Sad Day In Eureka

CHIEF: FACTS SUPPORT OFFICERS ACTION - So they say...

EPD Chief: Shooting Appears Justified - So says the Journal...

What justifies the use of deadly force, the killing of Tommy McClain is his legitimate and viable threat to the officer's lives. Where was that threat in a toy BB gun?

They did not even know it was a "gun" or anything else until they confronted him at gunpoint. Why, then, did they confront him at gunpoint? He demonstrated or posed no actual physical threat to anyone. The toy gun was still in his belt when they shot him - all he did was supposedly "lower" his arms, not grab for some mythical gun. If he had his arms in the air as reported, then told to "drop the gun" he would have to drop his arms to remove it from his belt. Did he get killed for doing what he was told to do? Even so, in everything reported, where is the actual demonstrated "threat to life" or person in what the boy did? The only demonstrated "threat" to anyone came from the police. I see no reasonable justification for confronting the boy in the first place.

The only actual, real "threat" the boy posed is the one that existed solely in the minds of those paranoid police officers. He had no deadly weapon in his hand. He did not demonstrate any intent to threaten; he wasn't pointing a toy gun at anyone. He was shot, NOT for what he DID, but for what those sick cops thought or believed; their worthless opinions conjured up in their minds. And that is the danger we are all threatened with. Not what you are actually doing, but what these cops "think" you are doing.

The people of Eureka should by real proud of their new police chief, Andy Mills. He has solidified Murl Harpham's legacy police department by making it an ISIL style terrorist organization. If this boy's death is actually "justified," then everyone in Eureka lives here at their own peril. Know this, every time you have need for police protection, or call on them for help for any reason, you run the risk of dying. If you are stopped or confronted for any reason, a bitchy neighbor complains about you or you run a stop sign, you run the risk of dying. You don't have to take my word for it either. Forget the outrage. Just bury your dead.

So, good luck neighbors. You wanted tyranny. Well, now you got it.

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[UPDATE]
AN UNLOADED BB PISTOL….REALLY! THAT’S ALL THEY GOT? - Some thought from the Tuluwat worth considering. Read the comments, specially the moronic response that is so typical of Eureka from Mitch. Since when did Tommy McClain BECOME an "armed suspect"? When did he become a "suspect" of anything? If fellow officers have the "suspect" at gunpoint, why did he feel he needed to intercede with deadly force? Why did those officers have Tommy McClain at gunpoint in the first place?

--Joe