And not to control the bad guys; rather to control our cops !!
It seems that barely a week goes by when we do not hear of a police killing / shooting someone on Canadian streets. (In America, one person per day is shot and killed by their police).
The most recent example occurred in Toronto this past Friday when 18 year old Sammy Yatim was gunned down by a bevy of Toronto’s finest.
I do not know, nor do I care whether young Sammy was white, black or polka dot – he was a human being like you and me. And by all accounts he was a great guy.
But again, I do not care if he was as mean as a junk yard dog – he did not deserve to die.
I say this because unfortunately for the police, the shooting was caught on tape. Here was a guy hold-up in an otherwise empty streetcar – armed with a knife. If he was a danger to anyone – it was to himself.
The cops on the other hand had the bus totally surrounded and accordingly had numerous ways open to them to deal with this situation: they could have simply waited Sammy out; or they could have lobbed a stun grenade into the bus; or finally they could have resorted to their tasers.
But no – this pack decided the situation called for nothing short of a shoot out – a one way barrage that cut the young guy down like a scythe through ripened wheat.
It is obvious here that this chap was mentally ill as are many of these victims. They are society’s most vulnerable and it is sad to say the ones they may fear the most are the ones paid to protect them.
It does not bodes well for the rest of us.
Just this past month here in Ottawa, another mentally ill fellow was shot off the hood of car – once in the arm and once in the chest. He fortunately survived. This chap too held a knife but what real danger were the police in – armed as they were with guns and presumably stun guns?
Where do these bozos come from?
We all remember only too well the senseless killing of Robert Dziekanski in the Vancouver Airport by a pack of RCMP. Dziekanski was ‘armed’ with a tiny collapsible table which justified the police to take him down with 5 shots of the taser gun. They then stood idly by and did nothing as his life slipped out of him.
Just today a fellow died in Kingston General Hospital of several gun shots wounds delivered by the Sharbot detachment of the OPP. The official statement indicated that it was the result of an interaction between the allegedly armed 45 year old.
In the past, such stories would not evoke scepticism about the circumstances surrounding such a death – but that has all changed. I still hope the police did the right thing in this particular case – but would not be surprised if it turns out to be another instance where they over-reacted.
I am not dissing all police – of course not – but there are far too many instances of late where certain police have over-reacted – often when they find themselves travelling in packs.
Maybe it is time to take their arms from them and let them walk the beat as Bobbies did in days of yore.
We might all be safer.
As I see it…
‘K.D. Galagher’
Often these shootings are of people who are mentally disturbed.
