Missouri governor takes National Guard out of Ferguson

Things have quieted down. Both sides pulling back.

Welcome news.

As a young man who witnessed the National Guard occupying the streets of his town in 1967, this is indeed welcome news. Because I had a morning Detroit Free Press route, I was able to be out on the streets before curfew. A time I'll never forget.

Another fatal police-involved shooting happened this week in St. Louis. St. Louis police released video showing officers killing a knife-wielding man. The video shows the man saying, “Kill me now” as he moved toward two officers. The officers fired six shots each, killing 25-year-old Kajieme Powell.

The video of this is quite chilling. Long before the police arrived, this obviously mentally-impaired man was being videoed as he walked around in front of a convenience store. While he shouted things, he did not appear to be a threat to anyone -- in fact, the bystanders were regarding him more as an object of humor. The police arrive, and within 25 seconds the man has been shot 12 times and is lying dead. Another society-sanctioned murder of a "worthless" human being.

As some have commented on the video, it was the police who initially pulled up very close to the man, and moved closer to him. (The 25-year old can be seen moving around from place to place before they arrived.)

Question: If the police had stayed farther back, called for backup, and held members of the public away from him, did the mentally disturbed man represent an immediate danger to anyone? Based on the fact that he's moving around people for quite some time while being filmed earlier, it doesn't appear they are perceiving him as any kind of threat.

St. Louis police attest that the officers were following "protocol." I wonder if that would be the case of a mentally-ill son of one of the officers was involved. I have to believe that "protocol" would have allowed for more time than 25 seconds. (Powell was somebody's son.)

The other important point is that the cellphone video does not appear to show what the cops claim: That Powell had raised his steak knife "high" towards them. This, from the chief of police, which is NOT included in the incident report: "He did stop, but then pulled out a knife and came at the officers, gripping and holding it high."

"It is easy to criticize," Ezra Klein writes. "It is easy to watch a cell phone video and think of all the ways it could have gone differently. It is easy to forget that the police saw a mentally unbalanced man with a knife advancing on them. It is easy to forget that 20 seconds only takes 20 seconds. It is easy to forget that police get scared. It is easy not to ask yourself what you might have done if you had a gun and a man came at you with a knife." All true. "But there is still something wrong with that video," he adds, doing his best to articulate specific objections that I share:

The police arrive and instantly escalate the situation... Powell looks sick more than he looks dangerous. But the police draw their weapons as soon as they exit their car... They don't seem to know how to stop Powell, save for using deadly force. But all Powell had was a steak knife. If the police had been in their car, with the windows rolled up, he could have done little to hurt them...

...Even when he advances on police, he walks, rather than runs... He swings his arms normally, rather than entering into a fighting stance. They begin yelling at him to stop. And when they begin shooting, they shoot to kill—even continuing to shoot when Powell is motionless on the ground. There is no warning shot, even. It does not seem like it should be so easy to take a life.

But it is easy, and getting easier -- when the police display such low regard for human life.