You know what? I hate your lopsided reporting on all things City and Government. Not every employee or police officer is lazy or bad. Once in a while why can’t you report the positive…or are you just a glass is half empty type of journalist? You talk about the local paper being biased…you are just as bad as they are.

You have to admitt that they can hit a guy without missing when using a taser on a handcuffed man on the ground.
I wonder how many of these rounds that missed ended up in apartments with children. When the cops saw this man with a firearm did they have a chance to get under cover safely so they didn’t have to risk killing people in their apartmenets?

So I’ve been watching an Australian cop show called ‘Rush’ recently. It seems the main focus of the police is to end any situation without bloodshed. They use non-lethal force and most importantly wait, think and talk before acting. Why is it that the BPD’s go to is shoot and ask questions later. The guy didn’t shoot at anybody but somehow deserved a volley of bullets. What happened to talking to someone before it gets worse. The BPD seems to have two gears stop and go. It’s like they are all ruled by the lizard brain.

A couple years ago I was driving on Warm Springs near the Mesa when I came upon a car that had hit a deer. There was a little damage to the car, and a lot of damage to the deer. The deer had a couple broken legs, and perhaps some internal injuries, but was still alive. When the BPD officer arrived, I’ll call him officer Whiffle, it was decided to dispatch the poor deer with his revolver.

Well, with two people holding the deer motionless on its side, ol Whiffle hauls off and, point blank, shoots poor Bambi, in the nose. Had some idiotic idea that a deer’s brain is out in front of its eyes. Well, Whiffle got kind of huffy when a, the deer didn’t die, and b, we suggested he try again but this time aim a little further back.

Where I am going with this is, it looks like they put Whiffle in charge of the shooting range. They may be aiming correctly, but god knows what Whiffle taught them to shoot at.

Yes sir. I’m blaming this pathetic lack of marksmanship on Officer Whiffle.

The one thing I can say with certainty is that no one reporting on this on this forum has a clue to what actually went down and won’t until a lot more info is produced. So far folk are shooting off like Obama on the Harvard arrest situation…

EDITOR NOTE– Jim, what brand of beer do you want in the Rose Garden?

Hey Erico49…no sniper was on location at the Broadway/Myrtle shooting. It occurred within seconds at the end of a pursuit, no time to set up snipers.

And Mick. The guy was shooting into an apartment that was occupied, and not his own. He then refused to drop the gun when ordered to by police. What magic words would you expect them to come up with? Or maybe he should get off a few more rounds and kill the person inside…then would they be justified in your mind?

I have several thoughts on this. “First Responders in gunfight with hero”. What in the world are first responders? I have seen the term used to describe, Firefighters of all kinds, EMS paramedics, and now Cops. Hmmm, a lazy way to describe public servants. I say call em what they are. Cops, firefighters, Paramedics, etc., a much better description than a generic “first responder”. Secondly there is a term called “combat shooting”, or something like that, the concept being that when in shooting situations people will subconsiously not aim directly at the target for whatever reason. The only way to overcome that is thousands of hours of live fire training. Lastly, I blame George W. Bush for this. The one man who made a decision to invade a country that was not a threat to the United States. From that ONE MAN’S choice to start a war, hundreds of thousands of people, innocent men, women and children have been killed. Thousands of America’s best and brightest youth have been sacrificed, maimed and traumatized. This is just another sad effect of that terrible choice. Sadly it will not be the last episode of it’s kind either.

EDITOR NOTE–As to the “first responder” ref, there is a tendency today to lump all the “emergency” people into the category and declare they can do no wrong. Same for anyone who is in the military…they are all “heroes.” We all have warts and the “Hero and first responder” phrase tends to minimize anyone who isn’t some sort of official. As to the effects of war having adverse affects reaching throughout society, you are spot on. I hope someday was can all just be friends.

I understand the role that THE GUARDIAN attempts to fill as local government watchdog and muckracker. I check the site everyday and I believe the vast majority of your posts are insightful and informative. However, the back handed name calling in posts such as this deters from your objectivity and the site itself.

We can read between the lines, these were cops with poor aim on a police force know for over aggression. The suspect was a distraught war veteran armed with a gun. I don’t think labeling all parties involved adds to the story. The comments will usually take the jabs while you can take a higher moral ground. Otherwise the site becomes about you, which I hope is not your goal.

Some of you obviously aren’t from around here, or are laughably paranoid that there are stark raving mad lunatics just itching at the chance to shoot up the streets.

Fact of the matter is that this isn’t an isolated incident with the Boise Police. They are known, time and time and time and time and time and time again to overreact. Shoot first, ask later (or now, taze first and ask later).

I have been personally witness to three different occasions in which the BPD overstepped their authority, exercised undue aggressive, or were just plain a-holes in doing their job.

Not suggesting its an easy job for them, or the situations they find themselves in are perfect, but I would think a little more discretion is in order, and until then, such criticisms are warranted.

Thank you Mr. Nice…I wish I had said it that well.

when officers arrive they don’t know whether or not they are dealing with a ‘hero’. Officers and anyone else can only be judged by what they know at the time, which in this case was a barricaded subject, who has already fired rounds, pointing a weapon at them. As for the missed rounds, maybe the man was behind cover and in a position where he couldn’t be flanked (he does have military training). It’s real easy to judge when you aren’t the one on the ground making split second decisions unless you count all the hours you have logged on playstation.