30 August 2010

Bright lights, big city...

...I guess it's all relative, huh?
-- TORONTO -- A witness told CP24 that police officers approached the man as he got off a bus. An officer reportedly fired several shots as the man turned.

One witness said THE VICTIM HAD A KNIFE on board the bus.
The victim? THE VICTIM!!!?

Are you nuts? The actual victims here would be the bus driver and the terrified passengers on the bus.

The guy with the knife... he's known as the perpetrator. Or... in this particular case... the late perpetrator...
25-year-old Reyal Jensen Jardine-Douglas of Pickering died after being shot by police following an altercation on a TTC bus Sunday afternoon.
Again, folks... "an altercation" is when somebody gets upset because the driver won't accept their transfer.

You pull a knife... don't be too surprised somebody punches your ticket.

Even the fuzzy-bunny Red Star acknowledges this was a justifiable shooting...
Barry, who lives in a Victoria Park Ave. building, watched as officers approached a man who had come off the No. 24 bus. Barry said police cars had the bus boxed in front and back.

Barry said the man would not drop a knife he had in his hand, then police shot him three times. He described the victim as brown or black, stocky and 5-foot-7 and with a red tattoo on his upper right arm.

Barry said he thought the shooting was justified. “That police officer did his job,” he said.
Of course, to balance out any statement supporting the police... the Star also has to get the obligatory outrageous soundbite from an enthusiastic, but anonymous bystander who swears ol' Reyal was very publicly executed...
Another witness, who did not wish to be identified, said she heard the incident take place behind her apartment, and rushed outside when she heard police scream, “Get on the ground!”

She said three shots rang out after police shouted another warning to a man running off a Victoria Park bus. The woman, who saw the incident unfold, described how the man hit the ground and was shot two more times when he was told to put his hands on his head.

The cops shot him five times, I’m 1,000 per cent positive on that,” she said.
I hope her memory is better than her math skills.

And, of course... you can always count on CBC to toss a little cop-bashing hearsay into the mix...
Jason Brown and his girlfriend live in a building minutes away from where the shooting happened. He said she saw the whole thing unfold.

"She was in the alleyway in front of the guy and the cops shot the guy once. He dropped on the ground. The next partner came and gave three more to the guy," Brown said.
Yeah, sure... they were taking turns... because, for cops, murder is just a game.

It sounds like the same mysterious witness above... but now it's four shots, not five.

Funny how the story seems to evolve.

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UPDATE: Pump the brakes, Peace Moonbeam

It was his family who called the cops.

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RELATED: Hey... what's the big deal?

It's only a knife...
-- TORONTO -- A 19-year-old has been charged in connection with a double stabbing in the city's west over the weekend end that claimed the life of one man and left another wounded.

Joseph Blandon, 19, of Toronto, faces one count of second-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.