30yr Black woman called cops for help, gets fatally shot in front of her kids

[Krigaren]

You underestimate the threat of a human armed with a knife.

Or an unarmed human.

Or a 12 year old with a toy gun.

Or a guy talking casually on a cell phone while holding a toy gun in a store.

Or a guy with his back turned and running away.

Or a guy on the ground with his hands out.

Or a guy on the ground subdued by another cop.

Good thing our hero cops put down each of those kinds of people, cause who knows what kind of damage they could have done.

[Canpinter]

What about the defensive power of two beat cops with batons, zip ties, hand cuffs, pepper spray that can disable from yards away, batons, backup, and of course handguns?

ok everything you just mentioned other then the hand guns need to get into touching range in order to use meaning they can then be stabbed.

[Rafoel]

If you read the article you would have those answers.

Irony recognition level - 0

[Protean]

Yeah those pregnant 30 year old women are so vicious. Those poor police officers armed with handcuffs, firearms, pepper spray, batons were no match.

What's the safe distance from someone with a knife? As in how far how fast can they move?

Let's take your suggestions from the top:
Handcuffs: Yeah they'll just throw them at her and like bolas they will magically wrap her up
Firearms: they used those
Pepper spray: Not in closed quarters, are you nuts?
Batons: Less painful, less deadly versions of a knife

You don't even know their loadout, batons aren't standard issue.

The police need to gun down a pregnant woman because she's holding a knife?

Are they supposed to just put their hands in the air instead? Are they supposed to turn their backs to her and walk back out? If she can't put down the knife they can't identify whether she's the resident who called them, or a violent burglar they just caught half-way through murdering the residents.

Which one do you assume the person with a knife is?



So fucking many armchair law enforcement officers in this forum and none of them with any experience in a real life-and-dead situation.

[Canpinter]

What's the second cop going to do while the woman is charging the other one? Clumsily, in slow motion, drop his baton, hand gun, hand cuffs, pepper spray, and yell in anguish as he forgot to tie his shoes while she mercilessly stabs the other beat cop in all major arteries?

it only takes one stab to the face neck or shoulder area to have a very high chance of killing someone stop pretending like knifes are made of tinfoil and it takes hours to kill someone with them.

[Svifnymr]

Have you not seen the disproportionate number of black individuals being gunned down by the police. Most decent people who aren't racists will be concerned about it.

Poor people interact with the police and commit more crimes than those with more. Black people are disproportionately represented in low-income, especially urban, so they are likewise over represented in incidents related to low income such as welfare use, crimes committed and interactions with police which includes escalation.

[Zyky]

I think you are greatly underestimating how willing a police officer in America is willing to kill, regardless of race.

I'm sure someone will pull up the statistic that whites are killed in larger numbers by LEOs

Right because 2 white cops didn't just shoot a black PREGNANT woman in front of her 2 kids? Please if she was white it wouldn't have happened. There was no way she would have gotten close to them or even been able to overpower them enough to even use the knife being pregnant and small, as confirmed through the article. This is a senseless MURDER because 2 white people felt like killing a black person instead of doing their job properly.

[Daelak]

So you ARE okay with one of the cops getting stabbed, since the other one can then wrestle with her?

Neither one of them would of been stabbed if she charged one, the other can easily subdue since she wouldn't be facing one. You guys are making this out to be like some sort of chemically enhanced zombie craving wonton destruction and death.

[Krigaren]

So you ARE okay with one of the cops getting stabbed, since the other one can then wrestle with her?

Pretty sure he's okay with cops (aka PEACE officers) doing their jobs to de-escalate and subdue a citizen, even if it puts them in danger, rather than murdering a citizen who needs help.

[Daelak]

Really the only thing that they could have used (depending on distance) is the pepper spray and maybe taser. Unless you want to risk getting close for that other stuff.

Baton, pistol whip. There were two guys, unless she was some international assassin who could disable two grown men at the same time with one knife, there was no need to escalate it to the point where they had to shoot her.

[Rafoel]

Are they supposed to just put their hands in the air instead? Are they supposed to turn their backs to her and walk back out? If she can't put down the knife they can't identify whether she's the resident who called them, or a violent burglar they just caught half-way through murdering the residents.

Which one do you assume the person with a knife is?


So fucking many armchair law enforcement officers in this forum and none of them with any experience in a real life-and-dead situation.

30 year old pregnant woman = violent burglar?

What residents? What murdering? Blood on the knife? On her? On the floor? Bodies? ANY sign of literally ANYTHING happening? Or just a lone woman standing in her own damn house?

Are you actually serious writing those posts?

[Gemini Soul]

For people saying Taser her - Wouldn't the amount of electricity going through her body have killed the fetus anyways? Or am I overestimating the power of a taser?

Its a no win scenario, if they tased her it would be about police brutality with a taser, same with a baton, pepper spray etc.

Given all the information going in with guns out was warranted, she could of easily attacked them in the time it takes to holster their gun and pull out a taser.


It comes down to stupid people not listening to people who point guns at them.

[Daelak]

ok everything you just mentioned other then the hand guns need to get into touching range in order to use meaning they can then be stabbed.

Yeah two cops can easily get within range to use a myriad of options while she focuses in on one, unless of course she's an international assassin who's on maternity leave who could disable two police officers.

[Svifnymr]

So, what's the use of tasers then? Decorative?

Tasers have uses, but are a lot less effective against someone who is crazy or drugged or anything. So really, they're just effective deterents against people that are mostly non-threats anyway.

Now, in this situation, one cop could have deployed the taser while the other covered with an actual firearm. If/ when the Taser failed to stop the threat, the gun would be there to protect them. I've no clue what Seattles tactical doctrine might be.

[Gemini Soul]

Irony recognition level - 0

Seriously go read the article! that way you don't come off as asking stupid question that are answered in it.

[Canpinter]

ok everyone is throwing around "pregnant" like shes 9 months along do we have any idea how far along she was or if it would have had any effect on the level of threat she actually posed?

- - - Updated - - -

Yeah two cops can easily get within range to use a myriad of options while she focuses in on one, unless of course she's an international assassin who's on maternity leave who could disable two police officers.

and while she is focused on one of them, that cop is getting stabbed , its not like cops have super speed where the instant she moves at one the second has her cuffed

[Rafoel]

Its a no win scenario, if they tased her it would be about police brutality with a taser, same with a baton, pepper spray etc.

Given all the information going in with guns out was warranted, she could of easily attacked them in the time it takes to holster their gun and pull out a taser.


It comes down to stupid people not listening to people who point guns at them.

naked guy running away - tase him... or shoot, for good measure

Unarmed person - shoot him, he can have gun hidden somewhere.

(kitchen) knife - oh my God, literally all our equipment used to disarm civilians is already useless, shooting is our only option

so I guess adequate answer vs somebody who actually has a gun is to call an aerial strike?

no mentioning people with multiple guns (that MIGHT have a grenade too, GASP), then tactical nuke is your only option

[King Shark]

You underestimate the threat of a human armed with a knife.

Or maybe I'm overestimating two grown ass men against one tiny pregnant woman. And again, I've seen absolutely no indication in the article that she threatened anyone. The most detailed information I've seen is a description, from the department no less, stating that the officers were "...confronted by a woman armed with a knife." Nothing more detailed beyond that.

If she bum-rushed them with the knife while they already had guns drawn, then fuck it, it was an unfortunate situation that ended in pretty much the most logical conclusion. But barring that, this situation leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

[dcschess05]

What about the defensive power of two beat cops with batons, zip ties, hand cuffs, pepper spray that can disable from yards away, batons, backup, and of course handguns?

Cops aren't required to whip out a knife to subdue a person with a knife. Nor do they aim just to wound a threat. It's obvious to any rational person that you don't call the cops and then arm yourself when they show up to your house.

[Svifnymr]

Neither one of them would of been stabbed if she charged one, the other can easily subdue since she wouldn't be facing one. You guys are making this out to be like some sort of chemically enhanced zombie craving wonton destruction and death.

You're assuming cops are trained in melee and that somehow the one she focused on has some sort of protection while the other uses his skills to disarm and disable.

The cops are human, they responded to a threat by stopping the threat. It's a shame that the woman didn't get more medical attention for her condition before it came to this. The two cops are not the ones who were responsible for her treatment or lack thereof, nor should they put their health at risk for her.