crime

Policeman fires two shots during brawl with foreigners in Mie

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A 46-year-old police officer fired warning shots after he was hit in the head with his own baton during a brawl with three men in Suzuka, Mie Prefecture, early Sunday morning. The officer was dispatched along with a 25-year-old colleague after police received a call around 5 a.m. reporting a fight between foreigners.

When they arrived, the two officers found one man crouching down on the ground and a group of about 20 men, all appearing to be foreigners, standing nearby, they said. While the younger officer went to help the fallen man, the other policeman attempted to get statements from the group. One man attempted to run, and when the officer pursued him, he found himself surrounded by three men, one of whom stole his baton and hit him on the head.

The officer fired two shots above the men's heads and the three assailants fled with the baton. The officer sustained minor head injuries.

The scuffle occurred in a neighborhood with residential properties and factories. Regarding the firing of the weapon, Suzuka Chief of Police Mamoru Kuratani said, "We believe the officer took the correct course of action given the situation."

Police believe all three men were foreign, two of whom were about 160 cm and 175 cm tall and wearing T-shirts. They are searching for the men and will pursue charges of assault and interfering with a police officer in the line of duty.

© Wire reports

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why do they believe the men were foreign?

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160 cm and 175 cm? Huge difference there.

Any chance that the officers were freaked out about the gaijin and made the situation worse?? NEVER heard of cops firing warning shots on Japanese folks.

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^^^ because maybe they were foreighners

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well they hit with a weapon. Shots are appropriate. Hope they make some arrests soon.

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Police believe all three men were foreign, two of whom were about 160 cm and 175 cm tall and wearing T-shirts.

Sherlock Holmes in disguise.

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Foreigner tells me nothing ! What nationality were they ?

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160-175cm and wearing t-shirts??? I think I may know these guys, quick get me the number for the Mie police!

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Im foreign and 175cm....i guess i am a suspect!!!!!

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From the sounds of it - the area - my guess would be Brazilian or Peruvians. But we all look alike so who knows!

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Ratpack... are you wearing a t-shirt??

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Any chance that the officers were freaked out about the gaijin and made the situation worse?? NEVER heard of cops firing warning shots on Japanese folks.

No, they do.... Stupidity knows no race boundaries... Last spring in front of Roppongi Hills with hundreds of innocent, and potential helpless victims walking by, that could have been struck by his brainless shots.

This is another point in question, normal police departments (once again in "Civilized" Countries) have policies to protect officers, they normally don't rush into brake-up fights involving 20 people, if there are only two of them....

(It's also called "Common-Sense")

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Japanese police are great, and I mean that. Brave and gallant. One man tried to break up a fight and then when attacked he fired warning shots. A successful outcome; nobody shot. I'm sure they will be able to round up the suspects and if not it is a minor crime and the suspect is not likely to hit a cop again. Unfortunately, in other countries the cop would have shot and killed the suspects; a bad outcome.

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It was halloween, it could have been Japanese people dressed up as foreigners.

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There are so many things to be considered in this story. Had this been in North America, there would more than likely be one dead or critically wounded suspect. My father was a police officer and I can say there is no way the guy who took the baton and assaulted an officer would have escaped without injury had this been in North America. He was lucky the officer only fired warning shots. A baton is a deadly weapon and it's self defense.

However, I do wonder why the best description trained police officers could come up with was foreigners in T-shirts. On one hand they seem like compassionate police officers who spared the guy's life and on the other hand they seem like incompetent buffoons.

This story needs more details to get a better understanding of the situation.

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Unfortunately, in other countries the cop would have shot and killed the suspects

Shot? Perhaps. Killed? Don't think so.

It's almost 2010, cops everywhere have spray, tasers, bean-bag bullets and other non-lethal weaponry. No need for lethal weapons unless it's authorized, an innocent might get hurt or, in this case, a suspect takes the officers weaponry and uses it against him.

That said, I love how it's always just foreigners and not specific like Americans, Peruvians, Chinese, Nigerian, or British men. That means we're all equal in Japan!

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"...not specific like Americans, Peruvians, Chinese, Nigerian, or British men."

I don't think any of the suspects stopped to flash their passports.

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Could have been Aussies and Kiwis fighting after the rugby.

Could have been Yanks out for halloween.

Could have been Brits, cause fighting in the street after a night at the pub is a British national pastime.

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No pepper spray?

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Could have been Aussies and Kiwis fighting after the rugby. Could have been Yanks out for halloween. Could have been Brits, cause fighting in the street after a night at the pub is a British national pastime.

If this was a vote I would fote for number 3 - Brits after a night at the pub.

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Wow, Mie sounds like a rought town..

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@loveusa. Us Brits would not have run if we were drunk enough to be doing this. We would have stood around sheepishly watching, maybe even betting on the outcome. I vote it was septic tanks who ran for mommy when they heard a loud noise.

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But enough of that, I hate cops of any kind but this time I say good on them for wading in to help the guy. (but I'll deny I said this to my last breath)

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***"...not specific like Americans, Peruvians, Chinese, Nigerian, or British men."

I don't think any of the suspects stopped to flash their passports.

well no, but I think most people can tell the difference between a Chinese guy and a Nigerian guy. I agree with the comments about the cops. The guy that hit the policeman over the head with a baton is lucky he didnt get shot, or at least a pretty decent beating.

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For once I can say good on the cops. They went right in. According to the article the fight wasn't going on when the cops arrived but there was obviously someone hurt. The 20 standing around escalated the situation by protecting a guilty party and an officer was assaulted. They were doing their job until these gaijin tried to cause more problems. And buggerlugs I'd go with they were British over any other English speaking country because that is your national character to drink and fight afterwards. BTW, what's a "septic tank" supposed to refer to? You Limey's sure have weird slang.

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i bet they were chinese or korean. they are oftentimes loud and fighting in the streets. plus it would make sense why the japanese police 'suspected' that they were foreigners. had they been white or black people, the police would have been 'SURE' that they were foreigners.

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The attacker is lucky that the officer only fired warning shots above his head, rather than through it!

To those living in Japan, what aspect of this story makes it more newsworthy to the Japanese: The foreigners assaulting an officer, or the officer responding with a display of his willingness to use deadly force?

There seems to be a tremendous burden of scrutiny placed upon officers who carry in Japan. As an American, I read about situations like these where an officer is outnumbered and vulnerable, and question how they can protect themselves or maintain their authority without the ability to brandish a firearm.

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Once I stumbled on an "honor fight" (a duel with fists apparently) between two groups of very tough-looking middle easterners off a suburban cycling trail. I stopped by the nearest police station and reported it. The cops need to know what's going on on their turf, and the last thing anybody needs is gang wars by foreigners.

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Did they find the bullets?

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Could have been Brits, cause fighting in the street after a night at the pub is a British national pastime

As a Brit I wish I could disagree with this....but unfortunately I can`t.

.

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"...and the three assailants fled with the baton"

Sounds like someone has a good start on next year's Halloween costume...

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Once I stumbled on an "honor fight" (a duel with fists apparently) between two groups of very tough-looking middle easterners off a suburban cycling trail

You're kidding right dude? The last thing Japan needs is middle eastern gangs because believe me, from where I'm from, they are as undesirable and unwanted as they come. And what the heck were they doing? "honor fight"? What is that anyway??

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twern't yanks, mate....ain't enough of them down there that would be out at that hour, brits neither....we're talking Suzuka here...most likely to be Brazilenos o Peruanos como dijo el otro senor....it was near a factory, OK....Chinese, eh..also possible, but are they really late night street fighters?

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Poor cops -- there were only 2 of them, and they were sent in to deal with an incident involving over 20 men. They should have had more help.

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Any baton-stealing foreign types near me? they get smashed, simple as that! Old Bill did the right thing here firing his pistol, it's what any alpha male would do.

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haha like a cartoon. I'm surprised they didn't mobilize 100 cops to search them down. As for foreigners, were they white, black, brown, yellow? no details.

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How are the coppers supposed to narrow it down to a nationality, from looks alone? They're just asking for complaints and accusations of discrimination against a minority group if they do so. They're quite right to keep it vague. Asia is too big an area to say "of Asian appearance", as is Latin America; saying "European", "North American" or "Australian" is askign for trouble too! Anyway, appearance is not always connected with origins.

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@tmarie

160 cm and 175 cm? Huge difference there.

There were 2 men.. One of them was about 160cm and the other was about 175cm, Not between 160 and 175cm.

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I agree, hard to nail down ones nationality based on looks alone. I have that problem picking up chicks from Nigeria thinking they were Chinese the whole time.

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They did not "wade in". According to the article, when the cops showed up there was one man crouched down and about 20 "standing around".

It occurred in a neighborhood with residences and factories. Not the kind of place you would find 20 Brits, Aussies or Kiwis out of a night or after a rugby match.

The older cop chased after the one man who fled. NEVER LEAVE YOUR WING MAN! Detain the other 19 and get them to tell you where to find the guy who fled.
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If the cop had detained the other 19 we would all be bashing the j-cops saying that whenever there is trouble they just round up the nearest foreigners. It sounds like these particular police actually have some balls. good on them. Maybe the Mie police could give some lessons to Tokyo's finest.

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what difference does it make what their nationality is. Are they subject to different laws or something???? NO!

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I don't think the officer in question here, aside from allowing his baton to be taken, acted out of order.

I DO, however, wonder about the 'suspected' foreigners. How do they know? Did they hear them speaking another language? Until I get more info, I won't believe it and will chalk it up to the usual excuse making and eagerness to blame foreigners for violent crime. If they WERE foreigners it's pretty clear they are of Asian descent; if they were black or white it wouldn't be hard to surmise that it's unlikely they were born here. Anyway, in this case they'll be labelled as foreigners before there's any evidence to support it. Aside from the injury to the officer, I'm glad no one was hurt (and including the officer, hurt seriously).

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Nice to see them do something

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You people still have not figured out that J-cops don't give details about suspects?!? Even with Japanese they report the height and the clothing. Normal procedure.

They probably have enough leads to figure it out from the area, one of the other 16, or the guy that was on the ground.

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Why doesn't Japan identify the skin colour of the suspects like in the west instead of piling all non-Yamato into one category: "foreigner/gaikokujin"?

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In the japanese language news, they did not say those guys were foreigners. They said that by appearance, those guys LOOKED foreigners.. a big difference here. If, without being certain and said they were foreigners, then that'd be like blaming violent crimes on foreigners, but if they obviously looked non-japanese, let's say blonde hair, curly brown hair and etc.. then I would say what those police officers said --- the guys LOOKED LIKE foreigners.

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j-news updated.. those guys are supposed to be central/south americans.. i wonder how they figured that out.. hmm.

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I dont understand this. Whenever the J-cops looking for someone (strictly only for just chatting, and nothing else) there are 10 going for a single man's apartment. At least that is what is always in the news, when the suspect runs away and a whole bunch of cop is unable to catch him. Then when they have to stop a supposedly mass-fight between 20 people (foreigners, for the Japanese readers), then 2 goes there, they start to run up and down, loosing the their on weapons etc. This story sound very stupid.

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The officer obviously felt that he was in danger. As such, he was fully justified in drawing his weapon. What I cannot understand, however, is why there are no bodies. Thinking back many years ago, when I first learned to shoot the emphasis was always in hitting the T (the cross made by the intersection of two lines - one running across the head, and the other running down the middle of the body), in which we were expected to put two slugs. At least this cop could have winged one of them, and then finished them off. What is the world coming to?

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Unfortunately, in other countries the cop would have shot and killed the suspects; a bad outcome.

Not if they are properly trained, as which is the case in most in Civilized countries... The point being, police departments around the world, have long since abandoned the practice of firing warning shots...

Why...? Because it's just too dangerous.... And the likely hood that someone will eventually be struck by that projectile is just too great... Oh, sure, just fire off a couple warning shots straight into the sky... no harm right...? Well those of you that know a little bit about physics, should know that these bullets, just don't disappear into thin air...

They are going to land with a great amount of force, and if someone is struck in the head by one of these falling bullets, fired by a brainless, corrupt and pedophile J-Cop, they will die.....

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yeah, center mass would have made for a good warning shot...

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just how foreign were these "foreigners/" they could be japanese dressed up and talking broken japanese - it has happened before. i want to know what kind (brand) of foreigner. i am a law-abiding tax paying foreigner and don`t want to be lumped in.

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Japanese police are very reluctant to use their firearms due to training and cultural matters, in America you'd have maybe 1 or 2 dead attackers and maybe a 3rd wounded.

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I agree with everyone who is against the term 'foreigner' to describe anyone who isn't 100% Japanese. In other countries, the suspect would be identified by their ethnic group: caucasion, asian, hispanic, black, etc. The description that the two men were wearing t-shirts is not exactly detailed either. I don't see how the police are going to catch them.

It's funny that they sometimes round up 5 or 6 police officers to nab one person but only send out 2 cops to stop a 20-person brawl.

It seems as though the officer was justified in firing the warning shots if he believed that he or another peson was in imminent danger of serious bodily harm. Still, there should be an investigation to see if he acted appropriately.

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Now, if the truth is that the policemen went there and without saying any word one made a "warning shot", is anyone going to believe 20 foreigners? Three people surrounding a policeman, and they cannot prevent him from reaching his gun?

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What's this stuff about "warning shots?" He should have hit his target. Sending bullets flying in a city isn't good practice. Have to have something that will stop it. Like the perp.

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I live in that area and the reason they know that the suspects are foreigners is because it was outside of a Brazilian bar near one of the factories where many Brazillians work and live. Anyone who lives in this area knows that. Since I live here I am always being mistaken for being a Brazilian, but I am an American. There are many other foreigners from South America and all over Asia here in this little country side town who come here to work in the factories. In this case I can understand the use of foreigner since it is nearly impossible to tell what the nationallity is in a town like this.

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Police believe all three men were foreign, two of whom were about 160 cm and 175 cm tall and wearing T-shirts.

Great description! That should narrow it down to around 2 billion suspects from over 100 countries. At least they got to plug the 'foreigner' thing.

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Thanks everyone for your hilarious and comments and thanks JT for reporting the news in such a hilarious fashion. Still laughing at the T-shirts.

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Since "foreign" is a catchall here I'd really like to hear race reported. Were they Asian foreigners, or African, or Caucasion? Anyway, In the states the copper probably would have done more than fire above their heads, good restraint I think.

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I know a lot of people keep saying that in America, the cops would have shot someone to put an end to the fracas. I personally don't believe that would be the case. Firstly, deadly force is only justified in the most extreme of cases, where an officer's life or the life of an innocent individual is in imminent danger. Secondly, unless the officer is a crack shot with pinpoint accuracy, he or she would not fire off a weapon in a residential neighborhood unless it was as an absolute last resort; don't believe Hollywood and all its cops 'n' robbers shoot 'em ups. I haven't heard of an American cop firing a "warning shot" since the days of Bogart and Bacall. There's no such thing as a "harmless" shot. That bullet's going to land somewhere, and in a place as densely populated as Japan, there's a good chance that "somewhere" is going to be somebody's head.

Finally, to be frank, if this were America, the officers would have been trained to try and defuse the situation, and failing that, would have requested back-up. Heck, for a 20-person melee, you can bet there would have been more than two cops sent to begin with! I'm surprised the Jcops didn't send a whole platoon of cops to deal with the scary "foreigner" brawl.

And ditto what others have said re: what kind of foreigners are we talking about? Were they of Brazilian descent like other posters have stated? Or were they from elsewhere? A little more detail than "wearing t-shirts" would be appreciated, since I'm sure there are quite a few foreign and foreign-looking people in Japan who own t-shirts and are under 6 feet tall.

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Firstly, deadly force is only justified in the most extreme of cases, where an officer's life or the life of an innocent individual is in imminent danger

Three guys beating the crap out of ya certainly qualifies as "most extreme of cases" me thinks.

That bullet's going to land somewhere, and in a place as densely populated as Japan, there's a good chance that "somewhere" is going to be somebody's head.

5 am in a morning? I doubt it.

Finally, to be frank, if this were America, the officers would have been trained to try and defuse the situation, and failing that, would have requested back-up. Heck, for a 20-person melee, you can bet there would have been more than two cops sent to begin with! I'm surprised the Jcops didn't send a whole platoon of cops to deal with the scary "foreigner" brawl.

They did difuse the situation. The police were asking questions to the group of which one tried to run away. That's when things to nasty.

Cops in Japan are in a no win situation because the general climate among the citizens is that cops are prohibited from using deadly force against criminals. There was an incident this year when a junior high school kids tried to take a gun away from a cop and the officer proceeded to fire warning shots. And subsequently, the media talked about was the "necessity" for that cop to fire those shots.

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At least they tried to identify the people.. in Okinawa 90% of the rapes and other crimes (from foreigners) are of a "certain color" but the Stars and Stripes tries their best to not reveal that.. although if you know someone in military law enforcement and see the name ie.. Tyrone etc.. it is not hard to figure.. political incorrectness bites! aw

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[I DO, however, wonder about the 'suspected' foreigners. How do they know? Did they hear them speaking another language? Until I get more info, I won't believe it and will chalk it up to the usual excuse making and eagerness to blame foreigners for violent crime. If they WERE foreigners it's pretty clear they are of Asian descent;]

What kind of a twit statement is this? How do they know Smitty? Well they certainly weren't native japanese speakers and didn't fit the asian look I'd say that is unless they were some other kind of asian. But I DO, however want to say that it's pretty clear that because you think that they are of Asian descent that you must have some kind of prejudice for these people. This is of course IF THEY WERE FOREIGNERS!!

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No need for the press to invent controversy when people can comment. The commenters will make it up all by themselves! The article says: "all appearing to be foreigners".

It just does not get any more factually or PC correct than that everyone. One appeared to be 160 cm tall, one appeared 175 tall, both appeared male and both appeared foreign. Use of the word "appeared" leaves the option that they were Japanese females cleverly disguised and wearing stilts still on the table, so you might want to save your indignation for better fitting circumstances.

And not mention the facts about how they "appeared" would be really really stupid. Its hard enough tracking people down as it is. Ichihashi ring a bell?

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mnemosyne23

Very Good post and very factual! These people who are backing these J-Clown-Cops, have no idea just what in the hell they are talking about...

Now if that were the LA or NY PDs,those dudes woulda be shot in the back whilst running away.

Maybe 20 years ago in the Bronx, but as mnemosyne23 so eloquently stated, you just can't go around shooting people, and You certainly Cannot just shoot someone running away. Most people that get shot by cops, are those that reaching around inside their pockets or in their car, in which case the Officer has cause because he has no idea, if they are going to pull a gun...

And Finally to this NigelBoy...

5 am in a morning? I doubt it.

It's obvious that you have not a clue, what you talking about... These bullets, especially hand gun calibre, even when they strike a solid object, don't usually come to a complete stop.

That's why if you fire a hand gun in a an apartment complex, the bullet, will not only go through the person (unless it strikes bone), it will continue on and through the wall of the first, and then the next wall, and maybe even a third or forth wall..

Firing warning shots, is only done in war zones and third world countries... Period...

And only police, lacking complete common-sense and or proper training, respond to a 20 person brawl, with two cops on bicycles.... Ridiculous......

And I would even go as far again and say that if that cop two years ago in Akihabara had been properly trained, would have shot that kid as soon as he brandished the knife.... Those of you that aren't familiar, this cop received a NON-Life threatening stab wound, but then this kid went on stab and kill 4 more people... Because this cop didn't respond with lethal force when it was not only appropriate, but necessary, hence 4 more people died... Good fricken job.... I'm surprised they even called the cops... Unfortunately this kid stopped stabbing people when he got tired, Not because of anything the police did....

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mindovermatter: Firing warning shots, is only done in war zones and third world countries... Period...

I am afraid not. I am sure even Japanese officers are urged to avoid warning shots as there is a chance, however small, that someone could get hurt. But when the odds are high the policeman will get hurt, police can and may take that small risk. I would say having your club stolen and getting hit over the head qualifies. Nobody pays police enough to die for not taking a small risk with a warning shot.

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Firing warning shots, are only done in war zones and third world countries... Period...

@numbskull I am afraid not.

Thank you, you just proved my point, the only countries that still use warning shots are those in war zones AND THIRD-WORLD countries...

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mindovermatter: Thank you, you just proved my point, the only countries that still use warning shots are those in war zones AND THIRD-WORLD countries...

No sir, I did not. You obviously failed to read my links. And if you would bother to research it, you would find that your statement is incorrect. Find a search engine and type in "warning shot police" and the country of your choice.

Moderator: Please keep the discussion focused on Japan and this incident, not other countries.

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It's obvious that you have not a clue, what you talking about

It's quite obvious you can't buy a clue because you have yet to offer an alternative method when being attacked by three men. But bear in mind that you have already stated that shooting the attacker was not an option for "Civilized countries".

And only police, lacking complete common-sense and or proper training, respond to a 20 person brawl, with two cops on bicycles.... Ridiculous......

Read the other sources. The officers were able to diffuse the situation and was in a process of asking questions to those who were involved. It wasn't 20 person brawl. One tried to run away and that's when the incident took place.

As with your Akihabara incident, you have absolutely no clue as to when the victims were stabbed and when the police arrived at the scene. I'd suggest you stop talking about common sense when you yourself can't even get the story right.

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It's quite obvious you can't buy a clue because you have yet to offer an alternative method when being attacked by three men. But bear in mind that you have already stated that shooting the attacker was not an option for "Civilized countries".

Here's a few that the cops in my neck of the woods deploy; backup, pepper spray, tazer, stun gun. Firearms are deadly force only, between the ricochet and the environment a couple of, quite literally, aimless rounds can cause more harm than good.

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Here's a few that the cops in my neck of the woods deploy; backup, pepper spray, tazer, stun gun.

Firearms are deadly force only, between the ricochet and the environment a couple of, quite literally, aimless rounds can cause more harm than good.

Hmm. "back up". What makes you so sure that the police officer in question didn't ask for a backup when he started chasing one of the accomplice or during which time he was being attacked by three men?

"pepper spray, tazer, stun gun."

What makes you so sure that the policeman was equipped with those?

"Firearms are deadly force only, between the ricochet and the environment a couple of, quite literally, aimless rounds can cause more harm than good."

To me, it sounds like it would of been satisfactory if the policeman actually shot the assailants which I totally agree with. However, given the climate the police here are faced with which I alluded to earlier, I can see the justification behind shooting off warning shot to scare them off.

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What makes you so sure that the police officer in question didn't ask for a backup when he started chasing one of the accomplice or during which time he was being attacked by three men?

I'm just going by what the artical says, and there is no mention of a backup request at all.

What makes you so sure that the policeman was equipped with those?

You asked what options an officer in a 'civilized country' would have at their disposal. If their department didn't have the soundness of mind to equip their officers with what is considered basic equipment in other countries that really isn't my problem.

To me, it sounds like it would of been satisfactory if the policeman actually shot the assailants which I totally agree with. However, given the climate the police here are faced with which I alluded to earlier, I can see the justification behind shooting off warning shot to scare them off.

Unless the officer believed that his or anothers life was in present and immediate danger no I do not believe they should have been shot. You seem to be operating under the impression that if a bullet is not fired directly at someone it looses all lethality. The round has to go somewhere and if you don't know exactly where it's gone that's just irresponcible. Heck, even my nephews knows not to pull stupid stuff like that.

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Unless the officer believed that his or anothers life was in present and immediate danger no I do not believe they should have been shot.

So, how many clubs over the head would you consider to be having one's life in danger?

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It is never appropriate to fire a "warning shot" inside of a city. The "golden rule" of defensive firearms usage is to draw only when you must shoot, and shoot only when you must kill, and therefore, only draw if you must shoot and kill.

It is staggeringly irresponsible to send bullets out on a parabolic arc into the air, from which they can retain a lethal velocity as they return to the ground. An extreme example would be a country like Iraq, where over a dozen people were killed by "celebratory gunfire" after the capture of Saddam Hussein. This is mainly because of simple physics. If you fire a bullet directly vertically, it can return safely to the ground at a nonlethal velocity. But if you vary even slightly from true vertical, your round remains deadly, even kilometers away.

You are supposed to fire into a suitable backstop. And in the case of a defensive use of firearms, that means someone's skull or centre mass.

'Warning shots' are only appropriate if blank cartridges (cartridges without bullets) are being used.

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So, how many clubs over the head would you consider to be having one's life in danger?

I don't know how I can make this any clearer. If you believe your life is in danger you shoot to kill, thats it, cut and dry, clear as crystal. If you aren't willing to kill something with your shots than you should not fire them off.

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You always shoot first and ask questions later -Way to many Police Officers being killed in the line of duty these days. -And they have the right to shoot you.

A Police officer has the rights of a civilian and a police officer. No way any Police officer needs to put up with this sort of crap. If an officer is down they all come running.

Control over the populace must be maintained.

I would have shot him in the knee and dragged him in for questioning. Then go after the rest (phone records, video footage, etc.) =No way I would put my life on the line for a thug

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You asked what options an officer in a 'civilized country' would have at their disposal. If their department didn't have the soundness of mind to equip their officers with what is considered basic equipment in other countries that really isn't my problem

The usage of pepper/tazer/stun among the law enforcement has been debated over the recent years due to "unncessary" fatalities by different groups. Because of this, some counties/states don't require their officers to carry them. Hence, I wouldn't even consider it to be "basic" equipment at all.

You seem to be operating under the impression that if a bullet is not fired directly at someone it looses all lethality.

No. I'm not dismissing the fact it could potentially harm someone but I'm also aware that any gun shots that are fired could potentially miss the target and could very well again potentially harm another person. However, does that mean that police force shouldn't carry handguns at all based on that possibility? It's like stating that police car shouldn't chase suspect's vehicle in any situation because it may involve innocent bystandards.

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TheQuestion : If you believe your life is in danger you shoot to kill, thats it, cut and dry, clear as crystal. If you aren't willing to kill something with your shots than you should not fire them off.

I seriously have no problem with the officer shooting the guy who hit him on the head...if that were the only variable to consider. Its not. There was a crowd. The odds of hitting an innocent bystander was actually greater for shooting flat at a person with intent to kill. Not only a miss but also a hit that passes through could be a bigger problem than a bullet in the air. The warning shot was the safest option. Part of the proof is that no one died.

Another thing to consider is that the officer was surrounded by three men. You cannot taser three men at a time. Pepper spray will be hard to apply in such a case.

It seems to me the officer chose the best of a lot of bad options.

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I seriously have no problem with the officer shooting the guy who hit him on the head...if that were the only variable to consider. Its not. There was a crowd. The odds of hitting an innocent bystander was actually greater for shooting flat at a person with intent to kill. Not only a miss but also a hit that passes through could be a bigger problem than a bullet in the air. The warning shot was the safest option. Part of the proof is that no one died. Another thing to consider is that the officer was surrounded by three men. You cannot taser three men at a time. Pepper spray will be hard to apply in such a case. It seems to me the officer chose the best of a lot of bad options.

This is crazy... What-ever...

There's an old proverb, "Never argue with a fool." And you've certainly proved why that's so true, Thank You!

And only by the grace of god, no body was injured, killed or maimed by these idiots discharging firearms into the air, in a residential area. Thank God no one was injured, except maybe the pride of these very poorly-trained J-Clown-Cops.

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I seriously have no problem with the officer shooting the guy who hit him on the head...

Not sure what the self-defense laws are here in Japan but where I'm from it is justifiable homicide and thus legally permitted for anyone - not just cops - to shoot a person who is attacked you with a baton such that you reasonably fear for your life. Of course if you get hit once very lightly and the attacker immediately flees that is another story...

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This is crazy... What-ever...

You are surrounded by three men, all in motion and ready for action. One has stolen your baton and hit you over the head with it. There is a crowd of 20 nearby. What do you do? Go ahead and take your time sorting it out. The officer had mere seconds to make a decision.

I see your idealism and raise you several realities. Call it crazy and I assume you fold.

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There isnt much thats real about this country,however guns and stray bullets are.Enjoy the strong yen and cheap booze!

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