Students Organizing Protest After Cop Shoots Gil Collar

Police brutality is a serious charge that needs to be backed up with proof issued out of a real investigation. It would be foolish to make a serious accusation based on news reports. I will not support or participate in making an unfounded accusation. If there is proof and it becomes clear that the officer involved was guilty of negligence or brutality charges will be filed and the legal process will work to ensure major changes in the actions which transpired the other night. Let's not dishonor the memory of the student who died by potentially making false accusations. Let's do the wise thing and wait for the autopsy, forensics and other evidence guide our public response.

The death of this young man is a tragedy, but the rush to judgment of this officer is inexcusable. Police officers must make split second decisions, and yes sometimes they make the wrong decisions, but we don't have all the facts yet. We don't completely know how eratic his behavior was or what threats he may have made to the officer. Police officers can use deadly force on an unarmed subject depending on the totality of the circumstances. Police officers are not trained to fire warning shots, or shoot to wound, and that will never change. What we have here is a bunch of teenagers who think they know everything because they have seen a few too many episodes of Law and Order or some other show or movie. This is the real world; not some fantasy. If you decide to get drunk or high, take your clothes off, and go to the police station looking for a fight, then accept the consequences that follow. The bottom line is this young man created the situation. I don't hear anyone talking about his personal responsibility. Yes kids are going to make bad choices, but they don't get to choose the consequences of their actions. Even the mother of this young man has asked people not to rush to judgment. I know you think you are doing some great thing by organizing a PROTEST. You are only causing harm to your school, your community, and the families of this young man and the officer. If you want to do something positive, hold a vigil, organize a memorial service, or get involved in a group to stop the use of drugs and underage drinking. LET THE INVESTIGATION DECIDE IF THIS OFFICER USED APPROPRIATE ACTION DURING THIS INCIDENT. WE DON'T HAVE ALL THE FACTS!

One last thing that I find to be the most important issue is that, this has been the outlet to the larger issues on campus at hand. Now we need to focus on how to protect our students and realize that things on campus are not the same and there is definitely something going on. I feel as though we need a tighter regulation on campus, along with tighter training for our force. I know it is college and these kids are young (freshmen) but that IS NOT an excuse to be an irresponsible person and place yourself and others in danger. Stop the abuse, I don't want to hear that excuse anymore! Underage is underage!

I personally know both members who have created the event, and I am going to have to say that I do not agree with them to the fullest, although I do understand where they are coming from. I do agree that there are MAJOR changes that should have been addressed a LONG TIME AGO on campus, but I also think that the majority of the public need to look at this particular situation in angles rather than a select few, and "bash" the police officer. As clearly stated, the case is still under investigation and up in the air. Assumption on such a topic is the wrong route to take. I will also add that the situation where the officer shot this 19 year old child in the chest is, in fact, questionable seeing as a warning shot could have possibly sufficed. If the warning shot failed to restrain the victim, then possibly a shot in the middle of the leg, or in a spot where this child was safe from death might have helped. Maybe rubber bullets would have been a better choice as a warning, and if this did not work and the officer needed to take a further approach to protect himself from harm (let's not forget that these are people too) then a bullet would have possibly passed. In general, a person is allowed to use deadly force against an attacker when the attacker is using or about to use deadly force against the person. What constitutes deadly force or reasonable fear of deadly force is not as clear. I think that what boiled people over the most is that this was a 19 year old child. What people are failing to grasp is that this child was naked, banging on the campus police stations windows at 1 something in the morning, provoking and endangering another human being,not to mention the students. This child had to have been abusing some sort of illegal substance (drugs) as this is the largest talk of the topic. I believe this to be a true fact seeing as this child managed to get shot in the chest and rise again to continue to charge at the officer. Super human? I think not.