I'm just sick of the demonizing of our law enforcement every single time something happens.

I'm willing to have them look into it, but there are always way more people that seem to side with someone doing something wrong than those who seem to back up law enforcement (i.e. see Tookie, and every other punk who gets thrown to the ground after hitting 15 cars on a high-speed chase and shooting at cops). "oh look the cops broke his fingernail! Let's riot! Those bastards, always out to get someone!"

If this crap keeps up you'll be lucky to get anyone who wants to go into law enforcement.

If I was on that plane and the dude was screaming "I got a bomb!" and reaching into a bag I don't care if his wife was yelling "he's sick" while the marshals have guns on him. If he was so damn sick he shouldn't have been out in public. When are people going to accept personal responsibility for the actions they take?

He wasn't just sick, he was bipolar. He was a manic-depressive. While I agree with Digger's assessment, to an extent, regarding the prevailing attitudes towards law enforcement ... I also KNOW that law enforcement is trained to deal with people that are mentally ill. And, there are a lot of other ways to do that than put a bullet into them. We cannot let 911 "hysteria" get the better of us or scare us to the extent that we shoot first and ask questions later. Too many innocent people can end up dead that way.

If they had not acted and he did have a bomb then what? Then you'd be bashing on them anyway. "If only they would have acted!"

It was not a situation that went on for hours it was a split second judgement that had to take the lives of the many passengers and crew over the life of one person who, whether he was mentally ill - bi-polar - manic depressive - or whatever you want to call it, was acting in a threatening manner.

Sorry, but if he wouldn't have jumped around and threatened that he had a bomb he wouldn't have gotten shot. Personal responsibility.

Unless of course you think the Air Marshals just shot him for the hell of it. In which case you're read too many conspiracy books.

I choose to side with law enforcement until it is proven otherwise. Sorry that's just the way I am.

It is my understanding, from the reports, that it wasn't a split-second situation, Digger. It might have been a split-second decision, but the situation went on over a period of time where his wife had more than enough time to explain to officials that he did not have a bomb, he was mentally ill, what his mental illness was, and that he had not been taking his medication properly.

Also, law enforcement are weapons trained. They know how to take a shot that will not kill the victim. If they thought there was any chance he actually had a bomb, they could have shot him and disabled him without actually killing him.

Digger should read all the reports before passing judgement.

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