To be fair, sometimes police must use lethal force to protect themselves and the community they pledge to serve. Other times, the lethal force was an optional choice. Police, for instance, did not need to choke Eric Garner to death to protect themselves. Police, for instance, did not need to shoot Tamir Rice or John Crawford or Rekia Boyd to protect themselves. Police did not need to shoot Amadou Diallo or Sean Bell or Ramarley Graham to protect anyone. Even they thought they needed to — they were wrong. All of those men and women posed no true threat to anyone, but police chose to kill them based on their incorrect assumptions.