TX - Brian Claunch, 45, double amputee, shot dead by LE, Houston, 22 Sept 2012

[Reader]

http://centurylink.net/news/read.php?id=19088923&ps=1011&cat=&cps=0&lang=en

HOUSTON (AP) — The FBI will help investigate what led a Houston police officer to shoot and kill a wheelchair-bound double amputee who was agitated and threatening police with what turned out to be a ballpoint pen, the city's police chief said Monday.

Police Chief Charles McClelland also asked the community to "reserve judgment" on the officer and his actions this weekend at the Healing Hands group home for the mentally ill, and sought to reassure the public that all of the city's officers are trained to deal with people with mental problems.

More at link......


Couldn't they have used a tazer to stop the man?

 

[wfgodot]

Murder.

 

[bluesneakers]

Houston Officer Cleared Of Wrongdoing In Killing Of Brian Claunch, Double Amputee

A police officer has been cleared of charges after fatally shooting a man who was mentally disabled, a double amputee and at the time of the shooting was wielding only a ballpoint pen.

Houston Police Officer Matthew Marin did not violate police procedure in the shooting of Brian Claunch, a 45-year-old man who had paranoid schizophrenia and used a wheelchair, said Police Chief Charles McClelland on Oct. 24, according to local radio station News 92FM.

Sometimes it feels like they're taunting us. JMO

 

[Tawny]

Um...

 

[bluesneakers]

This is what was said immediately after the shooting. It sounds so familiar.

"Officer Marin, in fear of the safety of his partner and the safety of himself, discharges his duty weapon striking the suspect," HPD spokesperson Jodi Silva said.

http://abc13.com/archive/8820624/

 

[Woodland]

The Houston Police Department said Brian Claunch -- a one-armed, one-legged man in a wheelchair -- threatened Ofc. M. Marin and waved an object that later turned out to be a ballpoint pen.

With only one arm and in a wheelchair, BC could maneuver his wheelchair or swing a pen - not both at the same time.

To me, it makes sense that Officer Marin shot BC since -

We learned that Marin shot and killed another suspect back in October 2009. Police say the suspect lunged at him with a knife.

Marin has been with the force for five years.

http://abc13.com/archive/8820624/

Land of the free? Home of the brave?

 

[Tawny]

In what world does a ballpoint pen resemble a firearm? And if he thought it was a knife, how did he expect a wheelchair bound amputee to do damage when he could literally outWALK him to get away?

WTF

 

[bluesneakers]

In what world does a ballpoint pen resemble a firearm? And if he thought it was a knife, how did he expect a wheelchair bound amputee to do damage when he could literally outWALK him to get away?

WTF

I don't know. He might have thrown the pen at the officer while he was walking away.

Scary.