Knife v. Cop gun in Seattle..furor erupts

Dave Workman · Aug 31, 2010

Furor in Seattle: Did man die for whittling, or posing a clear threat?

"..Perhaps not since the David Walker incident in which Walker was fatally shot by a Seattle officer after allegedly pulling a robbery, and then prancing and walking down a sidewalk ignoring demands by several cops to drop the knife he held has the public been fixated on a knife versus gun situation..."

<broken link removed>

Or try this:

<broken link removed>

matt_w · Aug 31, 2010

Still too early to pass any judgements, but I'd say this is more a result of idiotic nanny-state laws than the cops fault.

pokerace · Aug 31, 2010

matt_w said:
Still too early to pass any judgements, but I'd say this is more a result of idiotic nanny-state laws than the cops fault.

I don't know there has been a lot of ??? cop shootings in wash. and Or.

TANSTAAFL · Aug 31, 2010

Weird enough, I passed a guy on the pier Saturday next to the Seattle Aquarium who was whittling wood with a fixed blade knife. No idea if it was the same person, we have a lot of that junk around the market.

Also weird, I usually walk through that intersection with my dog around 4PM every day, but instead I decided to play a video game. Yay for lazy!

There are some rules that allow fixed blades in public under certain circumstances. Can you openly have a fixed blade knife in WA while sitting and whittling gypsy crap for tourons? How I've read it, sure. But numb nuts was acting in a manner that was threatening where his tool now became a dangerous weapon. Thus shot in the face.

For those that don't know the area. That intersection and surrounding area is a ****hole. It's surrounded by a youth center, several public housing buildings and a few condemned buildings. The Greyhound bus station and Seattle Metro bus tunnel are only a few blocks away which drag in some highly questionable characters. As someone who has dealt with threatening people on this very street, seeing people fight, hook, deal, piss and puke in the area. It's honestly not hard to believe, even in broad daylight.

MrNiceGuy · Aug 31, 2010

I'd rather see the actual article about what happened.

all you posted was a single link to a ramble-on opinion piece.

Chee-to · Aug 31, 2010

MrNiceGuy said:
I'd rather see the actual article about what happened.

all you posted was a single link to a ramble-on opinion piece.

Open the two links in the first line of that ramble-on opinion piece. :s0155:

HeyJack · Aug 31, 2010

Hmm, seems the guy was Trouble with a capital T

Spad · Aug 31, 2010

Don't know the details,but a knife is a dangerous arm to fool with, if someone advances to you with a knife and makes a threating gesture, the 21 foot rule is something that should be understood. This isn't a Hollywood movie, this is real life and some dumb educated people better realize the line you cross while displaying a weapon and make a gesture with it, you don't shoot to wound or wing the person. I feel sorry for the officer who had to use his gun, but in a life or death situation, your own fanny comes first. Being a policeman in todays disney-liberal society is hard. Bill

Redcap · Sep 1, 2010

TANSTAAFL said:
For those that don't know the area. That intersection and surrounding area is a ****hole. It's surrounded by a youth center, several public housing buildings and a few condemned buildings. The Greyhound bus station and Seattle Metro bus tunnel are only a few blocks away which drag in some highly questionable characters. As someone who has dealt with threatening people on this very street, seeing people fight, hook, deal, piss and puke in the area. It's honestly not hard to believe, even in broad daylight. Don't know the details,but a knife is a dangerous arm to fool with, if someone advances to you with a knife and makes a threating gesture, the 21 foot rule is something that should be understood. This isn't a Hollywood movie, this is real life and some dumb educated people better realize the line you cross while displaying a weapon and make a gesture with it, you don't shoot to wound or wing the person. I feel sorry for the officer who had to use his gun, but in a life or death situation, your own fanny comes first. Being a policeman in todays disney-liberal society is hard. Bill

I know that area too, quite well...used to live a couple blocks away. A real festering hole. In this instance, I agree with the cop covering his own ***.

2506 · Sep 1, 2010

"For those that don't know the area. That intersection and surrounding area is a ****hole. "

I think TANSTAAFL is wrong on this. It's not a ****hole, it's a ****hole and a half. I avoid that area like the plague.

TANSTAAFL · Sep 2, 2010

Redcap said:
I know that area too, quite well...used to live a couple blocks away. A real festering hole. In this instance, I agree with the cop covering his own ***.

The slow in the economy somewhat hurt the area though. A couple other buildings were going to go up and the Greyhound station was going away. Not so much now. There are two new high rise condo/apartment-home buildings down the street, a year old. In the price range of 1800-2500/mo for a single bedroom in the apartment homes. While people *****, these chic urban dwellings push out the grunge--à la Bellevue, the sparkling city. Amazon's 11 additional buildings in South Lake Union this year has cleaned up a lot of the immediate area.

JumpWing · Oct 26, 2010

In other stories I've read that Birk and Williams had a bit of a history; Birk only has two years on the force; and the entry wounds were in Williams side, not front. Williams had a rap sheet, but nothing major league.

This particular story does not reflect well on the SPD.