Seeing a ton of “7 shots is excessive/disgraceful/racist/result of poor training” making the rounds. Thought I’d throw my hat in the ring with a thread. https://twitter.com/skynews/status/1299723266177855488

An officer’s job is to stop the threat. Use the minimum amount of force to gain compliance. Officers don’t get to decide the day, location, surroundings, hostages, time allowed for thinking or response, etc. The individual’s behavior dictates the officer’s response.

Hollywood has done the general public a disservice. One shot rarely stops the threat & it won’t send someone flying across a room. There are eyewitness & video accounts of high suspects shot multiple times that keep on coming (don’t get me started on tasers knocking someone out).

Shooting to wound doesn’t, and shouldn’t, exist. Basic anatomy and common sense prevail. Hands and arms move quickly, and are small targets. A shot to a leg won’t impair the hands. If wounding is the ultimate aim, a shot to the leg can cause a person to bleed out in seconds.

Physical response to stress includes auditory exclusion, tunnel vision, & disjointed short term memory. Officers train for all outcomes, but no training can put you in a legitimate fight for life, or compare to the psychological & physiological state with which you may face.

Less-lethal options are available, & used first whenever time & circumstances allow: going hands-on, tasers, pepper spray. Each has its own set of pros & cons, the con being if one fails, the officer may be injured or killed. Action is faster than reaction. Milliseconds count.

On rare occasions, and they are rare, less-lethal isn’t an option, or has failed, and the suspect will still not stop. The officer falls back on training and fires until the threat is stopped. Advancing, ability to harm, and movement all indicate a continuing threat.

Just as it takes time to perceive a threat, it takes time to recognize that the threat is no more, make the decision to cease pulling the trigger, then actually cease pulling the trigger. This isn’t instantaneous. See Hick’s Law. The OODA Loop is constant throughout.

An investigation will take place and the facts will come out. It’s important to take all of this into consideration when commenting on the number of shots it took to subdue a suspect.

Haven’t read an article that lays out the facts (what was dispatched, Blake admitted he had a knife, taser deployed, etc.) without emotion, but the investigation is complete, action was justified, no officers will be charged. Interestingly, Jacob Blake will not be charged either.