poor guy was unmedicated schizophrenic and bipolar. he was in crisis. police were called. 2 officers responded - one had been trained to deal w/the mentally-ill.

i deposed experts who'd told me how the police were trained to deal w/the mentally-ill. so when i deposed the responding officers i ran them through their training. the one officer did everything she was trained to do.

the poor guy ended up dead.

before the fatal shots the officers HAD used tasers. they had no effect. both officers ended up being beaten by the guy. both were severely injured. one of them had her face smashed onto the pavement on the street repeatedly by the guy who ended up dead. the 2nd officer fired a shot to get the ill guy's attention. he turned away from the smashed cop and went toward the shooting cop. so the shooting cop fired another shot - in the guy's leg. he kept coming. so the shooting cop shot him in the chest.

both of those officers did way more than they really 'needed' to, per their training. and they still ended up injured and the ill guy ended up dead.

based on that...i dunno. in this case - i mean, that guy could've just put down the knife or w/e. why didn't he? <-- that's what the cops were probably thinking just before they shot him. why won't he comply? split seconds to decide. there were civilians around. how did the cops know he wouldn't turn and run at one of the civilians? if he does, now what? what if he turns and runs at the cops? why won't he comply? what is he up to? there is little time to make the decision. which is why in a case like this it's unlikely the cops will be charged criminally. the shooting is likely to be justified. but i dunno.

the guy's family can try a civil suit. again - i think it's unlikely the cops will be found civilly liable. but i dunno.