Rittenhouse was in the open, chased and later surrounded by hostile protesters who variously threw things at him, hit him, and attempted to take his rifle. The NYT reported that there had been gunfire as Rittenhouse retreated, and he may have thought it was aimed at him.
The Policeman was with a number of other cops. They had ample room and time to retreat. There was a closed and barricaded door between him and the woman he shot. He fired the first shot.
They both have a case for self-defense, but the Cop's case is going to be a harder sell.
> There was a closed and barricaded door between him and the woman he shot. He fired the first shot.
She was in the middle of climbing through the top of the barricade, which is what got her shot.
DC is also a stand your ground territory, there is no duty to retreat even in civil matters. I think it would be very easy to convince at least a single juror that "a riot attempting to break into your place of work" would instill a reasonable fear of bodily harm. Doubly so when your place of work is the center of the nation's legislative branch. Quadruply so when the rioters are known to be armed.
Even if the officer didn't have reason to fear for his own life, shooting someone because you have a reasonable fear that they will cause bodily harm to someone else is legal. These people were armed and attempting to break into a session of congress. Fear that they might attempt to shoot a legislator would not be an unreasonable concern.
Rittenhouse had no reason to be there in the first place, while the capitol police will have some kind of policing plan and rules of engagement.
Both should be sorted out in court. So many of the protests this year and previously were about situations in which the police shooter never even stood trial. We shouldn't have to second-guess this in the court of public opinion, but we can't trust the prosecutors to prosecute unjustified shootings.
What is your definition of trespassing?
As a non american i would think that trepassing is beeing on someone elses property without permission, not beeing with a violent mob storming a gouvernemnt building with the (at minimum) intent to destroy stuff and breaking the democratic process.
And Rittenhouse was clearly looking for trouble, i don't think a black perosn could Go fully armed to a KKK rally and claim self defense if started shooting people after beeing harassed there.
Whether I agree or disagree is secondary, I am just so glad to see some logically consistent thought!
There have been a lot of violent protests in the last 12 months, this being just the latest example. It’s nothing if not a great litmus test for anyone speaking or writing about protestors or policing protests.
As far as I can tell, there were police officers on the other side of the door (where Babbitt was). Police officer shouldn't have shot her. His life was not in danger.
I'm against the storming of Capitol, but this type of shooting should not be allowed.
Agreed, police officers should rarely be shooting anyone. And certainly not those who are merely trespassing.
There are plenty of options for stopping a person going into a place, that don't involve executing or seriously wounding them. It should be a grave concern for every citizen that the police generally have so few qualms about firing their guns at people.
The police should have attempted to deescalate this situation with a minimum of violence - not the maximum.
I guess you think the police should just let those 'mere trespassers' get close enough to the representatives to pose for a photo? Maybe hold the camera?
For some reason I have seen a vide of the shooting and it looks like the person shooting is in a suite? Is it normal that police officers wear a suite?
They reported that it was a plain clothes police officer. My guess is that some of the Capitol police wear plain clothes. They are usually not in public.
I think in this case it's not only about your life beeing in danger, try this at any milittary base and the chances of getting shot are also quite high i guess.
Yes, but the difference is here that the police obviously let the protestors inside the building. Once that happened, the police and protestors were mixed and there was no real power struggle. Police looks like they were keeping an eye, but no one was fighting. This guy who shot turned a situation that could have been handled with a baton into a deadly situation. He could have created a worse situation, imagine if a protestor had a gun behind this woman and a gunfight erupted.
While i completely agree that this was all unnecessary and a complete fuckup (Trump not calling the national guard, police clearly had a shitty tactic)
But i don't think you can hold this "let them in" up high.
They didn't invite them in, they let them in because of fear of beeing overrun/escalation.
If a mob is in front of your house and threatens to burn it down if you won't let them in, there is no claim you invited them in If you do out of fear.
They should have blasted them of the stairs with watercannons, but idk what the plan was.
I mostly agree with you. Police should have blasted them off the stairs and/or held the cordon at the top of the steps. It would be easier to do and should be easily planned for. If someone died there while trying to break through it would be much more understandable than this.
These are the guys who called the killings of Rittenhouse self defense.