Once again there is trouble in Los Angeles in the wake of a legitimate police shooting.
On September 5th, a Guatemalan immigrant named Manuel Jamines, was shot and killed after he lunged at Officer Frank Hernandez with a knife. Jamines was intoxicated at the time and had reportedly already threatened several other people with the weapon. Witnesses confirmed that Officer Hernandez ordered Jamines several times in English and Spanish to drop the weapon before Jamines raised the knife and lunged toward Officer Hernandez.
So the question remains, why are there protests going on over the Officers actions? I can tell you from personal experience that if a subject is within fifteen feet of you; you have approximately a half a second to react to a threat. Additionally, if a person is wielding a knife or any other object that can be considered a deadly weapon any reasonable person should meet that threat with an equivalent amount of force. I for one agree with the officer and would never bring a knife to a gunfight.
Honestly the implementation of less than lethal equipment has been a double edged sword for law enforcement across the country. Everyone wants to arm chair quarterback every decision made by an officer after a deadly force incident now. The problem is that they have hours upon hours to analyze the decision the officer had to make in an instant.
You add to this, the anti-police sentiment of so many of the minorities in this country and the “I’ll protest anything” motto of the liberal idiots and what you get is the current situation, social lunacy.
No amount of law enforcement can solve a problem that goes back to the family
– J Edgar Hoover
Once again we have a situation where we have all the" I would have done this- It should have been done this way- they could have done this" crowd.
ReplyDeleteIn the time it took me to write the first line of the paragraph above the officer could have been cut to ribbons.
For those that are unfamiliar with knife fighing, once the assailant is within arms reach it is too late, you have already been cut!! Once the assailant is within arms reach,his weapon(the knife) becomes the weapon of choice, not the handgun. The handgun in close combat can and has been deflected to the advantage of the assailant, whereas even if you deflect the knife from its intended target you more than likely still received an injury of great concern.
The officer was well within his rights both as a citizen and a police officer to meet this threat with deadly force.
Life is all about choices- make the right ones you may live to a ripe old age. Make the wrong ones- well you get the picture.
Well written.