re: This Arizona Police Officer thing is blowing up

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They were called to the hotel for a man with a gun pointing it out the window. When he began crawling, they had already told him to show his hands, he clearly reached towards his pocket and waist band and got shot. Maybe they could have used a taser, but I'm not second guessing the officer. He leaves his house every night wanting to get home to his family as well. Most of us never have to worry every day that we might get killed doing our jobs. The guy was drunk waiving guns out a motel window at patrons..The old saying play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Maybe we can put to rest the debate that only unarmed black men are shot by police.

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I have had all of two minutes to analyze this situation and it looks bad to me. I may be the number one cop defender on this board, but this just doesn't look right.

It seems to me they could have ordered him to turn around while his hand were in the air to see if he had any weaponry on him if that is what they were worried about. The guy seemed to be genuinely cooperative in every way. Perhaps he was drunk. The orders seemed a bit confusing to me.

My instant analysis says there should have been some punishment for the cop in this case.

I approach every one of these situations with the benefit of doubt being in the favor of the cop. This one chills me.

I still have unreserved admiration for police in general - and the rarity of even close cases does not sway that. There is no perfection in human behavior and to demand it in every interaction is a fool's mission.