Officer Matt Marin shot and killed Brian Claunch, a one-armed, one-legged man in a wheelchair who turned out to only have a pen in his hand. Nevertheless, Police Department spokeswoman Jodi Silva insisted that “fearing for his partner’s safety and his own safety, [Marin] discharged his weapon.”
Claunch was threatening people with a pen and “advanced” on Marin’s partner after “trapping” an officer with this wheelchair. Officers warned him to show them his hands and he failed to yield to their commands, according to the police reports.
Claunch had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. He was reportedly upset when one of the caregivers refused to give him a cigarette and a soda.
Police say that Claunch attempted to stab the officer with the pen, but they were not sure what the object was at the time.
This is the second shooting incident for Marin who in October 2009 shot and killed a man with a knife after the suspect had stabbed his girlfriend and a neighbor.
In fairness to the officers, this is a highly disturbed individuals who they say was trying to stab an officer. The question is whether (given the fact that he is a double amputee confined to a wheelchair) it was not possible to subdue him given the multiple officers present at the scene.
Source: CNN
The only question that wants to be answered is would Brian Claunch have been justified in killing officer Matt Marin had Marin approached Claunch with a pen in his hand. If not, then Marin should be given the same punishment as Claunch would have received had their roles been reversed.
At the very least, Marin should have his gun toting priviledges taken away
forever.
The only acceptable way to deal with the pig in question is immediate execution without a trial.
If pigs want stronger sentences when a pig is attacked by a criminals, then it is only fair that pigs get a stronger sentence when they commit crimes.
The pigs are supposed to know better, to know the law. Instead, they act like they’re above it or they can make it up as they go. Pigs are not law enforcement, they’re street gangs with legal immunity for the crimes they commit.
JT>”This is the second shooting incident for Marin who in October 2009 shot and killed a man with a knife after the suspect had stabbed his girlfriend and a neighbor.”<
The SECOND incident? The SECOND killing? REALLY??? Most of the LEOs I know have NEVER discharged their weapon except on the qualification range, much less KILLED someone. There is no indication in either article that I've seen that this was an electric wheelchair. Simms is right. EVEN if the wheelchair WAS electric, the guy only had one arm. Rather difficult to propel a wheelchair in such a manner as to 'trap' Marin's partner if one has only one arm and that arm is busy waving a PEN around. Even if one assumes that the chair was motorized, one STILL has to use the hand on the controls. One could make the case that he was propelling it with his ONE leg. THAT is even MORE difficult, because without your arm to help steer, you end up going in circles (think Roadrunner and Coyote).
If this was a 'care home' as stated, there was staff available (who were familliar with both patient and symptoms) and there were the two LEOs. That would make at LEAST three people who, working in tandem, could have 'disarmed' this man. While Darren Smith is quite correct that pens could be used as weapons (practically ANYTHING in the right hands can be used as a weapon) and we ARE discussing someone (the VICTIM) who is schizophrenic with bipolar disorder which can be a frightening combination (I have a member of my family with that combination. He has a concealed carry permit. This IS Arizona. And it's NOT me.). Assuming that these cops were wearing the standard bullet-proof vests (you know, that stop bullets), the vests would be pretty poor defensibly if the could be breached by an ink pen.
This cop needs to be off the streets, out of the PD and, preferably in the Pulaski Unit as a resident.
The man had one arm. How in the world could he have operated his wheelchair, whether electric or manual, and brandish a “weapon” at the same time?
“who in October 2009 shot and killed a man with a knife ”
How do you shoot a man with a knife? Sorry, couldn’t resist.
My god , how the hell are they training the police? If you can disarm a one armed one legged man armed with ANY sharp object you are not qulified to be a police man.
Sling,
Worse! A dog would have been petted and would not have broken bad in the first place.
I don’t see why a tazer would be a first choice for a man in a wheelchair. Or even a baton to the arm that the pen was in?
“Department spokeswoman Jodi Silva insisted that “fearing for his partner’s safety and his own safety, [Marin] discharged his weapon.”
It sounds as if the shooter was not the one trapped by the wheelchair.
The guy in the whelchair has only one arm.
It does seem incredible that two officers were unable to grab that one arm.
The other question is why the cops were called at all. If they had to be called, then the circumstances should have been addressed.
This apparently happened in a care home for mentally disturbed people. He had been in the home for over a year.
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/09/23/us/texas-amputee-shooting/index.html
It seems to me that what is involved here is that the guy’s life was not considered to be of any value worth taking care of.
He might as well have been a dog.
Yeah but … the pen is mightier than the sword, so the pig was justified eh?
Houston…..
@Darren Smith I’m with you, I’d like to know more of what happened.
I’ve seen too many reports in which officers have shot and killed, tazed, pepper sprayed or otherwise abused civilians. There is a bigger issue here. Training and selection of officers need to be evaluated. Investigations need civilian involvement and greater accountability. I have to question the judgment of an officer who lets himself get outmaneuvered and pinned by a schizophrenic double amputee. Shooting was the answer?
“Emotionally disturbed individuals, when threatened, are going to react in most instances, excessively,” Dr. Ed Reitman, a clinical psychologist, told KRTK.
“This was an incident that didn’t have to take place if the individual — a police officer — had been trained in dealing with emotionally disturbed individuals.”
Hit Post too soon,
The problem in this case I wonder why the officers, if there were not the circumstances I mentioned previously, couldn’t just buck up and try to take the pen away from him to begin with; certainly there are far more dangerous situations than what this looks at face value. But, I wasn’t there.
I would have to see a layout of the room with the pictures of where the actors in this were to offer a better comment.
Given that, I would need a couple of questions answered before I could offer my conclusion:
1) Was the shooter actually pinned by the wheelchair (mostly if it was motorized and holding him there) and that prevented the officer from defending himself if the suspect was actually attempting to stab him?
2) Was the other officer able to grab the wrist of the suspect (the one in which held the pen in hand) and pull away the pen or subdue him enough to remove the pen?
Notes for consideration. Pens and pencils have been used to stab officers in the past. (If you have seen the French movie La Femme Nikita, that is one way) In jail environments even toothbrushes, with sharpened ends have been used.
Personally, not having the above metioned information which could change my view completely, I probably wouldn’t have shot the guy if I was the officer. Though I could see lighting him up with a Taser or trapping his hand and a punch to the face. (yes I know it would be bad press to punch a guy in a wheelchair but it’s better than killing him)
But if he was wielding a real knife like a hunting or large kitchen knife and he was trying to hork me with it while I was actually trapped with no way out facing a possibility of being maimed or killed, I could see a firearm being used.
This is the kind of thing that makes me want to pound my head on the desk. If it were a department I work with, I would immediately revoke their POST certification and demand they get a complete psychological workup before being allowed to return to duty, if ever.
There was an incident a few years ago where a six-year-old first grade boy had a temper tantrum meltdown in the principal’s office. Instead of the counselor handling the situation, somebody called the police. The kid knocked over a framed picture on the desk and picked up a shard of broken glass, waving it around. The responding officers tasered him twice. My response to that was if two full grown officers could not handle a 45 pound six-year-old without using a Taser, they are in the wrong line of work.
Multiple officers couldn’t subdue him with shooting him? Even a taser should be uncalled for. What kind of training do these bozos get?
I have to agree with rafflaw. It sounded like a bad comedy sketch. They need to get new jobs
The two officers could not sudue a one armed, one legged man in a wheelchair without using a weapon? That is something straight out of Monty Python. These officers who could not get control of this individual need to find a new job. This is one time when a tazing would have been more appropriate than using a gun. Outrageous.