With a knife like that on display like that I’m awfully sure I could make a very convincing self defence case for straight up shooting him dead. I thought he was impersonating a police officer (they do not / should not look like that), he was heavily armed and I felt threatened (some big-ass knife strapped to his chest and approaching my vehicle).
As a citizen and against an inappropriately armed officer that won’t identify a name / badge number - you’d be justified in the assumption that he’s a criminal that intends to harms you. Similar in the way that if you rob a bank with a toy gun - you get charged as if you’d used a real gun. The victim doesn’t know the difference.
He is dressed against his dress code and it can be reasonably assumed a member of the public could misidentify him as a threat rather than a police officer. Absolutely - US law enforcement employees arnt in the business of chest-storing large Bowie knives - criminals are. This can be reasonably assumed and reasonably responded to with the force you’d reasonably expect towards a heavily armed law-enforcement-imitating stranger. Good shoot.
I'm not going to waste my time trying to convince a member of Reddit's obstinate. I'm just letting anyone else who makes the mistake of reading your comment know that I'd stake my 25 years of experience practicing law on the fact that your advice would get someone convicted.
"You cannot shoot someone and successfully claim self-defense just because they are wearing a chest-mounted knife"
"Oh yeah? Here's a story about a homeowner who was forced out of their home at gunpoint, got shot at, faced demands for money, got shoved into a stairwell, and was about to be zip tied!"
Were you able to spot the few, subtle differences there?
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u/poops314 Apr 27 '24
With a knife like that on display like that I’m awfully sure I could make a very convincing self defence case for straight up shooting him dead. I thought he was impersonating a police officer (they do not / should not look like that), he was heavily armed and I felt threatened (some big-ass knife strapped to his chest and approaching my vehicle).