Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Minx-Boo t1_ira1tv1 wrote

"You're not in any trouble, just drop the knife and we'll get you some help," the officer said in the video. Burks can be seen running toward officers in the video before he was fatally shot.

"In March of 2020, he stabbed two family members, a sister…he stabbed her in both her neck and her hand," Graveline said at the news conference. "As well as a brother in the top of his head as the brother came to defend the sister."

"What we have found unfortunately is a system that has failed Mr. Burks on several different occasions," Graveline said. "That schizophrenia manifested itself into violent behavior. We have seen a pattern of him being brought to psychological services and being released and not being followed up with taking his medication."

This headline instantly pissed me off at the police until I read the article.

1,089

BuffaloWiiings t1_ira3x9v wrote

There's a reason it was phrased that way.

359

whatissandbag t1_ira4br4 wrote

Outrage drives traffic - you can't blame them really they're just trying to make ends meet. /s

104

Chippopotanuse t1_ira5ke9 wrote

Yeah. I’m sure the cops could have handled this differently. And I am the first to call out asshole cops who are murderers and rapists.

But it is damn hard to tell cops to exercise an abundance of restraint when a clearly mentally ill guy with a knife who just stabbed two family members is running at you.

I usually ask myself “what would I do if I was the cop”

And when a cop kills a guy crawling on the floor who is sobbing, or kneels on a neck for ten minutes and kills a guy, or gives a rough ride to Freddy Gray - of course that’s cold blooded indefensible murder and/or intentional horrific harm.

But if I’m the cop and this guy is running at me…I don’t know that I’m going to let the guy get within a twenty foot radius.

Shitty situation, but the cop didn’t have many other options here.

276

tries2benice t1_ira3hfp wrote

Detroits got a normal amount of people with mental health issues, but a significantly less than normal amount of resources for them. Like the article mentions, a lot of the time the people get arrested, get treatment and medication for a short duration, which is great, however theres little follow up, and the treatment usually isnt enough to find a good balance of medications. The end result is a problem with unhomed people, who dont know how to take care of themselves. We dont get the tent cities, with mass amounts of people banding together. Instead, we get people that dont understand the concept of shelter, people that lose knuckles and toes to frostbite in the winter, even when theres a homeless shelter offering free lodging, and coats that convert into sleeping bags.

You see the people asking for 35 cents, who wont accept two quarters, because they dont understand 50 cents is more than 35...like, this is not just addiction. Yes, it is a factor, but usually caused by the underlying mental health issues.

102

[deleted] t1_ira3510 wrote

[removed]

−27

SynkkaMetsa t1_ira3wj5 wrote

someone doesn't know how deadly knives are....

35

dprophet32 t1_ira4tbb wrote

Much of the rest of the world's police seem to manage it okay. There is a time to use a gun without doubt but it shouldn't always be the first resort.

−34

SabeDerg t1_ira4xy1 wrote

Disarming people with knives is done all the time with proper training and police officers that aren't A) cowards and/or B) get hard at the thought of killing someone

−35

mutantfrog25 t1_ira63f3 wrote

You have no idea what you’re talking about, nor how any of this shit works.

25

Glendel66 t1_ira4icp wrote

metal sticks that fucking hurt that are wayyyyyyy longer than that pocket knife the dude was wielding

8" is normally considered to be above average size.

8

Rage_Like_Nic_Cage t1_ira60x9 wrote

in the photo showing the knife, that measurement is including the handle, which is longer than the blade (it’s a foldable pocket knife). a 3”-4” blade is definitely average

11

graveybrains t1_ira6ax5 wrote

We also normally refer to knives by blade length. In this case they put a picture of it in the article, it was a four inch folding pocket knife

7

[deleted] t1_ira4r6j wrote

[removed]

−26

thefoodiedentist t1_ira55ke wrote

I think they just reacted and shot til he dropped. They prolly missed a lot.

11

SabeDerg t1_ira5o4y wrote

>I think they just reacted and shot til he dropped

This doesn't make unloading into a guy having a mental crisis ok.

>They prolly missed a lot.

This makes things worse. Just like we've seen before with cops not handling their weapons properly this puts bystanders in danger. You'd really rather kill at least one person risk killing multiple people safely inside their homes to prevent an officer or two getting some stitches? Sorry, they signed up for the jobs, so they should fucking do it properly. If they're too scared to do it properly they don't need to be a cop. Fuck these cowards.

−19

Minx-Boo t1_ira4l28 wrote

Oh I know. Could have shot him in the leg and taken him down. But at least he wasn’t gunned down sleeping or unarmed like most incidents involving black people.

−32

Rage_Like_Nic_Cage t1_ira3yy8 wrote

no man, you don’t get it. If the options are either a cop might get slashed and require 5 stitches, or empty a clip into a person in the midst of a mental health crisis, it’s totally acceptable to kill that person

/s

−37

thefoodiedentist t1_ira4oci wrote

Knives are more designed for stabby stabby than slashy slashy.

26

Rage_Like_Nic_Cage t1_ira5srg wrote

judging my the photos, that 8” knife measurement included the handle. the blade itself looks around 3”. Stabbing a police officer wearing body armor who (according to police) was out of range for their tasers with a 3” blade is gonna be pretty difficult to do

−17

flat6NA t1_ira5n8z wrote

Yeah they just should have shot it out of his hand /s

15

Rage_Like_Nic_Cage t1_ira6fc3 wrote

if the guy was out of range of their tasers (as the police claim), how are they in range of his knife? There are knife attacks all over the world, yet somehow police in other developed countries can disarm the perpetrator without shooting them.

−23

aluck119 t1_ira6foc wrote

The article should still piss you off. You think cops don’t get charged at with knives and machetes across the globe? It is still only this country where more often than not it will result in the police killings someone. We have a grave problem with cops killing the the folk they are supposed to be protecting and serving. We are constantly looking for ways to justify our police fucking killing citizens. There is just zero capacity to deescalate anything at any point.

−126

ArtistWhoStarves t1_ira66cp wrote

I'm still pissed. They all have tasers. That would have sufficed. Fucking blood thirsty cops.

−141

SupplyChain777 t1_ira6wh4 wrote

You’d be surprised how many times tasers have no effect, especially if the person is on drugs or experiment mental episodes.

90