In light of recent news events, I have a couple of hypotheticals for police behavior I'd like to see readers address.
1. A policeman in a car sees a couple of large 18-year-olds walking down the middle of the street. He rolls down his window and says, "Hey, you shouldn't walk in the street." One of them, who seems much stronger than the policeman, comes over to his car and punches the policeman, who draws his gun and shoot at the boy. The boy runs away, but then turns around and starts running towards the policeman. The policeman backs off, at first. The boy comes closer. What should the policeman do?
2. A policeman sees a large and strong man, much bigger than himself, though maybe a bit fat, selling cigarettes illegally on the street. He calls back-up police, and goes up to the man and tells him he's being arrested. The man argues back vehemently rather than coming with the policeman. The backup police arrive. The man keeps arguing and refusing to leave with the police. What should the policemen do?
I genuinely would like to hear answers. We have to be realistic, of course– "shoot him in the leg" is, I am told, totally impractical advice to give to a terrified policeman, who very possibly will miss the other person entirely. We also have to take the hypotheticals as hypotheticals— that there is some chance the person will be high on meth, some chance he has a weak heart, some chance he has just committed a major crime, etc. But advice based on equipment or training is OK– use a taser, use a billyclub, use judo.