It’s hard for me to place myself inside the head of police officers who face adversity on a scale unknown to me, but the story says the victim was naked, although perhaps holding a rock(s). He threw himself onto a police cruiser. The cops in the cruiser managed to unholster their weapons and shoot him through the windshield, critically injuring him. On the face of it, this seems like a case where a belt to the jaw might have been the better solution. Anyway, that’s what Batman would have done.
Police are usually trained in hand-to-hand tactics, although it is mostly techniques on handcuffing and arrest. They also sometimes box in police academy, in the sense of pairing off with gloves on and fighting a round or two, not necessarily because punching is a good tactic on the street, but because it offers the valuable experience of being in a fight when someone is hitting you in the face.
That having been said, most police are trained not to try to engage in hand-to-hand combat. There is a reason they carry Mace and Tasers and nightsticks - so that they can subdue a suspect with generally-less-than-lethal force without the risk and delay of barehanded combat.
As far as the story to which you linked goes, I can’t tell, but even if shooting was not appropriate (and naked crazy people throwing rocks is certainly a situation where guns might be a good choice), bare hands - or “a belt to the jaw” - is almost certainly to be avoided. Notice that the story mentioned that he might be on drugs, and that he made it a block away even after being shot. Not a person to be approached lightly, IMO.
It’s too bad he got shot, of course, but better that a naked crazy person trying to bash thru your windscreen gets shot than the two officers get hurt or killed. IMO.
My kid sister is a law enforcement officer. She is half my weight. I can assure you that officers are trained in hand to hand, as she continues to get even for perceived childhood altercations which she started when she was bored and wanted attention. Back then I would pin her and she would say something like you are three times my size, you’d better win. Now I say, I’m a fat old man who has survived open heart surgery and you are a federal cop, you’d better be able to do a lot better in the field!
“…the victim was naked, although perhaps holding a rock(s).”
So the officer should see if he can get within arm’s length of someone who just might get in a lucky blow and bash in the officer’s skull with a flippin’ rock?
“He threw himself onto a police cruiser. The cops in the cruiser managed to unholster their weapons and shoot him through the windshield, critically injuring him.”
Or should the officer punch him through the windshield?
Someone crazy enough to go around naked, wild enough to jump onto a police car, possibly holding a weapon that could be lethal, and you think the cops should just try to hit him? How about you try to hit him, and let the poor cops handle it how they see fit.
LEOs do get unarmed combat training, although most of the highly skilled officers I know have sought out extensive outside training on their own. As stated, going hands on is a last resort - landing a clean KO on the jaw of a naked lunatic isn’t something even a skilled fighter wants to bet his or her life on. The last thing you want to do is get in a wrestling match with a naked lunatic trying to claim ownership of your sidearm.
I have a brother who was a police officer. Also various cousins and uncles.
Yes, they do receive training in this area in the police acadamy. My brother has told me, though, that (1) a lot of cops get rusty because it just never comes up (this is on a big city force with more than 30,000 officers, but having to subdue someone just doesn’t come up for a lot of them), and (b) what they learn on the job is more valuable and effective.
My brother (who is very thankful that he never had to use his gun during his time on the force) says that what he learned and practiced was just to smother someone with body weight. No punching, no grappling, just a couple of cops piling on to a guy. Then once the guy was flattened out they’d cuff him.
I don’t know. Believe me, I know that police will sometimes (too often) use excessive force or weapons all too quickly, but in this case the officer was inside his (her?) car, and the disturbed and violent person was beating the crap out of the car, presumably trying to get to the officer inside. I would think that getting out of the car to administer the “belt to the jaw” would have put the officer in a particularly vulnerable position, at least for a moment.
That said (while admittedly not knowing all the facts) it seems like recourse to the gun was perhaps unnecessary. There were other officers on the scene, according to the story.
This is why tasers were issued to cops. Tasers very rarely injure a suspect especially compared to the older methods of using physical force on suspects.
You can’t shoot a taser through a car windshield. I guess the cops weren’t willing to risk leaving the car to use it on the suspect? I can understand why. The guy was right on top of the car.
It might have been better to wait for backup. The officers that arrived could have tased the naked guy.
yeah… this has happened before… I think the offender breaking the glass with his bare hands in the recent incident will lend more credence to the shooting… As for hands on… not as much as they use too… people sue… claim injury.the brass isnt so hot on it anymore. Also… new police recruits… have rarely had fights… most of them have never been punched before… we talk about it in training all of the time… what we see now with new recruits is the freeze factor… too much video game and tv… they just stand and gape… The great Patrick Collins instructor at Chicago PD Academy use to just sneak up on you and slap the shit out of you. It taught you to take a blow… and it taught you to keep your hands out of your pockets… great lesson learned… ouch!!
Quote:
“The suspect then allegedly slammed his hands on the driver’s side door of one of the police vehicles. He then allegedly turned toward another police vehicle and punched the windshield, causing it to shatter and explode. Officials say the officer inside drew his weapon while in the driver’s seat and fired through the windshield. The suspect was struck once in the right chest and once in the right elbow.”
I wonder if “shatter and explode” means that there was no longer any windshield glass present? In that case the officer wouldn’t be firing “through the windshield”, rather he would be firing through the opening that formerly contained the windshield.
Physical Struggle with any individual is a crapshoot. Especially when you’re carrying a number of weapons. You can (and probably will) be injured. They will be too. They may get ahold of one of your weapons and use it on you, or just get away with it.
Attempting to fight someone who is drunk or on drugs is extremely stupid. They can take more physical punishment in general than they can sober, and the effort required to subdue them can often result in serious injuries or death.