Strange Sword-Swinging Samurai Shot

[omae mona]

[floatl][/floatl]AP: Man wielding samurai sword killed by police

A man wielding a samurai sword was shot and killed by a police officer in downtown Modesto early Sunday.

Modesto police spokesman Sgt. Brian Findlen said the 44-year old man was seen acting strangely and brandishing the two- to three-foot long sword outside a Doubletree Hotel shortly after 5 a.m. A police officer was sent to the scene but it was not immediately clear whether the man charged the officer or what led her to shoot him, Findlen said.

Because the protective vests officers wear are not knife-proof, officers learn to consider suspects armed with pointed objects a serious threat, Findlen said. ..more..

[Kanchou]

I thought modern vests WERE stab-proof. I know that they were not previously, but I could have sworn that police vests eventually started to come with a modern equivalent of chain-mail mixed in with the kevlar to stop sharp objects.

I know that British police wear stab-vests, at least.

OTOH, a sword is still an extremely dangerous weapon at close range even if you take the thread of stabbing away, although I wonder what lead to the cop opening fire.

[Big Booger]

The one time a fucking taser would be necessary and it's not used? Why didn't they taser his as to the ground?

[Greji]

The one time a fucking taser would be necessary and it's not used? Why didn't they taser his as to the ground?

He's coming on the cop, swinging a sword and she busts a cap in his ass. Probably easier that way. You gotta be pretty close for an effective taser and they indicated that this was an elongated sword, so the magnum solution might have been the safest.

[Big Booger]

He's coming on the cop, swinging a sword and she busts a cap in his ass. Probably easier that way. You gotta be pretty close for an effective taser and they indicated that this was an elongated sword, so the magnum solution might have been the safest.

I reckon I'd pop a cap in his ass too. I just thought trying to taser him might have worked. Then again he might have killed the cop.

[Kuang_Grade]

There was a really good piece in the New Yorker earlier in the year talking about one guy's efforts to develop non-lethal weapons for police work

unfortunately, its buried behind a registration wall
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/06/02/080602fa_fact_wilkinson

In the piece, it stated that its standard believe among US cops that someone with a knife has a killing distance of something like 18-25 feet, ie a motivated person, even if shot multiple times while approaching the officer can traverse that distance with enough capacity to still kill. Tasers have been apparently looked down upon in these types of situations due to them be not super accurate on longer distances and their effectiveness is conditional on good connection to the person (ie, a leather jacket might take a fair bit of the jolt instead of the person) and are more typically used in close range situation when someone is acting up or reististing but not armed in order to subdue the subject for restraint....ie, such in the case of the "don't taze me bro" dude last year

In the US, some guards in prisons might wear stab resistance gear, given that knifes/shanks are the weapon of choice in prisons while beat cops are just likely to have vests designed for protection against handguns only.

[wuchan]

They could have used rubber bullets, mace, or:

THE PEPPER GUN!

well, they found a way to kill people with this too.

[Kanchou]

The term is actually "less-lethal," not "non-lethal."

(for obvious reasons)

[Choeki]

I saw some video in a case similar to this where a deranged man with (most likely Home Shopping Network) "katana" was cornered by several police officers in front of a storefront in a run-down looking downtown area. They simply shot him in the belly and crotch(!) a few times with a beanbag gun (apparently a shotgun with a special round) and then took him into custody when he fell down in an incapacitated state. Baton rounds for 12-gauge seem fairly common these days, so I wonder if it wouldn't have been prudent to have a few blister packs around for situations like this?

[aquamarine]

I saw some video in a case similar to this where a deranged man with (most likely Home Shopping Network) "katana" was cornered by several police officers in front of a storefront in a run-down looking downtown area. They simply shot him in the belly and crotch(!) a few times with a beanbag gun (apparently a shotgun with a special round) and then took him into custody when he fell down in an incapacitated state. Baton rounds for 12-gauge seem fairly common these days, so I wonder if it wouldn't have been prudent to have a few blister packs around for situations like this?

Just because the equipment is produced does not always mean that police departments will buy enough of said equipment to outfit every single officer, every squad car and every police box. While yes, beanbag rounds WOULD be a good idea, I don't recall seeing a shotgun in the seat-holster between any police cars in Tokyo or Yokohama, even the ones parked around the back of the Tokyo Police Station close-by the Canadian embassy.

As for the vests: not all vests are stab-proof. Back in my home city of Saskatoon, a town with 230-240,000 people, the officers buy their own upgraded stab-proof vests as there is a little thing called 'budgets' that stations need to deal with. This not only takes into account how many officers are hired, but also how much and what grade of equipment is purchased for each station. Due to the various budgets for different cities, one station might be outfitted with the latest gear, a brand new Glock 17 every year, a state of the art stab-proof vest and the latest police 'toys', while another station might need to use service revolvers from the 1980's and go on the street with out-dated kevlar vests.

[Mike Oxlong]

Now we know where aquamarine will be going when the crash hits...

[yt]xY0HIXt5IME[/yt]

[omae mona]

Few details emerge on the case of the samurai sword-wielding man

Police mum on specifics of officer involved in shooting
By GARTH STAPLEY
The Modesto Bee

MODESTO -- Details about a violent predawn confrontation Sunday between a troubled man with a red-handled samurai sword and the Modesto policewoman who killed him began emerging Monday, though authorities would not reveal what they've learned about why or how it happened.

Modesto police identified the dead man as Richard Phillip Robles of Modesto. Family members said Robles, who celebrated his 45th birthday two days before his death, said he recently was afraid someone was out to get him.

Fire Chief Jim Miguel said a battalion chief told him Robles was "pacing back and forth" and leaning on what first appeared to be a long stick outside the DoubleTree Hotel at Ninth and K streets; some people stuck in an elevator there had prompted a fire call. The stick turned out to be a sword measuring more than 3 feet in length, with a blade of about 2 feet, estimated from close-ups of Bee photos. ..more..

[aquamarine]

Now we know where aquamarine will be going when the crash hits...

[yt]xY0HIXt5IME[/yt]

That's funny JUST because I was listening to that track in my car no more than an hour ago!