Note: We speak plainly in this piece. If you don’t like that, don’t read it.
A reader has directed us to a video of the shooting of Kajieme Powell by St. Louis police. This shooting happened just three miles from where Michael Brown was shot after assaulting a Ferguson police officer. The reader who sent the video made some salient points.
Kajieme Powell was acting erratically when he stole some items from a convenience store. Powell almost always behaved erratically and was known in the neighborhood for being unstable. His mother also stated he had mental issues. After Powell stole the items from the store it appears he went outside and waited for police to arrive. From what is presented here it appears Powell was determined to commit suicide by cop for whatever reason.
The store owner called police because of the theft. Another woman called 911 and reported Powell was acting strangely and had a knife in his hand. That caller was a city Alderwoman who told the call taker she was so afraid of Powell she locked the door to her shop so he couldn’t get in.
Our reader points out that prior to the arrival of the police the only person who seemed to be trying to reason with Powell was the store owner. Everyone else was just recording the events and calling other friends out to witness what was going on. This is evidenced by the person who recorded the video saying he was called by a friend and his subsequent rush to get to the scene and record his own video. The reader was indignant that everyone was laughing and joking and having a great time and didn’t bother to try to talk to or help Powell in any way prior to the police arriving. Once the police arrived and did what they had to do to protect themselves the same people recording and laughing at Powell started in with the typical attacks on police we see so frequently.
Here is the video in question.
When the person recording this video gets too close to him Powell says, “Get the fuck away from me with this shit. I’m on Instagram. I’m on Facebook. You know who I am. I’m tired of this shit.”
As officers arrive on the scene and exit their vehicle Powell begins to advance on them while pulling a steak knife from his pocket and yelling “shoot me”. For those idiots who are trying to make a big deal out of the fact that the officers immediately drew their weapons, we refer you back to the call made by the Alderwoman in which she pointed out Powell was armed with a knife. You can hear the officers yelling for Powell to drop the knife. At 1:33 Powell glances back over his shoulder as if he is either checking to see if he still has an audience or assessing whether those folks behind him are in the line of fire. Yeah, we know that sounds crazy, but apparently that’s exactly what Powell was known for - being crazy. Immediately thereafter he moves to his left and advances on the officers again, still holding the knife. Powell gets within six to eight feet before he starts catching taxpayer funded lead.
A lot of news reporters and other morons are trying to make hay out of the fact that Powell was, in fact, not within three feet of the officers as previously reported. Well la-dee-da! We suppose that three to four foot difference in perception and reality makes these officers guilty of something, right? Asswipes!
We would like to clear up a few things about this incident. Initial police reports stated Powell held the knife in an “overhand” grip. Whatever the hell that is. As we can plainly see Powell was holding the knife to his side and advancing on the officers. The typical trolls are claiming that minor discrepancy as a basis for calling this shooting unjustified. As usual, they don’t have a clue.
Most self-defense courses and police training academies teach that a person with a knife can cover thirty feet and cause a serious injury before you can get a shot off. Action is faster than reaction. These officers actually violated their training and let Powell get within six to eight feet. Way to close.
Next, we are exposed to the usual “Why didn’t they use a Taser?” whine. First, Tasers are pain-compliance weapons to be used against a suspect who is resisting. They are not a weapon for self-defense when the other party is armed with a deadly weapon. Second, Tasers don’t work all that well when the subject being tased is wearing one of those heavy hoodies in the summer. Oh boy, the NAACP must be loving this - there’s a hoodie involved. In order for a Taser to be effective the #8 fish-hooks have to penetrate the skin. Heavy clothing interferes with that. Tasers have also been known to be ineffective when dealing with the drunk, drugged and deranged. Powell fit at least one of those descriptions.
And finally, we have the “shoot him in the leg” crowd. Uh-huh. This is real life, slick, not Hollywood. Your police officers are trained to go for center mass. They are not trained to kill, though. They are trained to stop the threat. Putting a few rounds center mass usually results in both of those being achieved, however. Your police officers are not trained to shoot one round, assess it’s effectiveness, shoot another, assess it’s effectiveness, etc. etc. etc. Nope. They shoot until the threat is eliminated. It sounds to us like the officers fired twelve shots. We don’t know how many times Powell was hit. It doesn’t really matter. The important thing is that the threat - a disturbed person, who had been goaded and ridiculed by opportunistic bystanders, armed with a knife advancing on police and demanding to be shot - was stopped. And let’s not forget the added bonus that both officers got to go home to their families.
Immediately after the officers successfully defend themselves, the idiots who were laughing at Powell and recording his behavior launch into agent provocateur mode and start trying to stir up the masses with anti-police bullshit. Gee, dude, what did you do to help your fellow man? Did you try to talk to him before the cops got there? Nah, you ridiculed him, contributed to his apparent anger and gave him an audience with cameras rolling for what he already had planned. It’s not like you contributed to this situation in any way, right?
We have one thing to say to the person who recorded this video and isn’t pretty. We are just going to say what most people are thinking. And it is this:
Fuck you! And the same to the rest of the pieces of shit in the human race who are just like you. You who use disturbed people like Kajieme Powell for their entertainment value, then, when it all goes bad, you jump right into claiming most aggrieved victim status in an effort to cover up the fact you just contributed in part to his death as well as the serious mental wounding of the two police officers who were forced to protect themselves and put him down. Self-righteous prick.
