Archived page, if you’re paywalled or region-blocked.
He had a knife… on a stick.
I’ll need to see the video on this one, officers, but for now, mark me as damned skeptical that this killing was self-defense.
I’ve now better clarified my skepticism.
Was: "… mark me as damned skeptical."
New and improved: “… mark me as damned skeptical that this killing was self-defense.”
Would you personally try and subdue someone like that without deadly force? Because I wouldn’t.
Here’s an idea: Maybe we shouldn’t be trying to SUBDUE people who are having mental health crises. Maybe we should try some de-escalation. Maybe we should try to get them to accept sedating meds. Shit, maybe we should hit them with sedating meds from a fucking tranq gun. I can think of several steps along the path long before we arrive at “shucks, guess we had no other option but to murder them” ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I am NOT an expert on the topic, so if someone with more knowledge has something to add, please do. Anyway:
Tranquilizers do not work like they do in movies. It’s not uncommon for tranquilizers to require several minutes to take full effect, and a dangerous person can do a lot of damage before losing consciousness. (I’m not trying to suggest that the person in this case qualifies as “dangerous”.)
Also, the tranquilizer dosage needs to be adjusted according to the body mass of the target. There’s no “universal” tranquilizer dart that’s safe to use on both a skinny teen and large adult. Too little tranquilizer, and it will be only partially effective or not effective at all. Too much, and it can be deadly, which negates the point of using a tranquilizer in the first place.
Lastly, there’s the problem of drug interactions. Even if the dosage was correct, one or more tranquilizer ingredients could have an adverse reaction with any medications or other drugs that may be in someone’s system. Actually, even without any drugs playing a role, tranquilizers can still be dangerous. A person’s system can react badly to tranquilizers for any number of reasons. An ambulance and team of paramedics would need to be on site.
I do see your point, and I agree that there should be a much greater emphasis on de-escalation techniques. Unfortunately, tranquilizers aren’t the easy answer that they appear to be.
Shit, maybe we should hit them with sedating meds from a fucking tranq gun.
You guys are off the deep end.
