Toon Zone Talkback - Vancouver Animator Paul Boyd Shot and Killed by Police

So they shot him because he was armed with a chain? Why didn't they just jump him and disarm him? Isn't shooting at a guy who doesn't have a gun himself going too far?
 
I live in Vancouver so I read about this story last week( i believe thats when it happened ). I think the cops were well within their right to do what they did, the man had already injured two cops, one was actually knocked out. Yea jump at a guy spinning a chain around and try to disarm him, even if its 3 on 1, someones gonna get injured, maybe even seriously. It's not an easy decision to shoot someone, but these guys saw 2 of their own go down, also they were not armed with tasers, they had a choice of going fist against chain or shooting him. Its a sad thing yea, but the cops werent at fault here.
 
How many cops were even standing off against this guy? I don't see how a few could go back to HQ and get some tasers to stun Boyd with while the rest keep him company.

How was Boyd even spinning the chain? Overhead? In front? From side to side? Any way you look at it, the man's gonna leave himself open to some form of disarming tactic. I think the police just overreacted. If Boyd was armed with a firearm, that would've been a different story.
 
What the hell are you talking about?...Anyway, I dont know how he was spinning the chain, does it matter its a weapon, one he used to injure 2 cops, the other 3 saw him with 2 cops already down, theres no sense in going "heres a dangerous guy who already took down two of our own as soon as we got on the scene, lets go back to base to get tasers and then hopefully he'll still be here and our guys wont be harmed anymore and he wont harm anyone else either." It was a terrible situation, but I don't think the cop who shot him should be to blame( i believe only one shot him ), he has a guy whos not in the right frame of mind coming after him( and he was apperently quite a big guy too from what Ive read in the newspapers ), he can see two of his collegues down, one might've been dead for all he knew as one of the cops was unconscious. Its sad because the guy had a condition, and it was acting up at the wrong time and from his family's accounts, he was a very nice and gentle guy too.
 
If the cops had to shoot him, wouldn't shooting him in the shoulder in order to make him drop his weapon sufficed better? And I'm not saying that the entire force had to go back to HQ to get tasers, but a couple of cops who could deliver tasers to the rest of the force to use.
 
Cops are trained to shoot the body, this isnt a video game, hitting the shoulder is more difficult than shooting the chest. And thats still going against logic, how are they supposed to wait for another cop to come deliver a taser while a guy's attacking them, its not feesible, the police station is too far from Granville St.( which is where he was shot ) for that to happen, and the guy isnt going to wait there for them to get a taser.
 
This talented animator / artist was killed by 9 bullets - count them 9. Eyewitnesses - one has very publically spoken out about what he saw - clearly saw Paul Boyd wounded, kneeling in the street while he was still be shot over and over and over again by the cops. NINE TIMES. He was killed because he was mentally ill. A chain? That is reason to shoot someone nine times?

In the US, in some inner cities, mentally ill people who were having episodes were over-represented in the fatally wounded-by-cop tallies. One communuty said enough is enough and demanded that the police have trained officers who can respond to people who are more dangerous to themselves. This is not the first time, and sadly won't the last, where Vancouver cops have killed an innocent, albeit sick person.

At since when are cops such scaredy cats that a man with a bike chain is cause for shooting? These cops were nowhere near Boyd when they shot him. Search out Jonathan Menzies eyewitness report of this killing. Wonderwall doesn't know what he is talking about.

Many animators are prone to bouts of depression and even other mental health issues. Heaven forbid you get in the way of Vancouver's finest.
 
All police need is "the belief of a dangerous weapon" and they can shoot to kill. They carry hollow points, even a shoulder wound will never heal properly. And the basic truth is, a story of "necessary force" is always easier to shove through when the other witness is dead.

Most cases of officer firearm discharge, they empty the clip, that's 13 to 15 rounds from a single gun.(it's the way they practice on the shooting range) once one cop fires, the others around him take that as a que. It's adrenalin, and once the line, "suspect refuses commands, and has a weapon of any kind" has been crossed, they shoot legally until the perp stops moving. They are overzealous and it's their job to put their lives on the line. But they intend to go home, and the laws support that idea. You can be shot by police for having a cell phone in your hand, because of the simple fact that there guns disguised as cell phones. The basic truth, if you don't do as commanded, they have all the right they need to kill you without prejudice.

(besides, all cops are taught that civis have a machinegun in their right hand and a triggerswitch to a nuke in their left.)
if your pulled over for speeding, make sure your hands are on the steeringwheel, and you don't do squat until they've had a chance to look around inside through the window. Your life will last longer.
 
How do I not know what Im talking about? Im just trying to state some possiblilities on why the cops did what they did. Were you there? No, was I? No, yet my word is less than yours? Screw off man. Eyewitness can lie, I bet anyone who was there will have drastically different accounts about what happened, but wait, someone posted their account online, so his must be true, everyone else is lying. Scardy cats? What are you 6? Lets see what happens when a guy's swinging a chain at you, see if you dont cower in fear, you know because a chain can't kill someone right, its only metal, that's never hurt anyone:shrug: . Its easy today to point the blame on the police, despite what I've said Im not the biggest fan of the cops, I don't care enough, but its unfair to say "theyre at fault because they have guns and badges! BE ALL END ALL!" And did I ever talk badly about the man who was shot, HELL NO! I said he was dangerous because the fact is..he was, sickness or no sickness. Animators are prone to depression and mental health issues? I'd like to see your study, I hang with a bunch of animators or animators in training, and 90% of them seem alright emotionally, the other 10% most likely quit. Yea I don't know what Im talking about guys because some guy online read an "Eyewitness account" online. Bugger off man.

Edit: Im referring to not blond, not you Kagetsu
 
Eyewitnesses have different accounts unless you were there you don't know what exactly happened. Cops had the right to shoot him.

He incapasitated(spelt wrong i know) 2 cops its enough to shoot someone. If you harm a cop in anyway you are prone to be shot. So don't give me "oh it was inhumane" excuse.

Its sad to see him go but if he didn't get into a fight with the cops in the first place this all could of been avoided.
 
Police have a right, legally at least, to shoot to kill when the suspect in question is dangerous and has ignored multiple warnings and orders to stand down. And like Wonderwall said, this isn't a video game or a movie - there's no miraculous one-hit kill or single clean shot. Once the decision is made, you shoot until you're sure the suspect isn't a threat anymore. Nine bullets sounds like a lot, but not so when you compare to reports of what other criminals, especially those armed with guns, have taken in stand-offs. And a chain definitely counts as a dangerous weapon, at least as much as a knife.

It's a very tragic and unfortunate story, definitely. I'm sure if the police knew Mr. Boyd had a history of mental illness they would've found another way to subdue him. But all they probably knew, unless someone can find a source to correct me, was that he was swinging a chain and endangering public safety. And they had to make a decision based on that. I'm sure its not something they're proud of.
 
Just to put this out there, that the man was an animator does not somehow automatically mean that the police shot him out of brutality. It doesn't. Does not. That the man worked on some animated shows you liked does not mean that there is a conspiracy afoot. Wonderwall and Simpler Simon are absolutely right: none of us were present at the scene and none of us are officers of the law. We who sit hundreds or thousands of miles away and read about this on the Internet have absolutely no basis or right to automatically assume excessive use of force on the part of the police officers involved in the incident.

I recommend everyone take a step back and breathe in some reality before this inane shouting of "I READ THIS ONLINE AND IT SOUNDS LIKE EXCESSIVE FORCE" continues.
 
I totally agree. Just because you like the animator doesn't mean you have to give a biased post about it. You have to look at both sides of the story and analyze it correctly then you choose what to support.
 
Eww scary. A man is dead - so if the cops killed him it has to be okay because they are cops and they are always right. Where am I? Stalinist Russia? Frankly I'm shocked at the lack of even concern for the killing of an obviously sick person. Where's the compassion man.

The point is that cops can and do use excessive force, have few checks and balances and in Vancouver, the cops get to investigate themselves (something you usually only see in dictatorships). Mental illness is no reason to kill someone. The police are there to protect us and to protect those who could due harm to themselves - say get them to a hospital. And there has been a number of killings by police that are clouded in controversy in BC - from the young drunk man shot in the back of the head by a RCMP to other killings of unarmed mentally ill people.

read this and weep, by an eyewitness - Jonathan Menzies

facebook.c*m/group.php?gid=5360540372

and by a journalism student. 6ohfour.wordpress.c*m/2007/08/18/hiding-behind-the-badge/
 
I really don't care about eyewitness reports and I'm not going to fight this either . It doesn't matter if he's "mentally ill" if he is a danger to society and to other people the police have the right to use force even if that means killing him.

Again don't give excuses I hate that. And your relying on a report as your evidence by some witness be real for once
 
You have absolutely zero proof as to the excessiveness of the force used officers of the law involved. None. Zero. You're talking completely out of your own bias to the situation. That you live in Vancouver means you get local news involving the police that we don't. Fine. It does not mean that you are automatically privy to some sort of conspiracy involving officers of the law or that merely because you think so, excessive use of deadly force was involved on the part of the officers. As you'll find to be the case here (since you appear to have registered for the sole purpose of attempting to convince us of your view on this, something I find odd), no one's interested in reading opinions or speculation with nothing to back them up. Usually that comes up in back-and-forth discussions about which cartoons are better than others, but the principle is still similar. I recommend that you stop these baseless accusations until you have something a little more convincing than "I DON'T LIKE POLICE."

None of us are expressing lack of compassion for the suspect. Clearly the man had some medical issues that contributed to his death, and the death of anyone who was heretofor a law-abiding citizen and a good man by all accounts is unfortunate, to say the least. That does not mean that there's some sort of police conspiracy involved. Is it possible? Certainly. Where there are people, of authority or not, involved, there's always the possibility of misconduct on some level. Again, however, you have no proof of any such misconduct, just as we have no proof against any misconduct aside from the fact that on the surface, the police officers appear to have been, as Simpler Simon said, acting within their duty as officers of the law.

Also, the first link you provided is a Facebook link, accessible only to those are registered with the site and signed in at present (and I know I don't feel like signing in right now). Really not the best evidence in a legitimate argument.
 
Lol nuff said BCVM. Not blond don't shove your biased idealistic point of view up our alley because the truth is we are not amused nor we are not buying it.
 
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