[xyzelement]

\\ This is why so many unarmed people are getting shot by the cop

How many unarmed people are killed by the police each year in the us? When I ask this question, most people guess "thousands" or "tens of thousands". The real number is around 50.

Of course the ideal number is 0 but the US is very far from having a " police killing unarmed people " problem.

[AYBABTME]

My brother is doing research on suspicious usage of "Suicide by cop" as a cause of death, a phenomenon where police departments and coroners may be overly broad in their application of the label. I hadn't thought about this, but apparently this imaginative labelling _may_ be hiding unfavourable statistics .

Although I doubt this would change the number from 50 to 10,000.

[essayist]

The Washington Post says the police killed 413 unarmed people from 1/1/2015 through 7/16/2021, about 63/year.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/polic...

[mgleason_3]

Source?

This article says it was almost 1000 last year. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/polic...

A few years ago police shot a man neareby when they mistook a water hose nozzle he was holding for a handgun.

[jcims]

That’s total, not unarmed.

[0_gravitas]

Who decides if the person killed is unarmed again?

[xyzelement]

That's an interesting point. So how did we decide whether there a real problem or not?