General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I fully understand that this post is likely to draw very intense personal criticism but, at my age, [View all]StarfishSaver
(18,486 posts)If he dropped the gun, he dropped the gun. What difference does it make how or why he dropped it the way he did?
And I seriously doubt a 13-year-old in this situation, in the dark with a cop screaming at him, terrified he's going to get shot, has the presence of mind to think, "OK, the cop I can't see just screamed at me to drop the gun. Let me drop it SECRETLY so he won't see that I dropped it."
If the cop ordered the kid to put his hands up and the kid put his hands up, it was up to the cop to look and assess the new situation with the kids hands in the air. The fact that he may or may not have seen him drop the gun is irrelevant. And if he believed that he would still be in danger if the kid put his hands up without getting rid of the gun, he should not have told him to put up his hands.
These excuses are ridiculous. The bottom line is that the cop told the kid to put his hands up and he put his hands up. And he shot him less than a second after he did exactly what the officer told him to do.