It is with a heavy heart that I reflect on the tragic loss of Officer Sonny Kim of the Cincinnati Police Department. Officer Kim responded to a 911 call regarding a man behaving erratically in public and reportedly armed. Upon arrival, the individual immediately engaged Officer Kim, firing his weapon. Officer Kim returned fire, and tragically, both men succumbed to their wounds. I, along with countless others in our profession, mourn his loss.
This incident brings to the forefront a dangerous misconception held by some members of the public: that police officers possess some superhuman ability to disarm suspects wielding various weapons without resorting to deadly force. This unrealistic expectation often leads to unwarranted criticism when an officer is forced to make a split-second decision to use their firearm.
The narrative often goes like this: an officer shoots an armed suspect, and the questions immediately arise: “Why did they need to shoot him?” or “Couldn’t they have shot the weapon out of his hand?” Change the channel, and we hear similar sentiments: “Did the cops really need to fire upon the troubled young man swinging a piece of Rebar? Was it a weapon or simply a sign of his tribulation?” Then, another news story breaks: “The driver was unarmed,” the reporter declares, “as the officers fired through the windshield of the oncoming vehicle.”
For those who have never faced desperate and deranged individuals armed with guns, knives, jagged pieces of Rebar, or even a 3000 lb. automobile, let me be unequivocally clear: each of these can end your life in an instant! A police officer does not have the luxury of engaging in a lengthy social or psychological analysis of the situation before them. Nor do they have the time to verify the age of a maniacal individual who appears much older than their stated age of