@ChaosEngine I understand wanting to give them the benefit of the doubt. It does sound unfair, but my outlook is colored by the multiple police officers I know personally who think, talk and act that way.
It's disgusting, but time and again I've seen exactly how the institution works inside, and I know too many guys who became cops because they "get to beat the shit out of people".
The people I'm speaking of are truly sociopathic masochists and assholes. It has always been primarily in urban areas (Sacramento, Oakland, LA), and the problem runs straight through the institution end-to-end.
I have police in my family, some of them are good people. I know that a lot of police are good people, so I'm sorry for being so bluntly blinded by my personal experience-turned-anger. When things like this happen so frequently, it really gets my ire up.

Ultimately you're right, a taser would have been slightly more appropriate. Talking would have gone a lot further in the realm of humanity though.

@dannym3141 a gun is simply the wrong tool. Hollywood has taught us that police are all expert pistol shots who can target a body part with ease. From what I've read and from talking to a cop friend of mine, the reality is that you don't shoot what you don't intend to kill.

A taser would have been more appropriate here.

@artician, I think that's incredibly unfair. I'm not saying what the cops did was right, but I highly doubt they were thinking "fuck yeah, got to kill me a dude today".

Very provocative controversial video worthy of a *discussion (so I won't discard), but it is definitely snuff, so I'm redacting the video.

I didn't realize he was holding a knife, but it does seem he was. Not only did the officer(s) yell at him to drop the knife, but the guy with the red-and-white-striped shirt yelled at him "Come on, drop it, bro!" (at 1:38) immediately before the officers started firing.

Seems obvious it's suicide by cop. The officers should not have used a TASER if he was holding a knife and approaching them. Deadly force is definitely necessary in that case. In fact, I think the officer on the left may have even let him get too close as it is. If the guy did want to attack them and wasn't just looking to die, he could have thrust forward and stabbed the officer while he was getting shot.

Another example of 'I'm a cop, so let me tell you how the world works (from my misguided, self serving, myopic viewpoint) because only cops know...'
From your statement, one could reasonably ask 'why do cops have tasers at all then? You seem to say there's no time it would be reasonable to use one instead of a gun, because you don't know if your suspect is armed, an Olympic sprinter, an MMA fighter, on PCP, or any other made up excuse you might think of for shooting him out of your fear (of what exactly? It's unclear) instead of for a legitimate reason.
Your fear is NOT a reason to shoot citizens. It's amazing that someone needs to tell that to a 30 year officer, just amazingly sad. If you are so fearful of anyone not ensconced in blue, you certainly should not have been an officer. We need better psych screening, and braver officers.

Another example of 'I'm not a cop but I know what/how/why cops do things totally bass-ackwards from my utopian view'.

How do you know a person is unarmed? Until you know for a fact, why would choose a taser over a gun? Do you know how fast someone can charge 20 feet? Do you know the effect clothing has on a taser, or drugs in the body? Are you willing to risk your life on your lack of knowledge?

no matter how you spin it, the death was unnecessary. Again, this WOULD have been a great time to use a taser.

They keep using the wrong weapons at the wrong time.

Even if he was belligerent. He simply did not have to die. Cops, and wannabe cops, seem to have a real problem with appropriate levels of force.

I think the real criminals are the press though, they are going to stoke this fire for all they can. There was absolutely no reason for them to publish that autopsy diagram showing where the bullet impacts were. No matter what happens, they're going present the case as being completely 50/50 and could go either way.

Tasers have caused so many heart-attacks in people that I would not call them safe, and as heavy as this guy is it could have killed him just as easily.

Tasers are not the answer.

another case where they keep using the wrong level of force. This is a situation where a taser actually would have been useful and would not have killed the guy, but nah, lets save the tasers for grandma, or the pet dog Spot.

I thought that was the whole point of tasers to be able to bring down a big guy like that without having to use chokeholds and other stuff like that where accidents can happen.

And that's ignoring the whole question of whether or not it was necessary to use force on the guy in the first place.

I'm always surprised when someone is accepting of any use of force, especially when it's so completely uncalled for. The idea that tasers are even 'lawfully' allowed, you could say, shocks me.
There used to be a time when the police would simply explain the law to one side or the other. If he's in the right to film their store, the manager should go back inside and he'll eventually shut the fuck up. If, by some retarded legal standard (which I suspect would be close to reality), retail chains managed to pass a law forbidding members of the public from simply filming their stupid property, the police should just arrest him after he refuses to stop.
No tasers are necessary. Ever. Accepting their use is just climbing on board the lobotomy-wagon like everyone else who allows modern life to slide into the shithole.

Taser? Oh how 1980s of you.

They'd just kill him. Especially if he was black.

American cops would have tasered him so fast and possibly shot him for good measure.

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Works well but would work better with a dog and a taser.

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sadly nope, it was settled. cops got no punishment but the old man got a payday:

http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Marin-settles-Taser-shock-suit-for-1-9-million-2373974.php