I’ve been studying Tai Chi for the past three months now. About one month ago, a retired cop called Joe joined our class. Joe is a fun guy, about 6ft tall and around 180 pounds, with a white, stubbly chin. On Saturday, our instructor tried to explain to Joe the practical application of one of the moves he had just learned.
I was standing square in front of Joe, all 5ft 5ins and 155 pounds of me. I was pretending to punch Joe, and Joe was supposed to step backwards, parry my blow and then strike me with his other hand.
Tai Chi is not as simple as it looks and Joe had a little bit of trouble co-ordinating the step-parry-punch combo. So the teacher stopped him and asked: “What do we do when someone attacks us Joe?”
She meant to answer the question with the phrase “We retreat.” But before she could say anything Joe pulled an imaginary gun and pointed it directly at my chest.
I thought it was pretty funny at the time. But it seemed particularly poignant the next day when I read that one man died and two were injured in a hail of 50 bullets fired by New York policemen in Queens.
By now, I am sure you will be familiar with the fact that all three of the victims were in a car, that they were black, they were unarmed, and that the man who died was due to be married the next day. Quite rightly, there is an awful lot of anger about what happened.
According to the latest story in the New York Times today, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly says officers are trained to shoot no more than three bullets before pausing to reassess the situation and NYPD policy largely prohibits officers from firing at vehicles, even when they are being used as weapons.
But would 15 bullets have been less deadly than 50? And however well police officers are trained, is it any surprise that cases like this occur?
The shooting happened at night outside a strip club that is notorious for drugs, weapons and prostitution. One of the men is reported to have argued with a stripper and then with a man outside. Police Commissioner Kelly says an officer claims to have heard one of the victims say: “Yo, get my gun.”
Although the victims were unarmed they are reported to have driven their car first at one plainclothes police officer and then at an unmarked police van. Who knows, maybe they panicked when the plainclothes officer drew his weapon? Maybe they never heard him identify himself as an officer and thought they were being attacked? That certainly seems to be what is being hinted at in reports so far.
But isn’t it a fact that as long as you have armed police officers, there are always going to be cases of innocent people being killed?
Obviously, race is a major issue in this incident. It’s worth pointing out that, according to the New York Times, of the five officers who fired on the car, two are black, one is black and Hispanic, and two are white.
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There is something oh so special about the public toilet story. 
