Over A Mask?

That video we showed last night, about the deputy fatally shooting a man wielding a knife is illuminating of a lot of things that happen in  police work.

This incident occurred on Tuesday, July 14th, evidently over an incident at a local store.  When the store employee told the man that he needed to wear a mask to remain in the business, ... well.

Police said Sean Ernest Ruis, 43 from Grand Ledge, was refused service by the store because he was not wearing a mask. During the argument, Ruis pulled out a knife, stabbed a 77-year-old man from Lansing and fled in a car, police said.

 An Eaton County Sheriff's deputy caught up with Ruis and stopped his vehicle around 7:15 a.m. The video released by Michigan State Police shows Ruis get out of his car while the deputy yells, "drop it, drop the weapon," repeatedly. Ruis repeats these calls, also saying "drop it" as he approaches the deputy.

Eaton County Sheriff Tom Reich said Ruis was armed with a knife and screwdrivers during an afternoon press briefing. "The deputy was backing up and the assailant kept on approaching her very quickly at the end there," said Reich. 

This was a good shoot.

In comments,  Termite notes something that police officers have known for years.

And the video looks a little.....odd. I'm not seeing bullet strikes.

Yeah, you won't generally see bullet strikes, especially when the target is wearing  a tee shirt. Many cops in fatal encounters report not seeing bullet strikes.  Try it sometime.  Take an old tee shirt to the range an put it over your target.

I'm glad that the old man who was stabbed, will probably recover, and that the deputy will probably recover.  But I'm flabbergasted that a mask edict turned into two lethal force encounters.