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Strange...they've always been so dependable up until this point. Must be a misprint.

I went to post this a couple days ago but couldn't find the original 'Liberty,Rights and the Constitution' thread where we were discussing similar egregious police actions, and gave up on it. But I think the 'WTF' thread is an appropriate place for it. At the same time I know the response I'm going to get to this and don't really want to rehash my background that was laid out in the old thread, so I don't know why I'm spending the time, but: The cop needs to do serious jail time. Whatever a citizen would get for 'attempted negligent homicide' (yeah, I know, not a real charge) It's unfortunate because this is a direct result of the training that he and hundreds of thousands of other cops have and plenty of others would find themselves in the same position for acting similarly (unjustifiably). Sadly, nobody will call into question the mentality that all cops are taught to have while they're on the street as a cause for this disastrous excuse for police work. It'll just be chalked up to a failure of this particular individual cop and the status quo will remain. M2 is right, cops face more risk on a daily basis than almost any other profession. And guess what? They knew it when they signed up and still agreed to serve and protect (the citizens, not themselves). It should be a selfless endeavor and yet as a result of what the academy teaches they treat everybody from law abiding citizens to hardcore felons as if they are just waiting for an opportunity to kill them. 'Action before reaction', 'don't expose your gun to anybody you're in contact with', 'approach in their blind spot' and on and on and on and on. Always on the defensive because something is bound to go down. And it affects their response to the 99.999% of cases where something doesn't go down. A cop ends up dead in the .001% of cases where it goes down because he didn't approach the wheelchair-bound grandfather with the assumption that he'd shoot him between the eyes? Sorry, that sucks, but it's the nature of the business. Can't accept that? Fine, don't take the job. Does that sound callous? Too bad. This guy shot an innocent human being in a benign circumstance (where the guy was actually complying too well) and got lucky to have not killed him because he assumed that this, along with every other citizen encounter he's had since he graduated from the academy, was the .001% as he was taught to do. And the frequency with which this happens (usually with a dead person on the other end instead of just wounded) as M2 indicated, is frighteningly often. Do you get more dead innocent civilians in the cases where cops assume the worst under benign circumstances, or dead cops in the cases where officers approached the .001% while not assuming it was the .001%? Bogus question. The cops voluntarily signed on for the risk. The guy pulling up to the gas station to buy some Funyuns did not. If changing the mindset of cops in the country to one of actually protecting and serving results in more officer deaths, then it's unfortunate, but still the correct decision. The training fosters a toxic mentality among the police force that permeates all of their interactions with citizens, to include the routine ones, and it's disgusting. Day 1 of the academy should run down all the ways that you may die in the line of duty, require that you re-affirm your desire to take on the selfless service, and then move on to how to be a decent cop. Instead, it's all about how to keep your thumb on your contacts so that they never get the chance to kill you. I hate to say it because sentencing this cop to serious time doesn't really serve a purpose if you're going to remove his right to practice law enforcement regardless, but nothing will change if nothing changes. Of course we all know he'll get a slap on the wrist, the academy will continue to teach a mentality that results in egregious over-application of force, and more innocent people will be killed and not be able to go home to their families in order to ensure that the public servant who accepted the risk of death can go home to his. Disgusting.

Not sure, I'm a part timer so I usually have to use the longest words I can find to fill all the white space. It's hard to glorify, "made my sorties, almost every month..."

What did "police state USA" say different than your article? And no one is defending this cops actions, we pointed out ways to mitigate his asshatery and keep yourself alive. I agree there are issues with the police mentality and training, that's not going to fix itself overnight and in the mean time being cautious might keep you alive.

I already posted your second story in my earlier response. What exactly are you trying to convey? I can't for the life of me figure out what your issue is with the conglomeration of fragmented sentences that comprise your posts.

It always pissed me off reading this crap. I spent three and a half years doing this mission. Never met anyone that had issues. Just makes us look like a bunch of senstive pussies. Unless your ass is getting shot at, STFU. And if you can't handle drones, GTFO.

To wrap up, that cop was stupid and should be fired. To make sure YOU don't get shot by a subpar cop, follow the above tips.

Picked up by Birmingham to fly the KC-135. Good luck to everyone on here.

Spend some time on patrol with a police officer and you might understand the situation better. There is no other profession, even being in the military, that puts people at personal risk as much as law enforcement. It's an everyday thing. Not saying that the shooting was justified, but I do understand both sides of the equation. I help train police officers, from cadets to personal protection details, and have learned a lot about police tactics. It's been a real eye-opener, and I realize that while such a response may seem excessive to most civilians; the reaction was one of personal survival more than anything. Hesitation will get you killed in that line of work faster than anything, and there is a mantra in law enforcement that goes "action before reaction." I am also not saying the civilian's move to his vehicle should have been cause for the shooting, but it was sudden and just exactly how was the officer suppose to know he was going for his license and not a weapon? Trust me, there have been numerous examples of the latter, as some of the videos posted have shown. Cops are people too, people who want to go home to their families and children at the end of their shifts the same way we in the military want to go home after a deployment. They also make honest mistakes, like many in the military have done; but not for nefarious reasons. I think that is the case here, and as sad as it is; such incidents occur and will continue to occur on a regular basis. I strongly advise everyone to think about their actions during a police stop, I doubt the civilian who was shot every considered that such a drastic move could be interpreted as a threat but from the officer's perspective it was. It is like one aspect of having a concealed carry license, the law in Texas states that CHL holders have to inform a police officer that they are carrying if asked for ID; but one thing several officers have suggested to me was never to use the word "gun" because that is what officers are trained to yell when they discover a firearm. If a second officer is present, and hears that word; he/she may not realize who said it and react as if it was a warning. I was actually pulled over for speeding in the Jeep (as ridiculous of a concept that is!) a few weeks ago and I simply told the constable I was carrying when I handed him my CHL. I also had my hands on the steering wheel and made no sudden moves during the stop (I did find it odd in the above video that the officer allowed the individual to exit his vehicle, that is not normal procedure). If it had been at night, I would have turned on the dome light as well. These are small things that make a bit difference, as an officer never knows what situation they are walking in to during a traffic stop; and if you honestly put yourselves in their shoes you might understand why they are so defensive to such sudden actions by people!

Fair answer. The other 21 pages have a lot of guys who've never worked for the airlines telling other guys who've never worked for the airlines what they need. Then again, I've never worked for the airlines...that's why I asked. Posted from the NEW Baseops.net App!

Hot dog! Selected for the Herk out of Niagara Falls ARS. 2.5 years in this process finally paid off! Thanks for everyones help in these forums.

Parallels is awesome.

That Intel patch is top notch. I'm guessing she got the mandatory fun assignment to stand in front of the jet and found out later she will be ridiculed indefinitely for making the commercial cut. Posted from the NEW Baseops.net App!

"I agree with what you're saying, but..." Discuss the context of the situation. Don't grab the mic and say: "I'm gonna let you finish, but..." and show a black guy in Oregon shoot at a trooper. In the context of SC, you've come to the aid of a trigger happy black-fearing trooper. Times are changing. Yesterday, this action would have been administrative leave. Today, it is unpaid jail time with an uncertain future. That's the point. To make sure I don't get shot by sub-par cops... is your point, because you'd like to downplay what is happening in the USA right now.