Officer Mike Stenquist's rebuttal to my opinion printed in the Readers' Forum about police killings perfectly demonstrates the thoughtless, almost cavalier, attitude toward human life I referred to. His demeanor nearly seems to be that the police have an obligation of duty to kill anyone who threatens with a weapon, regardless of any mitigating circumstance. He also suggests that my opinion has no basis in personal experience.
Twice, my life has been threatened by someone with a knife. Each time I defended myself, once with a garden rake and once with my own belt. Imagine that. And with no backup, no guns and no one killed.
I repeat my concern that four, well-trained police officers, proficient in the use of their night sticks, cannot subdue one, belligerent, knife-wielding drunk without having to kill him.
Richard Ewing Davis
Salt Lake City