Disabled Vietnam vet, 70, shot in the stomach by police as he reached for his CANE during a traffic

[Liberal_in_LA]

Disabled Vietnam vet, 70, shot in the stomach by police as he reached for his CANE during a traffic stop


A disabled Vietnam vet was shot in the stomach by police in South Carolina as he reached for his cane during a traffic stop.

Bobby Canipe, 70, is recovering from emergency surgery after York County deputy Terrence Knox fired several times on Tuesday evening.

Mr Canipe had been pulled over near Clover for an expired license as he returned from a day out to watch car racing.

The 24-year-old deputy believed the elderly man was trying to grab a rifle from the back of his pick up truck and fired at him, with one bullet striking Mr Canipe.

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'The officer that had to do the shooting, he was really freaked out about it. He was screaming on the radio about needing help,' Mr Ashwell told WSOCTV.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2568848/SC-officer-shoots-man-reaching-cane.html#ixzz2uYYcIjPL

[WilliamPitt]

1. "had to do the shooting"???

[onyourleft]

8. That was my...

...first reaction when reading the article.

[d_r]

2. yeah well

So many people packing its no wonder cops are jumpy. We've lost our freaking minds. Everybody posting on Facebook you have to have a weapon to be a real man, running around with ar 15s so the boogie man don't get them and cops teaching each other the procedure is to ask questions later. People are freaking nuts and it is sad.

[deathrind]

4. I cannot disagree with this...

I wish I could.

[The Straight Story]

13. That doesn't make a lick of sense

Back in my day we were taught to be suspicious as well and it had nothing to do with how many guns were owned by the citizens.

Less than one percent of people who own a gun use it in a crime.

Now if all they do is read DU and such they might be convinced that there are fifty million shootings a day just like if all I read were newsletters from some groups I might believe that all people of color are out to get me.

What we have are trigger happy idiots taught that every citizen is a potential threat - and not just in a common sense way you might teach an officer - but in a boogeyman way like 'everyone might be a terrorist here to blow up the US' kind of way.

Cops are taught to be suspicious of everyone, I am down with that. But that was then. Today they have all out assault vehicles, military style weapons and training, and the old 'they might be drunk, aggressive, and carrying a weapon' is now 'They could be part of a sleeper cell with their finger on a detonator. Their speeding might be a trap to get you to pull them over so they can blow up themselves and take you out. etc'

[enough]

3. This viscious cycle is becoming undeniable. Because so many more people are

carrying guns, police and everyone else are getting more and more paranoid, seeing threat everywhere, not waiting to find out, literally shooting first and asking questions later.

Also, the increasing paranoia makes stand-your-ground defenses more prevalent -- all you have to say is that you FELT you were being threatened. And in the current atmosphere, your fear is all the more plausible.

So, by these lights, he "had to do the shooting."

[DanTex]

6. Exactly. This is where the NRA wants us headed.

Everyone has a gun, and everyone is afraid of everyone else, who they know also has a gun. And more and more people get shot.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

9. it does drive up gun sales. imagine that. it's almost as if they are lobbying for the gun industry

[glinda]

19. Drove by our Fleet Store and they added a firing range to it....

[PADemD]

17. The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street

Closing narration written by Rod Serling

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monsters_Are_Due_on_Maple_Street

[Journeyman]

5. Whenever I'm pulled over, I'm certain to tell the officer everything I intend to do. . .

and I move very deliberately once he gives his consent. And like Mr Canipe, I'm an older white guy. I just figure, cops are under incredible stress and the more I try to put them at ease the safer my encounter may be.

[frylock]

16. same here. i keep my hands on the wheel until the officer is at my window..

only then will I make a move to roll it down. I don't reach for my glove compartment until the nice officer asks for my reg and proof of insurance, then it's back to hands on the wheel. I do not trust these fuckers.

[MisterP]

18. domestic disputes and traffic stops are actually the most dangerous for LEOs, numberwise

[Pretzel_Warrior]

7. curious why he was reaching for his cane

if the officer was already concerned about movements, he should have been very clear in telling the man to stop and asking him what he was reaching for.

[SoCalMusicLover]

10. He Did Tell The Man To Stop

That was the whole point of shooting him.

It's basically the reverse of "Stop Or I'll Shoot."

[Pretzel_Warrior]

11. very sad thing. it sounds like everyone needs to have "the talk"

about how to handle yourself during a traffic stop. Not because it is great that this is where we are at, but because the anxiety police undergo as they wonder if someone is going to try to shoot them, run them over, etc. is heightened.

best to know how to defuse a situation as the person pulled over and live to tell the story.

[Rex]

12. YAY COPS!

They are the BESTEST!

[Ichingcarpenter]

15. The bulgarians used KGB killer cains and umbrellas

you never know......oh wait......the carolinas
....nevermind.... carry on amerika.

[indepat]

14. Incidents like this are so comforting to a 70-something-year-old driver who always totes a cane

so he can get out of car and the walk a bit.

[glinda]

20. Am sure it was a natural response to get his cane because Rehabs drill this into people to use them

always. This could have easily been my father. I am so upset at this I couldn't drive to the store without curing all the way there and back today.

[glinda]

21. and .... KICK!