the first one to agree that he needed to be shot but not 16 times.
Boys in blue – we all love you – we all need you – we appreciate that you put your lives on the line for us everyday but you have to use more discretion and control in the way you handle your jobs.
The Goomba Gazette 
Training is quite different and supported by data and case facts. At seven yards, a three inch knife is lethal. You shout only once, “Drop the weapon!”, and if they do not, you open fire. Back in the “Good Old Days”, we used to disarm knives by hands-on physical force. Not since police fatality data indicated that knives and blunt force instruments are of concern. Training changed. By adhering to departmental policy which is approved by the municipality, officer survival is paramount, and the justification for the use of deadly physical force authorized. Assailant does not stop, you keep filling them with lead. The best argument by numerous agencies facing typically the same type of litigations, is to go with a better caliber choice as the authorized service caliber (i.e. -.45 acp) where one sustained hit will usually cause a reaction to halt the suspect. The .38 Special deemed impotent had the benefit of hitting what the officer aims at. With the +P loads, it put people down but, the 158 grain Lead Semi Wad Cutter went down the barrel and ballistic labs could not identify which service weapon (at times) fired the bullet(s). The 9mm in 124 grain FMJ, while fast, is only an ice pick as was the Round Nose .38 Special ammunition, and it requires a lot of lead to drop people. From what I hear, the .40 S&W caliber is a little bit better than the 9mm but, many agencies have gone to the .45 acp for better stopping. Administrators will always argue for less power and it results in more ammo spent stopping individuals. Usual arguments of wild shots or of “hurting” someone rather than killing them. Wacky stuff that book-smart and gun-dumb liberals spew.
There are other things that effect police shootings. My three on-duty shootings were all with my service revolver in .38 Special. Tally= 3 incidents/7 gunmen/8 rounds total fired/8 total hits/7 dead gunmen. I also practiced seven days a week. 400 rounds per day and many were saying that lead fumes probably brain damaged me (possible). “Mad Dog” labels. I explained that my biggest fear was if I should ever miss and an innocent person be hit. My explanation fell on deaf ears. Then it was brought up, my service record (MOS 0331) and how I was “programmed” to kill. It only jaded me and I developed a hatred for a job that I loved. It’s all due to political morons. It’s all due to ladder-climbing politicians with badges that will try to harm other cops to make their own career go upwards, though they are zeros on the streets. I watched the zeros go up in command, while I was passed over for lieutenant three times. Take a good look at the training structure for confronting individuals armed with edged weapons.
PS: Three of the gunmen I shot between the eyes. A knife wielding individual at 20 feet, if I were the cop, people would be screaming how I fired only one round, but it would have been, between the eyes. It would not have been, 16 rounds center mass, as trained.