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Man walking down Dorchester street with two knives demands police shoot him; they use pepper spray instead

Boston Police report officers used pepper spray to disarm a man walking down Redwood Street in Dorchester with two knives, one a butcher knife, after he had attacked another man with them early this morning.

According to police, Thuc Vu, 42, had tried to carve up another man around 12:30 a.m., but the victim escaped with only minor injuries:

Officers approached the suspect and gave him several commands to drop the knives, which the suspect ignored. After ignoring additional commands to drop the weapons, the suspect came toward the officers with the knifes raised, telling the officers to shoot him. As the suspect continued toward the officers, one officer was able to deploy his department-issued OC spray. The officers were then able to place the suspect into custody without further incident.

He was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, police say, adding he was also wanted on two warrants out of Dorchester court.

Innocent, etc.

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Comments

That officer should be commended for keeping his cool and going with the non-lethal option. It is indeed possible to de-escalate a dangerous situation without having to kill someone.

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It's *sometimes* possible to de-escalate.

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Seems like it is nearly always possible, given how well BPD is doing.

Sorry, but killing people should never be the default state, with *sometimes* being the disclaimer. Much better to phrase in a manner consistent with what our trained professionals are demonstrating - that it is *sometimes* not possible to deescalate.

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That said, kudos to BPD for deescalating when laws of self-defense authorizes them to use lethal force. They have earned this recognition. There are institutional incentives such as missing out on detail work if they're restricted to desk duty during a shooting investigation.

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Still doesn't close off the possibility of lethal force being used.

That said, I am proud that the BPD tries to avoid lethal force as much as possible, but in the rare occasions where they have used it, they've had good cause.

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The last couple times I can remember BPD has used lethal force have both been times where an officer had already been shot. Certainly they don't have to wait until it gets there to shoot back, but I find that compared to other big city departments, BPD exercises a lot of restraint in using lethal force (of which I also strongly credit to the leadership of the department).

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Best police department in the country for one of the best cities in the country.

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