Listen Live
St Jude banner
CLOSE

If I resist with my fists should I be shot twice for my troubles.

In a case that the LAPD is sparking outrage and the LAPD is defending, Reginald Doucet Jr, an ex football player and part time modelwho was resisting being apprehended by police and then fought back with no weapons with police who tried to contain him was killed this past weekend. At question is whether the police used excessive force and if any other methods were at the disposal in containing the unruly man at the time.

latimesblogThe shooting occurred about 3:30 a.m. when two patrol officers responded to a disturbance call in the 5200 block of Crescent Park West and found a naked man “yelling and behaving erratically,” according to an LAPD statement.

Police said the officers attempted to calm the agitated man and talked him into putting on his boxer shorts, but he ran when they tried to apprehend him. They approached him again, but he ran once more.

But they didn’t or couldn’t calm him down. Instead they agitated him. Which is not to say being asked to behave oneself in public is too much of a request, especially when you are running around the street naked and completely distraught.

“When the officers tried a third time to detain the suspect in the apartment complex doorway, the suspect immediately attacked both officers,” the statement said. “The suspect repeatedly punched both officers in the face and head and at one point tried to take one of the officer’s guns.”

That’s when one of the officers, identified only as a male with 17 months in the department, shot Doucet twice, police said. He died at a hospital.

Which begs the question as much as the young man is acting beyond decorum, did the police officers also act out of context? Remember the man had no weapons, the police on the other hand were in no immediate harm’s way, they had the ability to call for back help, the ability to use a club if need be or an electric taser gun or as some of us are forced to do in the real world- use our street smarts and appeal to this man in a rational way that didn’t necessarily involve resorting to physical force. Physical force which involved shooting an unarmed man twice.

Next time you have a breakdown in your building lobby, do you necessarily want the LAPD dropping by to calm you down? Source

Click Here: Daily Z-Links