Gun Play
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The fifteen year old kid Christopher in Florida who painted the orange tip of a realistic toy gun black, pointed it at people at school and then, in an apparent suicide-by-cop ploy, pointed it at a police deputy and was shot, has died.
It reminds me of the black man Anthony Hayes who was waving a knife around in New Orleans recently while he was surrounded by cops with guns drawn. They soon fired nine shots at him and his 3" knife, and killed him, too.
To me, the cops in New Orleans should have used the natural defense we all have in the case of a knife: distance. Move back, keep him isolated until you get a taser or tear gas or a kung foo dude and can disarm him.
The kid with the "gun" offered no such out for the cops. Unless he revealed it was a toy, his act of pointing it at a person got the expected (and apparently desired) response. One of the kids he pointed it at grabbed it, and found out it was a plastic toy. I wonder why he didn't tell the cops.
His "friend" Patrick, a 15-year-old neighbor who has known Chris for about six years, said he wasn't surprised by what happened. He said Chris was a loner who "told me he wanted to kill himself dozens of times."
How much responsibility does Patrick have, for not telling someone? He had dozens of opportunities.
The fifteen year old kid Christopher in Florida who painted the orange tip of a realistic toy gun black, pointed it at people at school and then, in an apparent suicide-by-cop ploy, pointed it at a police deputy and was shot, has died.
It reminds me of the black man Anthony Hayes who was waving a knife around in New Orleans recently while he was surrounded by cops with guns drawn. They soon fired nine shots at him and his 3" knife, and killed him, too.
To me, the cops in New Orleans should have used the natural defense we all have in the case of a knife: distance. Move back, keep him isolated until you get a taser or tear gas or a kung foo dude and can disarm him.
The kid with the "gun" offered no such out for the cops. Unless he revealed it was a toy, his act of pointing it at a person got the expected (and apparently desired) response. One of the kids he pointed it at grabbed it, and found out it was a plastic toy. I wonder why he didn't tell the cops.
His "friend" Patrick, a 15-year-old neighbor who has known Chris for about six years, said he wasn't surprised by what happened. He said Chris was a loner who "told me he wanted to kill himself dozens of times."
How much responsibility does Patrick have, for not telling someone? He had dozens of opportunities.
posted by Greg Finnegan @ 6:17 PM
3 Comments:
At 5:04 PM,
kenju said…
He should have told a school counselor, at least.
At 5:57 PM,
Greg Finnegan said…
I think so too. Unless he's making it up, to get attention. But there are others who also say Chris was thinking about death,
At 2:48 PM,
Greg Finnegan said…
But, let's not forget the fatal flaw shared by Christopher and Anthony:
THEY FAILED TO DROP THE GUN AND THE KNIFE.
No one else takes the blame for that, except if the cops suddenly started speaking in tongues.
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