Even a box cutter can kill you. I also don't particularly like suicide by cop shitheads. If you're going to kill yourself, man the fuck up and do it yourself. Don't put that on some other guy who then has to live with it the rest of his life.
I wanted to add this as well. It's complete bullshit to subject someone else to the possibility of PTSD, a lengthy investigation and suspension (paid suspension after a police-involved shooting during the investigation is SOP for most police agencies in North America) and, in this day and age, the mob of virtue-signalling, reactionary anti-cop tards, when one could just jump off a bridge, overdose, hang or shoot themselves instead. There is no reason to drag a random stranger into it (unless this idiot was trying to make themselves into a martyr in the eyes of other morons, but that obviously doesn't mitigate my ethical objections).
Still there are nonlethal options about as good at putting someone on the ground.
No dude. With respect, nonlethal options are nowhere near as reliable as firearms when it comes to dealing with a subject armed with a knife.
OC spray isn't karate in a can and is totally unpredictable. It's good at stunning or panicking some subjects, but others are virtually immune to it or even get enraged and more dangerous, aggressive and violent. Cross-contamination is also nearly inevitable.
Tasers will incapacitate a subject reliably...but that's if, and only if, both prongs connect properly...which is surprisingly difficult and unpredictable with a subject advancing towards the officer.
Go hands on, with or without a baton, and you're nearly guaranteed to get cut.
I can say that if a subject advanced towards me with a knife and I had all of the tools available to the best equipped officers in North America, I'd still shoot them. And generally speaking (of course all situations must be evaluated on their own merits but I'm speaking broadly), that's how law enforcement are trained, it's legally acceptable, and it's frankly the smartest thing to do.
I'm not going to judge it without seeing everything there is to be seen. Maybe they weren't properly equipped or maybe it wasn't practical to try. Still, any time someone gets killed there should be a review of what happened and if there was a way to avoid it, that should become policy.
There absolutely should be review of all fatal use of force incidents, police should be held accountable if there is wrongdoing, and best practices should be adopted. With that said, given the dynamic nature of use of force situations, policy shouldn't be too restricting to the point where it makes police officers second guess themselves in potentially lethal situations. Watch the Dinkheller video to see what happens when the confidence of police to use adequate force is undermined (he had been reprimanded over use of force shortly before that incident).
