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Police fire beanbags at knife-wielding man they say demanded they shoot him, on Franklin Street downtown

Boston Police report officers in Downtown Crossing had to fire beanbags to subdue a man who refused to drop a knife at Winter and Washington street even after they pepper sprayed him early this morning, following a foot chase that ended on Franklin Street.

Police say that shortly before 1:40 a.m., a group of people approached a sergeant on patrol to report some guy was running down Winter Street with a knife and that he had swung it at them.

Moments later, officers observed a male matching the description of the suspect pacing back and forth in the intersection of Winter and Washington Streets with an unknown object in his hand. As the officers approached the male, they confirmed that he was holding a knife. The officers ordered the suspect to drop the knife and get down on the ground. The suspect ignored the officer’s commands to drop the knife and fled on foot up Washington Street towards Franklin Street.

Throughout a lengthy foot pursuit through the streets of Downtown Boston, the suspect repeatedly stated that he did nothing wrong and told the officers to shoot him. In an attempt to de-escalate the situation, the officers deployed their department issued Oleoresin Capsicum spray towards the suspect, with minimal effect on him.

After the suspect ignored multiple commands by the officers to drop the knife, the Sergeant on scene deployed multiple shots from a “less-lethal” bean bag shotgun, striking the suspect, and causing him to fall to the ground and drop the knife. Officers were then able to take the suspect into custody without further incident or injury.

Kenneth Kelley, 42. , of Londonderry NH, was taken to a local hospital for observation. He was charged with four counts of assault by means of a dangerous weapon as well as disturbing the peace and resisting arrest, police say.

The capture:

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Comments

I was reliably told by the Philadelphia PD that the only way to deal with knife-wielders is to immediately gun them down in front of family and neighbors. Weird.

(On a serious note, I am thankful no humans—civilian or police—were killed.)

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To fair, one was running away from officers, the other towards them..........

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Between policing in Boston and Philly.

Of course, eventually someone will make a comment here on the first less than lethal tool employed, but it would appear the BPD has a thing about avoiding the use of firearms.

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That would be the difference between professional conduct in Boston and untrained anti-life culture of convenience in Philly.

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Nothing further to add.

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Well done , BPD. Thank you.

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instead of "non-lethal".

I agree that this appears to be a proper and proportionate response by BPD.

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BPD needs moving targets on their long arm range. 3 shots to take him down? Not bad actually seeing at how it was night time and other officers were somewhat in the line of fire. Well done BPD!

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« the officers deployed their department issued Oleoresin Capsicum spray towards the suspect »

They could have just said "the officers pepper-sprayed the suspect" and it would have been much clearer and shorter.

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I get it. It can be off-putting. But the words they chose have legal consequences. In that context you have to say exactly what you know. You know you deployed the spray you were issued in the suspect’s direction. You know how the target reacted. But only the suspect or medical staff know whether you hit them or they just reacted as if you hit them, and the record should be clear on matters like that.

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...differentiates the incapacitating agent used from MACE® which in some cases may be using phenacyl chloride (also called CN tear gas). The product MACE® have changed there formula to using Oleoresin Capsicum because CN tear gas is way more toxic and actually illegal to use in most areas. Many Police Departments still have the original formula in stock though.
So like the @hundel said: Legalese.

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Screaming into the air without a mask in the middle of a growing deadly contagious pandemic. I'm seeing this on a daily basis.

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