Title: No, The Shooting Of a Knife-Armed Reno Teen Isn’t “Sparking Debate”
Source: Bearing Arms
URL Source: http://bearingarms.com/bob-o/2016/1 ... eno-teen-isnt-sparking-debate/
Published: Dec 9, 2016
Author: Bob Owens
Post Date: 2016-12-10 21:52:07 by Gatlin
Keywords: None
Views: 5307
Comments: 25

No, The Shooting Of a Knife-Armed Reno Teen Isn’t “Sparking Debate”

Posted at 4:52 pm on December 9, 2016 by Bob Owens

reno-student-shot

Let’s turn to the CBS News story Reno officer’s shooting of knife-wielding teen sparks debate to see how media hacks are attempting to turn a school resource officer’s very measured response to a violent student armed with two knives into a fake news scandal.

A school police officer in Nevada faces new questions about shooting a knife-wielding student.
Cellphone video captured the moment at Hug High School in Reno. Police said the teen ignored orders to drop a pair of knives and threatened other students. But there’s a debate over the use of force, reports CBS News correspondent Carter Evans.
On Facebook, a man who identified himself as the father of the teen defended his son’s actions, saying he was being bullied at school and was just trying to protect himself. He said after the shooting, his son had to have part of his lungs removed, but that he’s expected to survive.
A day after a school police officer shot the 14-year-old, Washoe County Schools Superintendent Traci Davis praised responding officers.
“Had it not been for their quick actions and professionalism, I truly believe the outcome could’ve been much worse,” Davis said.
Cell phone video captured the teenager waving knives surrounded by students apparently after a fight. His attorney, David Houston, spoke to “CBS This Morning” by phone.
“It was clear that the child was not being aggressive, but rather was trying to keep people away from him. He was not attempting to hurt people,” Houston said.
For some students and parents, the police response is causing as much concern as the boy’s actions.
“It was pretty traumatizing. I’ve never seen anything like that before, like pulling out knives and then a cop shooting a child,” said student Joslyn Walker.
“There are alternatives. Mace, for one, pepper spray,” said Demick LaFlamme, whose son is friends with the teen. LaFlamme was worried about the dozens of other kids standing nearby.
“They should actually be writing formal apologies to every single student’s parents there for putting all their children in danger,” LaFlamme said.

Let’s address all these complaints here and now and be crystal clear: the officer acted correctly in using a gun to stop Logan Clark’s criminal assault instead of less-lethal options.

Attorney David Houston, being Clark’s attorney, is going to of course try to make Clark look innocent, but Houston is directly and boldly lying when he claiming that the juvenile delinquent armed with two butcher knives “was not attempting to hurt people.”

There are multiple cell phone videos of the incident showing Logan Clark aggressively stalking towards his fellow students, and on several occasions he appears to lunge or slash at them.

Clark’s multiple assaults with a deadly weapon (each one of which should earn him a felony charge) finally ended when he advanced upon the school resource officer.

The correct response to an armed assailant is not a taser.

The correct response to an armed assailant is not a chemical spray.

The correct response to an armed assailant is to engage the deadly force threat with deadly force until the armed assailant is no longer a threat.

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The use of force model (also called the use of force continuum) used by law enforcement calls for using deadly force (a firearm) to respond to deadly force threats.

old hickory butcher knife

Butcher knives like those being brandished by Logan Clark, which he carried in a manner to conduct slashing attacks, are clearly the sort of assaultive deadly force threat which justified a deadly force response by the officer.

In this instance, an officer would likely have been justified in firing multiple rounds at Logan Clark, but appears to have been acting with a great deal of restraint. The other students surrounding Clark lacked any sense of self-preservation. The iPhone-equipped lemmings just stood there dumbly as Clark menaced them with knifes and ignored teachers and staff attempting to usher them away from the armed student.

It’s clear that the Clark family and their attorney are looking to turn a profit from this young repeat offender’s felonious behavior.

I hope that the prosecutor strikes back twice as hard, putting Logan Clark in prison for as long as the law allows, and that Nevada’s Child Welfare and Child Protective Services takes a very long look at whether the young thug’s father is fit to raise his siblings.

David Houston, told the AP. The attorney described the boy as emotionally distressed and said he had already been hit when he was trying to escape. He was shot in the chest by an officer who has not been identified but who has been placed on paid administrative leave.

"Those kids were alerted there was going to be a beat-down at a specific time and a specific location. They had amassed with their cellphones for the purpose of filming it," Houston said. "Half the student body is out there cheering them on. He'd been punched in the face and was running around screaming, 'Get away from me!' He was trying to extricate himself from a situation that had become like spectators in the Roman Colosseum."

"There was no attempt to calm the situation," the attorney also said. "There was not this genuine sense of panic or alarm by the students watching until the officer attempted to execute the 14-year-old who was screaming, 'Get away from me."

Houston argued the teenager brought some kitchen knives to school in anticipation of being jumped by a group of seniors who had assaulted him the previous day.

The lawyer also questioned why the officer, assigned specifically to the school, didn't try to resolve the situation in some way other than by the use of deadly force. "They could have said, 'It's OK, nobody is going to hurt you,'" the attorney said. "One of the primary rules of our society is we don't shoot our children. We simply don't shoot first and ask questions later."

I hope that the prosecutor strikes back twice as hard, putting Logan Clark in prison for as long as the law allows...

The kid had been bullied by students at his school, and this prick wants to throw him in jail for simply trying to protect himself?

Seems to me the ones who need to be punished are the students that egged on the bullies.

... and that Nevada’s Child Welfare and Child Protective Services takes a very long look at whether the young thug’s father is fit to raise his siblings.

This asshole has it all wrong - the "young thugs" were the bullies who beat up the kid the day before and were going to do it again and who were enabled by the teachers who knew about the planned "beat-down" and refused to do anything about it.

So….David Houston, the attorney for Clarke, is going to give us “a factually truthful and unbiased version of both sides of the story.”

He gave the shooting victim's side of the story - your biased article is nothing more than a pro-cop puff piece.

The entire situation could have been avoided had the school intervened in the first place.

You and the asshole who wrote this article are both wrong - the "young thugs" were the bullies who beat up the kid the day before and were going to do it again while being egged on by a large group of students.

The blame must also fall on the teachers who knew about the planned "beat-down" and refused to do anything about it.

I realize that you have most likely taught your kids to cower in fear if they are bullied in school - maybe you even taught them that it was OK to bully kids, at least this kid had the balls to confront his attackers - something you apparently lack.

It's a situation that never would have happened if the school had done their job.