Georgia Tech Student Activist shot dead by campus police

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Difficult to say considering the circumstances. It's tough to arm chair these things after the fact.

Still, the word taser comes to mine here.

Yeah, but at the same time I don't think this warrants disciplinary action of any sort.  The guy was approaching a cop with a knife, refusing to drop it, and daring the officer to shoot him.  I mean I can't really say I blame the cop for shooting him given the circumstances.  For all the officer knew, the guy could've been about to charge and try to stab him to death.  It's sad, but sometimes split-second decisions are necessary under such circumstances.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Well shooting people in the legs can also be deadly.. Would you be raging at these cops if they shot someone in the arm or leg to try to "immobilize" them and they ended up dying?

Do you think I'm that unreasonable? I mean this doesn't really make sense. There is a difference between wanting cops to take on a different approach to dealing with people then faulting them at every turn no matter what.

No, I wouldn't be raging at them if they tried and failed. The risks of a gunshot wound are obvious. A lot of people are just calling for police officers to be retrained in numerous aspects, and for them to actually be held responsible in the worst abuses of authority. That isn't too much to ask. I don't really expect you to agree, though. I don't think you've ever had experiences with nor see police the same way the communities in question do. Although, interestingly enough, I probably haven't either, but I can see what they are talking about. It doesn't take rocket science to see what has been going on for decades generations now.

This wasn't an abuse of authority though.  And for the most part, the LGBT community isn't violently harassed by police all that often, so I don't think you can really say they've had the sort of dynamic with the police that many African-American and Hispanic communities do.  All due respect, I do think expecting the officer to risk getting stabbed by aiming for this person's legs is unreasonable in this case given the circumstances.