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Culture War Roundup for the week of July 20, 2026

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You really should watch the video, via VPN or something if necessary.

From what I can see, it looks like one (female) officer attempts to tase the suspect but it is unclear whether the Taser shot actually hit the suspect. Whether or not it did, two other officers then pile on to the suspect, who goes down onto the ground, but he may not have been subdued by the Taser and might still be holding a knife in his right hand. The suspect’s right hand is not visible, either on the video or to the officers, as it is occluded by the body of the suspect (who is lying on his right side). Then a 4th officer draws his firearm and shoots the suspect 3 times.

It seems incontrovertible to me that the officer who fired the fatal shots could have reasonably believed that lethal force was necessary: the suspect may not have been incapacitated by the Taser, plus he may have held onto the knife in his right hand. Both of these are very reasonable assumptions given the events leading up to the shooting, and together imply that the suspect posed a deadly threat to the officers.

the suspect uses his left hand to grab the Taser from the officer

No, he uses his left hand to push back one of the first three officers. The fourth officer keeps hold of the Taser, and continues to point it at the suspect (though she presumably has emptied it of ammunition at this point with her two shots) even while the three gunshots are being fired.

My mistake, I wrongly thought the small object on the ground was the Taser which had been knocked out of the officer’s hand. I have amended my earlier comment, but still think the shooting could be construed as reasonable.