The Truth

BY: DR. FOREST LEWIS

There has been another shooting of a Black person in New York City by members of the NYPD!

Already, the Monday morning quartersbacks have emerged. Police Commissioner, Ray Kelly said that the police shooting of 18-year old Khiel Coppin , "appears to be within department guidelines. And Kelly added:

"They faced someone they reasonably believed was about to use deadly physical force"

Police arrived at the home of Coppin on Tuesday. They were responding to a 911 call placed by the teenager's mother. Authorties said Coppin could be heard in the background cursing, and saying that he was in possession of a gun. The 911 transcript of Coppin, stated the following, "I've got a F..king gun."  Coppin had a history of violence and mental health problems. At this point, try and place yourself in the shoes of the responding police. The young man's mother calls 911 frantically, and said she was in fear because of her son's violent past. She said young Coppin was on anti-depressants and anti-psychotic meds. The key words here are "Was On."

I say the key words were, "Was On," because "No one knows when the teenager last took his medication." On the surface, it sounds like he was in a "Psychotic State." I can tell you from experience, "You Do Not Want To Be In The Same Room With Someone Who Is Having A Psychotic Episode." They are un-predictable. And yes, "They Can Kill You." People who are psychotic will hallucinate. In other words, they will sometimes hear voices. Said voices will order them to commit a violent act. They see things that "Normal People" do not see, or they feel as though their lives are in danger. They feel trapped; and will do "Whatever It Takes To Get Out Of That Trap," which is in their minds. Those of you who are Psychologists or Psychiatrists understand what I'm saying. You also understand that this is why we "Always Position Our Desk Away From The Door To Our Office." If a person experience a psychotic episode in our office, the last thing we want is for that person to feel trapped!

So, the police responding to Denise Owens' cry for help, didn't have a clue what they would encounter. It is so easy for the Monday morning quarterbacks to pass judgment on the police following a shooting. It is not the critics who have to stare down the barrel of a gun! Denise Owens told police that her son had vowed, "I'm prepared to die."

Coppin had a long police record. He had been arrested multiple times for "Armed Robbery And Assault." He started his involvement with crime at the tender age of fifteen.

When police pulled their vehicles up in from of Coppin's Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment building, he reportedly locked himself inside a bedroom. I can tell you from first hand knowledge all about this section of Brooklyn. I lived only three blocks away from the shooting, when I was a teenager. It was a rough section of Brooklyn then, as it is now. I had several friends shot to death, or stabbed from thugs in this section of Brooklyn. No, this is not "Central Park, West." You would stand a better chance of survival in some parts of africa, than you would in Brooklyn's "Bed-Sty." Ask Hillary, when was the last time she visited Bed -Sty to speak with her constituents? That cackling you hear, is Hillary Clinton, laughing!

Commissioner Kelly reports his men attempted to talk Coppin into giving himself up. Kelly said he, Coppin, "taunted his men and periodically cracked the door open, and the officers saw him holding two butcher's knives."

Moments later, the ranking officer on the scene, Captain Charles McEvoy, called for a hostage-negotiation team. As soon as the call was completed, police say Coppin leaped from the bedroom window and into a courtyard. He then walked onto Gates Avenue, where he encountered five police officers and a sergeant from the housing unit, and a detective and sergeant from the 79th precinct.

Coppin was ordered over and over to, "Stop! Lay down! Show us your hands." Police say he ignored their orders, and continued to advance on them. Suddenly, the young man reportedly reached under his gray hooded sweatshirt, an indication that he was reaching for a gun. The cops drew their guns and opened fire. Ten bullets found their mark. Young Coppin was pronounced dead on arrival at a local hospital.

Police say he was not in possession of a gun, but rather an eight-inch "hairbrush." They also reportedly found this rambling note on the deceased body:

"Happyness(sic) is sadness in which sadness is crossed out and replaced with the word death." Those closest 2 death iz closer to happyness(sic). Truly that's why more more bums smile than millionaires. The devil tried 2 get me"

You don't have to be a Psychologist to recognize that this young man was in a psychotic state. But, given his violent past, and his threat that he possesed a gun. Police had no choice but to protect themselves.

Hindsight is always 20-20. Coppin's family has already hired an attorney. As expected, the attorney, Paul Wooten is blaming the police for this tragedy:

"The police commissioner has decided to rush to judgment. Somehow, with 24 hours of this tremendous tragedy, this egregious act, they have decided it was within department guidelines. There are very, very few facts that are actually clear. We hope we get a fair and just investigation by the District Attorney's Office and the Police Department"

The tragedy in this, is that this shyster lawyer will worsen an already bad situation. I wonder what would attorney, Paul Wooten have said, had young Coppin killed all of the police at the scene?

The cricket sound that you are listening to, is courtesy of Paul Wooten, and all of the other bleeding hearts who don't recognize the dangers of being a police officer in the jungles of America!

Suppose the police officers didn't show up on Tuesday evening, and Coppin went on a killing spree. Then what Mr. Wooten? I know, you would have still blamed them.

It is nice to not have to make any decisions in life, but pounce on those who do make life and death decisions. The way that I see it, people who don't make decisions, "Are Sniveling Cowards!"

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