Wow. The early reports sound horrible. Hopefully they can figure out just what happened and take the proper action.

What the CBC news story didn’t tell you is what allegedly happened before the suspect was shot.

Police responded to a call about a street fight. The man who was shot was allegedly swinging a motorcycle chain in the air, which apparently had a lock on the end of it. Apparently he and another fellow were beating up a third person.

This is what is being reported on the news:

Three police initially attended the scene. One officer was hit in the head with the chain and was rendered unconscious. He required hospitaliation and stitches. A second police officer was hit in the head with the chain and also required stitches. The third officer opened fire and killed the suspect.

There have been different eyewitness acoounts as to what happened. One person stated the suspect had his hands in the air when shot. Another said the suspect was still on the attack when shot. A third says the suspect was on his knees when he was shot. Then you have the details, some different, as reported in the CBC story.

I live in greater Vancouver and listen to an all news/talk radio show at work. The details being reported indicate the suspect was involved in an altercation, injured two officers and was shot and killed by the third.

Floyd…no disresepct intended, but what do you mean when you say “they can…take the proper action.” Are you inferring the police were in the wrong? I think we need to wait until the investigations are complete before we pass judgement on anyone – the suspect or the police.

For those criticial of the police actions, put yourself in their shoes. What would you have done if you saw two fellow officers go down, hit by a chain swinging assailant and you were the third officer? Pepper spray can be ineffective and the officers were not armed with tasers.

I wasn’t there so I can’t say with any authority what actually happened, but if I saw two officers go down and my life was threatened, I would have drawn my sidearm as well.

Brent…Vancouver is a pretty peaceful place. It’s not like these things happen all the time. They don’t. Vancouver’s homicide rate runs at between 35-40 per year and it is Canada’s third largest city. There is a bigger problem with property crime and drugs in the downtown eastside than there is with grievous assaults.

The thing I disagree with is that the police are conducting their own investigation. What needs to happen is for an outside police force to come in and conduct the investigation.

Let’s wait until the invstigations are complete before we pass judgement on either the victim or the police. This is a very sad situation for both the injured police officers, the shooter and the dead man. No one wins.

shocking.

DisneyDave- Floyd didn’t say anything negative towards either party. Proper action would be bringing no charges against the officers, if cleared upon investigation, or charging them if there is evidence they overreacted. Here in the USA, incidents like this are investigated immediately, in many cases by an indepedent investigation team, so to be transparent and leave no doubt to what really happened, on the law side and on the civilian side. So I think you could have jumped to the wrong conclusion of Floyd’s statement, which, ironically, is what you are accusing Floyd of–
DisneyDave said-
“Let’s wait until the invstigations are complete before we pass judgement on either the victim or the police. This is a very sad situation for both the injured police officers, the shooter and the dead man. No one wins.”
Good advice, but I believe it may be just as helpful to you as the person you intended it for.

Point Taken Bill.

I have also started receiving hate emails in my inbox implying that I felt through the words expressed in my post, that Mr. Boyd “got what he deserved,” in the words of a friend of Mr. Boyds. That’s far from the truth. Nobody deserves to die such a violent death. I wasn’t defending the police actions in my post. I wasn’t there. I just wrote the facts in my post as they have been presented in the news.

As I stated in my last paragraph of my original post, no one wins in this type of tragic situation…the polce officers who were injured, the police officer who did the shooting who has to live with the consequences of his actions for the rest of his life and the deceased man and his family and friends.

Just to clarify, when I said “Hopefully they can figure out just what happened and take the proper action”, I meant that I hope they can figure out what happened, and then (once they know what happened) take whatever action they think is the right one.

The only people who know what happened for sure are the people who were there. It sounds like a horrible incident regardless.

An article I read referred to family wanting his name kept from the public.

“Police said they had identified the 39-year-old dead man, but would not release his name at his family’s request.”
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=206c80a7-b749-4f47-bf20-003f97e5b743

It sounds as though they would like a little less attention. Regardless our thoughts must go out to them.

>Why can’t cops shoot to disable?

It’s probably not easy to fire a gun with such accuracy at night and under pressure. A cop may well be attempting to shoot to disable, but could end up doing more damage than intended; when bullets go flying they can do weird things; ricochet, split, change direction, etc.

Movies tend to give us all the impression that every cop is a sharpshooter with perfect aim. But I’d bet 90% of the time when a cop has to draw his weapon under pressure he’s shooting with very little idea of exactly where on the target his bullet will wind up.

Today’s Province newspaper here in Vancouver says that Paul Boyd was struggling with bi-polar disorder and his friends reported him as going through some anxiety in his final days.

Colleague and friend Bruce Alcock and all others who knew him said he was not a violent person and a very talented artist. It’s a very tragic loss, so our prayers should go out to the local animation community and all who knew him.

So very sad…I had the pleasure to work with Paul for about 3 years. He was a big sweetheart and always kind to me. One of those great guys that you always remember fondly regardless of your interactions. Illness or not, it breaks my heart to know how awful his last moments were and I grieve for the loss and hope his family can heal in time. The animation industry and the world in general lost a good guy.

“>Why can’t cops shoot to disable?”

my uncle was a police officer in nyc for over 20 years. the one thing he told me that i’ll never forget is, “when you draw your gun, you dont do it to threaten someone, you shoot to kill”

when you’re defending yourself against a potentially lethal opponent and reasoning is out the window, sometimes lethal force is necessary. in those situations theres very little time to think and act, split second assessments are necessary. if u saw your partners go down what would you have done? police take thier jobs very seriously and wouldn’t (and certainly shouldn’t) have thier guns out unless it’s absolutely necessary.

The cops didn’t have pepper spray? They didn’t have tasers? Three cops couldn’t take down one guy without lethal force? Please.

And this… “when a cop has to draw his weapon under pressure he’s shooting with very little idea of exactly where on the target his bullet will wind up.”

…may be the most insane thing I have ever read. If you are that unsure as to how to control yourself and your firearm you bloody well shouldn’t be carrying. And if you aren’t capable of rational thought in stressful situations you shouldn’t even be allowed to carry.

Steve:

Police officers are trained to shoot at center mass, ie, the torso, because it is a large area with a good chance of killing the target. There really isn’t a better way to train, since the training is intended for the officer when he is being attacked by someone with lethal force; fast response is more important than aiming in these cases, hence the taught technique. Thus when something like this happens there is a long drawn out investigation to determine whether or not the shooting was justified.

The officer SHOULD have been armed with a taser, but with all the naysayers complaining about tasers being too dangerous, maybe the agency he was with went against them for lawsuit protection (which is asinine). If he had one, he made a judgement call and pulled his pistol instead. That is what the investigation will determine.

Unfortunately ( at least in the States), all too often cops are handled with kid gloves when it comes to shootings. Remember Rodney King and the various shootings in NYC over the last five years, where the cops mostly got a slap on the wrist. It’s just a bad scene overall.

My heart goes out to his family and friends. Last year our son was in a psychotic state and was brandishing a knife. He too is a big man and generally very sweet and gentle. He was in a fearful state and felt under attack. I thank god that the police who responded at the time had tasers. There also is an amazing program called car 87 that sends out a psychiatric nurse as well as a police officer to deal with emergency mental health issues at night. I wish they were funded for 24 hr a day though. From the sound of this story though it is just a HUGE tradgedy for all involved. May there be a greater understanding for all of us who are quick to judge.

I had the privilege of not only being educated by Paul at Vancouver Film School ten years ago(he was our first semester classical animation teacher for the CG animation course) but also working with Paul on the “Mr. Hell Show”. He was always helpful and he was willing to stand up for me in the early days of my employment when the episode director was trashing me for not being up to speed and talent. Paul gave me the benefit of time to improve and gain experience which touched me since the animation industry can be very cutthroat and unforgiving. He had a hearty and infectious laugh, boyish traits, but was a clear professional when things needed to get done. Yeah, he was a big guy when standing next to him but you’d never feel intimidated. His opinion was always respected by the other senior animators and directors who were of some renown working together on the MR. HELL SHOW (Moose Pagan, Andy Bartlet… etc.)

I don’t care what the circumstances of his death were! I only feel empty knowing another good person is gone. But he won’t be forgotten.

Paul…you are missed. Be at Peace -J-

Paul was a great teacher and a sweet man. As an instructor at VFS, he was encouraging, inspiring and above all, engaging. When I realized that the man who had been shot on Granville Street was Paul, I was having breakfast at a restaurant in Pemberton flipping through a back issue of The Province. I was greatly saddened, more so when I considered how powerfully this gentle man’s mind had betrayed him.

The system is designed to ‘set-people-up-like-this’, sure the guy could’ve been intoxicated, as not what was listed by the likes of the m.s.m.- but for the average person who is classified ‘insane’, by the ‘Legal Standards of the Canadian Justice System’, gives them that more right, before or unknowingly to act out those commands- you find that not everyone of those involved in ‘playing cop’ is actually out there to harm people, the ‘excessive nature’, to which this person, was ‘fundamentally’ killed by trained officers, in return to the amount of time spent as police on-duty, (from what I gathered at the time) was at least 1 rookie police officer.
Not much, going on, ‘cept for his rent I suppose??
Who can really say, those did, or did not have something to prove, on street level, amongst their peers- only what I could say, shortly there-after, this evening, the, then, Chief of Vancouver Police ‘Jamie Graham’, retired, in wake of Paul Boyd’s death, amongst the other 8 people who were shot within the same time frame, clouding and disensitionalization of main stream media reporting- what would be your average, normal quiet day in Vancouver…
Ho-hum?

Not so….

The System/Law Society works against ALL. (ever despite the ‘Pilot Project’s’ of Police who ARE supposed to be called to the scene of those suspected of being mentally ill- buddy didn’t appear to be a ‘ stylized drug addict’) So, in the face the judiciary processes of their insane crimes, no-matter, if they were set-up/framed to be the people the Police perceived they were- when ‘The Law’ intervined, following up to the aftermath of pecuniary measures, brought upon by the ‘The Law’, who decided, in the after-affect, to changing those
‘Laws’ to match their own politically, appointed roles…

All the way down the line…. The guy was only in possession of a bicycle lock.

I’ve heard of this happening, before, in the context, of a police officer being approached with someone welding a pipe…

A six foot 4 inch Officer, against a 5”3′ (short guy with a 2 ft. peace of piping) but that didn’t stop a Rookie Constable from racing across town on a quiet peaceful Sunday, in front of a Church, in front of women and childre to prove himself the hero, now did it..?

I don’t know the dude but I already show respect for him. I know I already commented before but wanted to say I love art and cartoons so much, I actually am an artist myself, I’m only well known and popular in Luton, Bedfordshire, England though, I’m an amatuer but have always done comics, sketches, stories ect. and Ed, Edd & Eddy was always an all time favorite show, I only just found out yesterday [when I commented] that he died by watching an episode from last year that he died, a message came up when the episode finished saying “Paul Boyd we miss you” my heart just stopped and I felt really guttered and had to search about his death and find answers, he’s a legend and will always be respected. Paul? Even though you’re dead, I already show love for your work already pal, so sorry you had to go so soon =[ must really sucked ass what you had to go through dude, you’re not alone with real bad depression, I’m a suffering artist too, I feel for you

Does this mean there wont be any more Ed Edd & Eddy episodes ???:(((( You will be Missed Mr Boyd R I P