If someone comes at you with a knife, are you going to fight them with a knife of your own or are you going to use a force that will overcome that threat(if available)?
Agreed, but what does someone "coming at you with a knife" (implying an offensive effort at stabbing or slashing) have to do with this? The man was stumbling around apparently trying to move away from police while holding a knife. The fact he was encircled made that physically impossible, so no matter the direction of his retreat he was moving in the direction of someone, but obviously not in an attacking mode. The knife was clearly held in hand as a deterrence to closing on him.
This was a case of cops looking for the least excuse to open fire rather than seeking a means of avoiding homicide. If there was any doubt that this is a common psychological state of mind among cops in circumstances like this, the reactions to this video by cops here eliminates it.
So you are saying the officers should have let him retreat in this situation? You have stated many times the subject was mentally ill.....would you really want the officers letting him "retreat", knowing he is armed with a knife? What if your wife or child was working in the strip mall he was near?
"Never stand and take a charge...charge them too."
