Short note 2021

I cannot see how shooting someone in the back is self-defence. So the verdict is very stretched. But why was it stretched?

The cops clearly fired to prevent an escape by a known villain. But shooting to prevent an escape is against the law. Preventing escape is not an allowable reason for firing potentially fatal shots at anyone.

But the offender in this case was weilding a knife so any attempt to lay hands on him would have risked the life of a cop. They had already used a taser so firing was the only option left. And bringing to book an obnoxious offender was clearly in the public interest.

So in recognition of that the cops were exonerated via a legal fiction. What this all shows is that the law should be amended to allow shooting at a fleeing offender in at least some cases

US prosecutors have cleared a white police officer over last year's shooting of Black man Jacob Blake, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, during an incident that prompted street protests and inflamed racial tensions in the United States.

Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley found police officer Rusten Sheskey acted in self defence, and said he would not issue any charges in connection with the incident.

The decision not to prosecute Mr Sheskey or the two other officers on the scene could incite more demonstrations, which have frequently broken out in the United States in recent years after police have been cleared of wrongdoing in shootings of African Americans.

During a police intervention in a domestic dispute that was captured on a phone video, Mr Sheskey shot at Mr Blake's back seven times from close range as Mr Blake opened the door of his car.

The bullets struck him four times and paralysed him from the waist down.

Officials said Mr Blake was armed with a knife and refused police commands to drop it, which Mr Graveley said gave Mr Sheskey the right to self defence.

"It is absolutely incontrovertible that Jacob Blake was armed with a knife during this encounter," Mr Graveley said, adding that Mr Blake admitted several times to investigators he had the knife.

The police who were called to the scene had been told there was a felony arrest warrant against Mr Blake for domestic abuse and sexual assault, Mr Graveley said.

The officers attempted to detain Mr Blake and stop him with a taser multiple times, but Mr Blake withstood the use of force to avoid arrest, he added.

The knife was not clearly visible in the video, which also began after the previous attempts to arrest Mr Blake, Mr Graveley said.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-06/jacob-blake-police-shooting-kyle-rittenhouse-pleads-not-guilty/13035472