A video is making the rounds of a Montana police officer breaking into tears just after killing an unarmed man. "I thought he was going to pull a gun on me," a sobbing Officer Grant Morrison says.
"Maybe he was. Maybe he was," says a comforting fellow officer.
It was the second death Morrison has been cleared of. Six months before this incident, he shot and killed a man with a replica gun. He was also cleared of wrong doing in that case before this one occured.
So, it is not surprising he was distressed at being right back in the same situation. Also, his tears may well have come from regret for the loss of a life. Bless him for those things.
I remain wishful we trained officers to avoid taking life when possible. In Morrison's case, he was standing outside of an open passenger door, with the suspect in the car when he became concerned the man might be reaching for a gun. I play through in my mind what might have happened if officers were trained to avoid deadly confrontations, even if it meant "backing down." Officer Morrison could easily and quickly have stepped out of immediate danger with a step out of line with the door. The suspect, though, could have swung out another door, and, if he had had a gun, could have used the weapon on a running Officer Morrison, who would have been retreating behind the cover of his own car. Moments later, other officers would have arrived and the officers would have had the upper hand in a shoot out.
But, that is the scenario if suspect did have a gun. In this case, he did not. If Morrison had backed away from the door, within moments backup officers would have arrived and in all likelihood Ramirez would have been arrested without being shot. Everyone would have lived.
Some would say it is fully ridiculous to even consider that the officer should back down. I am not so sure. Preservation of life should be the highest concern. I am not to the point of saying officers should back down, but I am considering that maybe, in some situations, they should.
I also think of the many times I have heard it said if you do not comply with a police officer, you deserve to get shot. I think of how that is pounded into our heads time after time, to where officers surely might begin to think they have the right to take someones life if that person is not obeying. In the video of Officer Morrison shooting Richard Ramirez, Morrison repeatedly yells, "Hands up," before shooting. Ramirez didn't comply. Morrison may well have worried Ramirez was reaching for a weapon, but the thought that he might have shot in part simply because Ramirez was not complying haunts me. It is not wrong to consider that. Though we have the video of the shooting, we do not have the mindset of the officer, nor of the suspect. In considering whether justice was done, we should consider all scenarios.
I say, thinking on these things is good. Considering how we are responding to dangerous encounters, and whether lives are being lost is a worthy thing. If we are, as a society, reconsidering our methods, it likewise is worthy. We might decide we are doing things right, but at this point we should see enough reason for concern that we at least take a time out and reconsider how we are handling things.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/us-police-officer-grant-morrison-shown-sobbing-after-killing-unarmed-man-20150115-12nvpk.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftG3ROxPBRM
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