imported post
My real problem with this is the sense of entitlement that SOME police officers feel they have. On the whole, I respect the job that police do, it is a dangerous job where you have to deal with a lot of jerks and scumbags. I wonder if this makes some police officers feel like everyone they deal with is a jerk or a scumbag.
If in fact, this snowball fight was causing a traffic nuisance, which it well could have been, the appropriate action would have been for him to either call it in and have some uniformed officers come deal with it as that. If he felt a need to get out and deal with it himself, he could have pulled out his badge, and tried to disperse it that way.
I always hear this argument that goes along with self defense shootings. It generally goes something like "Why didn't you shoot him in the leg or something"
I think this argument misses the point. If you are in a situation where you need to pull your firearm out, then you need to be prepared to use lethal force. You don't pull it out to scare people, or to warn them, or to identify yourself as a police officer. You pull it out to kill someone. If you are not in a situation where you think lethal force is going to be necessary, then you should not have pulled it out in the first place.
There was absolutely no threat to this guy, short of a sore face from getting beaned with a snowball. Totally unprofessional, and dangerous to the public.
shock