http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-21213789 TLDR version A man wearing a gas mask attempted to hold up a bookies with (it now seems) a fake pistol. He was tackled to the ground and restrained , where he died. Obviously exact cause of death hasn't been released yet but I suspect it will be down to some form of aspyxiation/strangulation. This story raises a couple of points for me 1/ would I have had the bottle to have tackled an armed (as it appeared) man ? 2/ Could I have restrained him in a safer manner ? On reflection I think my answers would be 1/ I think it would be very situational for me , my kids wouldn't have been present so as long as it looked like the cashier was going hand over the money I would try just to be a good witness. 2/This is more interesting to me , as like most people I know a fairly wide range of restraining techniques , but under pressure at a sim day I always seemed to go for chokes as restraints. I'd be interested to hear views from some of the members in law enforcement , especially how open you would be to prosecution in this situation.
The fact he had a gun is important. I was discussing this with JWT earlier and we both thought prosecution was unlikely as he posed a lethal threat. the gasmask meant they would be unable to tell he was in trouble during the restraint. Unless there were other events not yet reported I think they are unlikely to face any prosecution as their actions were both reasonable and proportionate. Mitch
Most likely compression asphyxiation. Not sure how it works over there but I would hope they would be praised not prosecuted.
Lethal force threats can generally be met with lethal force - in the case they actually went for a NON lethal option and the guy died as a bi-product rather than intent Prosecution highly unlikely In a similar situation in duty it is likely I would have shot him
This is my thought also , but as i'm fairly naive when it comes to legal stuff and I know there're some clever people on here I thought I'd ask Seems like that's how it will pan out , but you never know.
And I would've fully supported you , I'm a big believer in people who use imitation weapons should be treated as they were real.
Exactly , but when arrested these clowns tend to yell "it was only a fake" at the top of their lungs like they should get a lighter sentence.
would love to know how he actually died from being restrained, they didn't mention the gas mask on the news, I wonder if that could have contributed in some way ?
Here's the link to the BBC article. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-21213789 Some MMA guys have used gas masks in training so I read somewhere, specifically to make breathing harder, so they must have some effect. Mitch
