# Dashcam video shows Sacramento cops swerving to hit homeless man **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 5, 2016, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dashcam-video-shows-sacramento-cops-swerving-to-hit-homeless-man/767694 "2016-10-05T12:20:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dashcam-video-shows-sacramento-cops-swerving-to-hit-homeless-man/767694/21 "2016-10-06T01:08:09Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > I’ve not seen anything more than the facts in the OP and subsequent posts, but based on that I don’t have a problem with killing the guy. > > If you’re walking around waving a gun or knife, and you refuse to engage the cops or respond to their orders, then you have it coming. Watch the video. It starts with their car about 2 blocks from the scene. They’re still ½ block out when they say, “F\*\*k this guy.” ‘Perp’ is then clearly seen moving away from the passenger side of a different marked SUV which then moves forward, indicating that the officer was inside the SUV in the driver’s seat. The officer driving the car with the dashcam has made up his mind solely based upon the radio reports of a different officer. Said radio chatter is not part of the video, but radio reports are typically **not** detailed but more like, “Send backup, he’s not cooperating.” ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dashcam-video-shows-sacramento-cops-swerving-to-hit-homeless-man/767694/22 "2016-10-06T01:15:02Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Because I always consider what I can do to annoy **Drunky Smurf** before I hit “submit”. Well that’s a perfectly good reason. STOP BEING REASONABLE! ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dashcam-video-shows-sacramento-cops-swerving-to-hit-homeless-man/767694/23 "2016-10-06T04:00:09Z")
So, to summarize the video, we have a man waving a gun at another police car. They enter the scene with a duty to stop this man from shooting someone. As the video progresses you can hear one of the cops say “watch it, watch it”. They’re clearly not trying to run him over or they would have run him over. I think “fuck him” about sums up the expected response to someone threatening a co-worker. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dashcam-video-shows-sacramento-cops-swerving-to-hit-homeless-man/767694/24 "2016-10-06T07:20:22Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > From the article in the OP, “Officers said they later found a four-inch knife beside Mann.” IOW, I don’t believe he was waving a gun. So do you still “understand them wanting to stop him by any means”? Yes. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dashcam-video-shows-sacramento-cops-swerving-to-hit-homeless-man/767694/25 "2016-10-06T08:40:53Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > I’ve not seen anything more than the facts in the OP and subsequent posts, but based on that I don’t have a problem with killing the guy. > > If you’re walking around waving a gun or knife, and you refuse to engage the cops or respond to their orders, then you have it coming. > > It doesn’t seem that difficult to either refrain from brandishing deadly weapons in public, or, if you have some need to do this, then to at least cooperate with the cops when they ask you what you’re up to. > > The priority here has to be protecting innocent people. Not protecting potential threats who refuse reasonable attempts to assertain that they’re not threats. Okay, so I try not to lecture anymore, but could people meet me halfway and not say such horrible things? No, Mann didn’t “have it coming.” No one does. The police have one legitimate reason to attack or kill–and that is when it’s the last choice remaining to prevent harm to themselves or others. It’s never a measure of whether they deserve to die. The information we have is that the guy was not an imminent threat. He was outside with a **kitchen knife** , and there was no one around besides the cops. The previous two cops were still in their cars. Then we have a third cop say he wants to hit him, when he’s still half a block away. Then, lest you think they meant “get out and hit him” and he just got out in front of them, they turn around and go after him in the car again, before giving chase. We then see the cops run after him, and while a cop car drives by, we hear 16 shots, and see Mann go down. It does not appear to my eyes that he was close enough to be a threat before the first shot is fired and does not appear to have gotten closer to the officer, but I admit it’s hard to see anything. Also, according to the LA Times article (which is linked in the article accompanying the video **iiandyiiii** provided), one of the cops reported an injury saying that Mann had charged them. However, security camera and cell phone footage retrieved by private investigators reportedly show that the officers charged Mann instead. That’s the type of information needed to determine if this was a legitimate shooting. Not some idea that Mann “had it coming.” If people are saying stuff like that, no wonder BLM exists and doesn’t trust the police. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dashcam-video-shows-sacramento-cops-swerving-to-hit-homeless-man/767694/26 "2016-10-06T12:02:09Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > So, to summarize the video, we have a man waving a gun at another police car. They enter the scene with a duty to stop this man from shooting someone. As the video progresses you can hear one of the cops say “watch it, watch it”. They’re clearly not trying to run him over or they would have run him over. > > I think “fuck him” about sums up the expected response to someone threatening a co-worker. He didn’t have a gun. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dashcam-video-shows-sacramento-cops-swerving-to-hit-homeless-man/767694/27 "2016-10-06T13:16:45Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Okay, so I try not to lecture anymore, but could people meet me halfway and not say such horrible things? Hey, feel free to lecture as much as you want (which is, apparently, quite a lot). Means nothing to me. Frankly many people have expressed a preference that _you_ don’t say much of what _you_ say. And yet, here you are … > [@](#): > > No, Mann didn’t “have it coming.” No one does. The police have one legitimate reason to attack or kill–and that is when it’s the last choice remaining to prevent harm to themselves or others. It’s never a measure of whether they deserve to die. Perhaps you’re unfamiliar with the colloquial usage of the term “have it coming”. FYI, it’s commonly used in situations where a person, through their own actions, put themselves in a situation where others felt the need to harm them. As was the case here. The idea that it refers to what a person deserves from a moral and judgmental standpoint is in keeping with your approach to discussions of any and all topics on this board, but you need to appreciate that not everyone thinks like you do. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dashcam-video-shows-sacramento-cops-swerving-to-hit-homeless-man/767694/28 "2016-10-06T15:38:26Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > So, to summarize the video, we have a man waving a gun at another police car. They enter the scene with a duty to stop this man from shooting someone. As the video progresses you can hear one of the cops say “watch it, watch it”. They’re clearly not trying to run him over or they would have run him over. > > I think “fuck him” about sums up the expected response to someone threatening a co-worker. To summarize your post…what the hell video were _you_ watching?!? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dashcam-video-shows-sacramento-cops-swerving-to-hit-homeless-man/767694/29 "2016-10-06T16:50:31Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > The information we have is that the guy was not an imminent threat. A mentally ill meth head charging along a busy thoroughfare waving a knife isn’t an imminent threat? I suppose that’s one way of looking at it. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dashcam-video-shows-sacramento-cops-swerving-to-hit-homeless-man/767694/30 "2016-10-06T16:58:07Z")
Did the police know at the time that the person on the street was (a) mentally ill and (b) a “meth head”? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dashcam-video-shows-sacramento-cops-swerving-to-hit-homeless-man/767694/31 "2016-10-06T17:09:56Z")
AFAIK they only knew that he was “acting erratically”, waving a knife around, doing karate moves, and refusing to drop the knife or submit to arrest. That he was found later to be both mentally ill and a meth head is evidence that their judgment at the time, that he was dangerous. was correct. “WTF is going on with that nutcase over there with the knife? Is he cra-cra, or on drugs?” “Why can’t he be both, like the late Earl Warren?” And sure enough, he was. Regards, Shodan [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dashcam-video-shows-sacramento-cops-swerving-to-hit-homeless-man/767694.md?page=1)