This is a sad story about a very disturbed young man, named Elwood White who was apparently shot by police for no apparent reason. :
EXCLUSIVE: Witnesses shocked by fatal shooting by deputy : Oceanside:
It sounds like he was a relatively normal man, and was well-liked. His family claims they don't understand either . Of course, we wouldn't expect the family to say anything different. Maybe we'll learn more later.
I will be interested in hearing the toxicology tests to see if he was under the influence of some drug. I also hope they do a good autopsy. Maybe he was having some sort of a stroke that could cause such bizarre behavior.
I also hope that the police have video of the complete situation. It seems that most police forces have now enabled their officers with portable recording devices. With all of the many eye witnesses describing and alleging unnecessary force used by the officer to kill the suspect, it would be good to have some "hard evidence" of what actually happened.
It seems to me that police need some training and equipment to handle situations like this. Maybe a net thrown over the suspect could have subdued him safely. Spray with a sticky substance to slow him down? Yes, tazers. pepper spray, and rubber bullets might have slowed the suspect down, but also could have permanently injured him if he was having some sort of medical emergency.
The suspect was clearly outnumbered by a large group of police from Oceanside and Vista. We're they trying to show off to each other how tough they were? Why would any officer be afraid of a man with a stick in that situation? Why not shoot to wound, instead of kill? Why wouldn't they give him emergency first aid after being shot?
I also wonder about the police always having an "internal investigation" after a shooting like this. It always appears that by doing this, the police are taking the opportunity to "get their story straight" before letting anyone from "outside" investigate and get an independent, unrehearsed description of what happened from each officer on the scene.