On Saturday, September 16th
of September, only a few days ago, A 21 year old student was shot, and died via
suicide by cop. Through investigation, the chronology of events was found out
to be: 21 year old Georgia Tech engineering non binary student Scout Schultz wrote
three suicide notes, left them in their dorm, and then called the police,
stating that there was an intoxicated man with a gun and knife. Police arrived
to find Schultz, barefoot, and holding a possible, viable, and useable weapon,
(i.e. A pocket knife, or if you want to call it so, a multi task took, that
just has a knife.) A video can be found of police pleading with Schultz to give
his name, to calm down, too stay back, and to put down the knife. Throughout
the incident Schultz can be seen and heard screaming “Shoot me!” at the
officers as he steadily walked towards them. In response the officers would
yell “No one wants to hurt you” “Put down the knife” “Stay back” “Stop moving”
as they attempted to keep their distance, backing away from the hostile
student. After a dozen or more calls to cease moving towards them, and to put
down the weapon, and Schultz proceeding to disregard their orders, an officer
shot once, when the bullet struck Schultz was downed, alive, and was rushed to
the hospital where they died.
The death of Shultz has
provoked much stress, outburst, and violence in the little time after the
incident, where fellow students angered and grieving attacked officers at the
nearby police station, even setting police vehicles on fire. Many people were
suddenly blaming officers, and calling for the charge of whichever officer
fired the shot.
The problem is these
people seem to have no knowledge of the policies in law enforcement, and if they
do disregard it as well as disregard the circumstances choosing to put this
student on a pedestal.
Scout had a weapon, and
had been the one to call police because they were hoping to force an officer to
have to take the shot. No officer wants to take a life, and neither does the
average person, but to be forced into such a situation where a citizen is
attempting to force their death on you, is bound to project its own form of
nightmares.
In just about every state,
there is a distance limit the officer needs to keep to keep themselves, their
partners, civilians, and even the suspect safe to some form, (It may be seven,
twelve, or twenty one feet) not mention it is practically impossible to hit the
legs or arms with a gun to disarm, including impractical as even those areas
can be a death sentence, Law enforcement are taught to aim for center mass, and
know it is impossible to hit moving arms and legs as they are coming at you.
Dealing with suicidal cases such as Scout’s proves an even greater burden on
some officers, than say stopping a cold hardened killer.
While there are cases of
going too far, it is important for people to understand the policies and laws
of law enforcement, as well as the proper procedures, and how to truly look at
a situation, not to mention to protest without blowing things up. There are
several articles to inform someone of these events, as well as a YouTube video
of the incident, but I am using the first article I read http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/17/us/georgia-tech-student-killed/index.html
I believe it should be
required for others to learn and understand, not assume that everything is
unjustified and that the people protecting you want to kill you. Police
officers are human, and many join to protect the populace, If people forget
such things, and lack the understanding of what's right and what’s wrong, and
having no knowledge of the rules and situations before reacting, then such lack
of knowledge will destroy everything.
