Sad

Did you hear about the guy who died after NYPD tased him and he fell off a ledge? Well, that story just got a bit sadder because the lieutenant who ordered the tasing killed himself. Now we don't know for sure that this is specifically the reason he did this, but I can't imagine it was easy for him knowing he was responsible for this man's death. On top of that, everyone labeled him the villain and he was booted from his job. Some of the commentors on this story scare the crap out of me saying he deserved it, but there are also too many people making excuses for the officer's decision to tase a naked man ON A LEDGE!!! It always fascinates me that the response to someone threatening her/his own life is for the police to threaten that person's life. Is there some weird religous thinking behind that? I mean, in Silver Bullet the werewolf kills people who have committed sins in order to save their souls. Is that what cops are doing? Do they think it's better to be killed by someone else than it is to take one's own life? Are police ever trained to shoot to disarm? Did HIV make cops stop attempting to physically take down suspects? I know some people intentionally put themselves in positions to be killed by the police (suicide by cop), but perhaps if our nation's police forces weren't so notoriously quick on the draw, fewer people would do shit like this.