The pattern of police violence all over this country is based in the dynamic of "OBEY OR DIE" as the #1 police choice in any situation it seems. Inadequate leadership and inadequate training in police depts on how to evaluate and choose from a range of responses cause the default choice of "OBEY OR DIE" which is the #1 problem in each scenario of death. Other factors are at play as well but power trip police arrogance is the worst one of all.

All of you people agamist the police department. Who would you call in an emergency??

A psychiatrist.

Sorry Maher, I firmly disagree. Police are and should be the presence of authority and everyone damn well should listen and obey, it's called following rule of law and it gives us a civilized society. Almost every single instance of all the recent killings were against thugs and people acting out. I'll be damned if I'm going to jump on this police bashing band wagon, I trust that the majority of our police are good, solid men and women PROTECTING us from said thugs. Sorry but when someone is coming threatening with a knife they have every right and I'd even say responsibility to take that person down.

I am SO SICK of people backing thugs and low lifes. Granted this was a different situation and I am very sorry that a mental illness caused this poor soul to do what he did, there absolutely needs to be better mental health care. But lay off the police. We keep bashing police and taking away their confidence and authority and they're not going to be able to make the snap decisions they need to make to keep us safe.

There may be some police arrogance, but Maher's comments reflect a broader ignorance. Know and research the facts before emotion and ego get in the way of an educated opinion. Personal responsibility and common sense, now that's a concept our first world perspective seems to have forgotten.

He sounds so much like my sister who took her life earlier this year. Lovely childhood, smart, promising future, and then the disease struck. It was devestating to watch, knowing I legally could not interviene. Hopefully the police were wearing body cams. He probably scared them if he was lost in his illness. Still, they shouldn't have let thier emotions take over. We really need more research on these horrible degenerative brain diseases.

Stan's comment also reflects a broad ignorance of the situation. It took 19 seconds from the first aggressive movement to shots. Is it realistic to expect a police officer who is confronting a subject with a metal knife-like object outdoors at 9:30pm to decide that he needs to contact a psychiatrist rather than take measures to protect the public.

After all, the cop doesn't know if the guy might have additional weapons, devices, whatnot. There is no way that the cop knew the guy's mental history at the point of first contact: the person was behaving irrationally and there was no time to verify the subject's statements.

There was probably no time for the cop to assess whether this guy was simply insane, a terrorist, a mad person, or a disgruntled former employee. Not with nineteen seconds.

Police are only human. It's a hard job they have to go into situations knowing that there are thousands of guns in their city. Anyone can pull one out and shoot.

In countries that have responsible gun regulation, the police are able to approach people UNARMED! Can you imagine?

It's hard to fix it for our country, but we can help locally. Pass regulations that help insure guns and ammunition are only available to a very few. Or much more strict monitoring and enforcement. I would also suggest getting rid of our local gun stores that are arming our anger-prone citizenry and criminals. Maybe a special tax on ammunition sales.

That said, my condolences for this man's family.

It is a shame they weren't able to get adequate treatment for their family member before this untimely incident.

This is an awful tragedy, no doubt, but the bigger question is: what should our society be doing with these violent, unstable individuals? They can't hold down a job, they make crank calls to 911 to attack cops with a butter knife, and in general they make everyone around them miserable. I feel terrible for the family but the silver lining is that William David Raff, in his own inimitable way, has finally found peace.

If the cop isn't afraid for his life, s/he won't be scared and "shoot first, think later".

I strongly recommend we take the "fear factor" out of the cops jobs as we've done recently for soldiers during wartime.

Replace "on-site police presence" with "remotely operated robots" (think drones) -- police can operate these robots calmly from their squad cars (pending fully autonomous versions).

"Going to the gun" could then be an absolute last resort and used to "take someone out" rather than just "subduing an immediate threat."

I recommend equipping the robots with a variety of non-lethal methods for these purposes -- like "sticky nets". Have the robot "sticky net" the person acting up and then, when they're subdued and pacified, the cop can get safely out of his car to arrest the subject without having to shoot them dead.

It's a win, win.

This is a well written article with a misleading headline. The real story here isn't the police shooting but, rather, the failure of our mental health system. I feel for the family. I really do. With this young man's descent into mental illness, a tragic outcome was increasingly likely.

Sounds like suicide by cop.

Whether justified, this will be decided by an investigation and the courts if need be. It's called due process.

Trampling the constitution will make no one safer.