Opinion

Somerville: I hope the police commission will reconsider their decision on tasers



Photo: Frank Somerville - KTVU Photo: Frank Somerville - KTVU Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Somerville: I hope the police commission will reconsider their decision on tasers 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

I'm not going to be politically correct with this post tonight. Instead I'm going to be very blunt.

Here goes.

I don't know what it's going to take for police officers in San Francisco to get Tasers. Yesterday another person holding a knife was shot and killed by police.

It all started after there were reports of a homeless man walking around with a 13 inch knife.

After arriving on the scene, the police told him to drop to the ground.

He didn't.

They told him to drop the knife.

He didn't.

They then shot him several times with high powered bean bags.

But they said he was still coming toward them.

And at that point they shot and killed him. It was all over in about 30 seconds.

I don't understand why San Francisco and Detroit are the only major cities that don't use Tasers.

I know that Tasers aren't perfect. But I'd still rather be shot with a Taser than a gun. It's just not even a question to me.

I also thought that some of the comments we got from people on the scene were interesting. Several told us that they thought the person who was killed didn't speak English. So maybe he didn't know what the officers were saying.

I have to be honest. I think that's ridiculous.

If someone is holding a 13 inch knife and police have their guns pointed at him and are yelling at him, I don't think you need to speak English to understand what they're saying. Just drop the knife.

We also had someone tell us that the victim was holding the knife but not in a "threatening" way.

I would beg to differ. I don't think there is any way to hold a 13 inch knife that is NOT threatening.

Just the idea that someone is walking down the street with a 13 inch knife is, in and of itself, "threatening."

And if you don't believe me just picture yourself on a Bart train standing next to someone holding a 13 inch knife.

Would you feel threatened?

Would you feel scared?

I sure would.

I hope the police commission will reconsider their decision and allow officers to have Tasers.

Someone's life could very well depend on it.

As always I'm totally open for discussion on this. I just ask that everyone keep their comments respectful.

Frank Somerville is the regular 5, 6 and 10 pm anchor on KTVU News. This post originally appeared on His Facebook Page, where you can leave a comment with your reaction.