Police and Samurai Sword

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Before you facepalm, bear in mind that the article did not show or describe the cane; the picture of the red tipped cane was likely generic. Do you know for a fact that the blind man wasn't carrying a stick with the general appearance and thickness of a zatoichi?

I'm not defending the police; their reaction was ridiculous. But the article reeks of standard media exaggeration; and the closing question makes me suspect that they don't know everything they think they do about "samurai swords".
 
BlackKnight86 said:
Before you facepalm, bear in mind that the article did not show or describe the cane; the picture of the red tipped cane was likely generic. Do you know for a fact that the blind man wasn't carrying a stick with the general appearance and thickness of a zatoichi?

I'm not defending the police; their reaction was ridiculous. But the article reeks of standard media exaggeration; and the closing question makes me suspect that they don't know everything they think they do about "samurai swords".
Click to expand...

Did you watch the video? He was carrying one of those white sticks. Looks NOTHING like a zatoichi stick sword. Not even thick enough to be a cane sword. Not to mention, the guy has already survived two strokes, and he's a mostly blind senior citizen. Click through and watch the source material and see if YOU don't facepalm.

Yeah.

I repeat.

*facepalm.

For those who don't want to click more than once, here's the link to the source material:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-19979184
 
crimsonfalcon07 said:
Did you watch the video? He was carrying one of those white sticks. Looks NOTHING like a zatoichi stick sword. Not even thick enough to be a cane sword. Not to mention, the guy has already survived two strokes, and he's a mostly blind senior citizen. Click through and watch the source material and see if YOU don't facepalm.

Yeah.

I repeat.

*facepalm.

For those who don't want to click more than once, here's the link to the source material:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-19979184
Click to expand...

LOL.....OK, I just facepalmed myself!

Yes....sorry, I hadn't seen the video. His stick was tiny by comparison....to any weapon. The facepalm was definitely earned. In fact, I think you were being too nice.

I shall remove my head from can, now!
 
Pretty much epic fail all around. They're lucky the poor guy didn't keel over and die (or maybe unlucky, cause he's definitely going to sue them now).

You see, THIS is what happens when a country puts a hardcore weapons ban in place. And in a country that's got castles and other things we here in the wild wild west commonly associate with swords, no less. At least it wasn't in Japan. Then I'd REALLY facepalm.

-edit- Hopefully that's not too political, as I tend to think it's a non-partisan issue. Support Knife Rights!
 
crimsonfalcon07 said:
Pretty much epic fail all around. They're lucky the poor guy didn't keel over and die (or maybe unlucky, cause he's definitely going to sue them now).

You see, THIS is what happens when a country puts a hardcore weapons ban in place. And in a country that's got castles and other things we here in the wild wild west commonly associate with swords, no less. At least it wasn't in Japan. Then I'd REALLY facepalm.

-edit- Hopefully that's not too political, as I tend to think it's a non-partisan issue. Support Knife Rights!
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It is kind of political though and the whole thread a bit off topic (imo) for this subsection. We might as well include threads about women in binders because the pen in mightier than the sword. ;)

There is a current events section at BF
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/702-Current-Events

That would be found in the

Community Discussion Forums

Where the members come together - discussion forums for community related topics like humor, politics, gadgets & gear, and regional issues.

It would probably be off topic in the Knife Laws section as well but probably more relevant there than in this section.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/735-Knife-Laws

While the articles revolving around this incidence do vaguely reference swords, that is the sum total of sword content.

Even stories of Peeps with swords probably belong somewhere else.

t69zkh.jpg


Come to think of it, there are lots of sections at BF I would probably enjoy greatly as political and subjects off topic to blades in general can be found in a few subfora here.

Let the farce be with you.

Cheers

GC
 
They probably thought they had a tight case with blood all over the tip of that samurai sword..:eek::...:D
 
I saw the post-incident interview with that man, I would have felt so dumb if I were the officer who zapped that poor guy!!
 
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Lancashire? That's in the UK, if I remember right. They're anti ANYTHING that can be used in self defense from what I've seen. To the point of trying to create cooking knives that can't be used as weapons. Granted, I haven't read the whole article, but from the stories my acquaintances in the RAF and Royal Army, it's a damned good thing the American Colonies rebelled when we did...

Sorry for the derail.
 
Ok, I felt REALLY bad for the poor guy...........after I managed to actually breathe from laughing so hard I ended up on the floor.
 
Well, let's reorient things in a different way.

A police officer is on the lookout for a lunatic wielding a samurai sword, something he has never seen before. For all we know, what's in his mind is something more like a foil or an epee. The officer is walking about when he sees a man facing away from him. All he can see is that he is waving some long thin object in front of himself, mostly out of view from the officer. So, the officer calls out for the man to stop. Because the man has his back to the officer, his activity is not clearly seen. All the officer sees is a casual up/down flailing of the object, and the man doesn't stop in response. We don't know if he asked him to stop more than once.

Now, a more seasoned officer would continue his approach and assess the situation, and try to engage the man in more direct conversation. First off, seeing that the "sword flailing" is not being done to any person, animal, or private property. And second, assessing whether or not the individual is dangerous. By this time he should begin to see that he's an old man. But as you can see in the video, he's fairly tall and has fairly good stature. With poor lighting at that time of day, it may have been easy not to see how old the man actually was.

The old man stated that he heard a commotion and didn't know what was going on. He shouted out that he's blind only after being hit by the taser.


So... while it was still clearly a terrible mistake, it's quite possible that the circumstances at hand helped facilitate the misunderstanding. It helped make a partially flawed or inexperienced cop capable of committing a mistake.
 
myu said:
So... while it was still clearly a terrible mistake, it's quite possible that the circumstances at hand helped facilitate the misunderstanding. It helped make a partially flawed or inexperienced cop capable of committing a mistake.
Click to expand...

No circumstances can make a blind person's white cane appear to be a sword of any kind.
Incompetence pure and simple. Incompetence of a truly epic level.
 
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