Officer Acquitted in Shooting Death of Mentally Ill Man

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

A jury in Virginia on Thursday acquitted a white police officer who had been charged in the shooting death of a mentally ill black man holding a knife.

Norfolk police Officer Michael Edington faced one count of voluntary manslaughter for shooting David Latham in June 2014.

Latham, 35, was holding a foot-long butcher knife on his mother's steps when police arrived. An argument with family members prompted them to call 911. Latham suffered from schizophrenia.

Prosecutors had argued that Eddington didn't give Latham a chance. They said Latham held the knife at his side without advancing or retreating from the officer. Edington shot him several times.

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Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/officer-acquitted-shooting-death-mentally-ill-man-42629471

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By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NORFOLK, Va. — Oct 6, 2016, 6:17 PM ET

[YOHABLO]

1. Why do they have to shoot to kill? There are other alternatives. It's mind boggling.

[NickB79]

4. The alternatives are few: Taser, pepper spray and baton.

And when the person they are approaching is holding a potentially lethal weapon, the officer using the less than lethal device is supposed to have another cop with a gun as backup in case the attempt fails to incapacitate the person.

And please don't say "Shoot to wound." That Hollywood BS has been debunked so many times here on DU it's not even funny anymore.

That said, the fact that the police didn't even TRY to use these approaches, and instead shot a man standing still, is complete fucking bullshit. I can't believe they didn't at LEAST strip him of his badge.

[cstanleytech]

5. Agreed with almost everything you said though I will point out they did atleast tell him to drop the

knife (or atleast thats what I read) so its not like they just walked up and shot him without saying anything at all.
But this case does make wonder about the officers training as well as his background and if he was in the military prior to becoming a police officer as military training from what I have read is significantly different than police officer training.

[MrScorpio]

2. Of course, he was acquitted...

It's still open season on black people by the police in America.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Well, the sky's the limit now these creeps are being shown they can get by with it.

[center]

Free to kill again. [/center]

[GOLGO 13]

6. He had a knife?

Case closed.