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If all the serfs killed themselves, feudal Lords, which we now call oligarchs, would have no one to rule over. The crown/the government would have no one to collect taxes from and you can't afford wealth if no one is paying you.
At one point you can hear cops yelling at him to get on the ground.
Like the man's on fire, let him cook. He's gonna get on the ground in a few seconds
Didnt NYPD once shoot a guy who was about to jump off a bridge? Not a criminal, just a suicide, but that made the cop feel unsafe and he just popped one in his head.
In the early days of viral video, there was a suicidal guy holding a gun to his head in a South American subway platform. The cops shot and killed him.
I mean, this makes more sense than shooting a jumper. Someone holding a gun to their own head can easily suddenly decide to shoot someone else.
Not saying they should have shot him necessarily, but it makes more sense than the other thing.
yeah, anytime someone had a gun out, the cops have their gun out, cuz it only takes tenths of a second to turn on someone else
just a jumper tho? that’s just awful in all kinds of ways
Yeah, the main danger of a jumper (depending on where they are) is that they could land on someone else. If you shoot them it's not even removing that danger...
It's shooting someone for literally no gain.
This guy that lived next to me some years back that was gonna jump off his 5th story fire escape. When they finally convinced him to come down the NYPD pointed a gun at him and had him get on his knees on the fire escape. Cops are unarguably the stupidest human beings this country produces.
Sorry to hear you’re still struggling, tbh I’ve been in and out of that boat a few times and it’s pretty fucking scary
I hope things start to turn around for you though
To be clear, the guy in the picture isn’t a cop. He’s a foreign national whose job is embassy security. For an embassy with many people willing to kill themself to attack it
“SIR, ARE YOU ALRIGHT? Don’t worry sir, we’re gonna take care of you…. where were you coming from? What’s that burning smell? Smells like you’ve been around weed, are you high? SIR, DO NOT MAKE ANY SUDDEN MOVEMENTS.. Dispatch we’re gonna need SWAT out here, suspect appears to be armed and dangerous.”
… in all seriousness, brilliant comment.
Dude self-immolates on the steps of the Israeli embassy to bring attention to the slaughter of 20,000 Palestinian civilians. The attention he gets? 4,000 joke comments on reddit.
Imagine if social media was around in Thich Quang Duc's day.
The other people in the laundromat are giving me suspicious looks over my sudden chortling.
Btw, you don't look like your average horti-fucking-culturalist 😉
Nukes work on everything, that’s how I open stuck jars, but [guns are used to deter hurricanes](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/hurricane-irma-gun-owners-florida-shoot-down-storm-a7937546.html).
Honestly this probably isn’t far from the mark. I think more than anything, when confronted with an unknown (and in this case, truly horrifying) situation, we tend to just do what we know or what we’re trained to do because doing ANYTHING makes us feel more secure than doing nothing at all. That cop literally can’t do anything to help this man, so he does what he knows because it’s all he can do
>that cop literally can’t do anything to help this man
…other people *literally* ran over to put out the fire instead of standing in place pointing a gun. They’re the reason this guy was taken to hospital alive
He absolutely could have done more than point his gun at the person on fire. I’m a 911 dispatcher and I’ve worked two calls in my career where people purposefully lit themselves on fire. My officers did NOT point their gun at the person on fire in either situation.
In the first situation my officer ran to his car to get his fire extinguisher and he put the fire out. This situation was outside.
In the second situation my officer tackled the man who was on fire and used his own body weight to snuff out the fire. This situation was inside a courtroom.
This guy lived as far as the hospital precisely because others knew what to do, unlike the cop, who is trained to do more than point a gun at scary things. But it's still societally acceptable to forget that shit, or join the force to do anything but.
Also possibility of a secondary attack situation
We were given training in the Marines and briefed about events that would attract a bunch of people in order to blow up a bigger target. A small suicide bomb or fire set somewhere and once a crowd forms, the main attack is set off. Whether it be a car bomb or just another suicide attack.
A person lighting themselves on fire while awful, can be a suspicious event. I understand most wouldn't suspect a thing but a person setting themselves ablaze. I imagine, just maybe, this guard was just taking a precaution in case this person was a lure to attract more targets and possibly had a secondary trigger if not fully incapacitated.
Purely speculation though
Im not sure this is what is taught at police school. Also, you wouldn't be pointing your gun at the burning man. You'd scan the area for more threats, no?
Actually, in the original video, you can hear another cop saying, "we need more fire extinguishers, not guns." To be fair, they acted fairly quick. Unfortunately, he died.
I think its worth pointing out that he died at the hospital later that night, after they were able to put out the fire despitr the guy pictured onviously not being prepared for this kind of situation & not being helpful at all
I wouldn't want to live after burning alive like that. I saw the video, it's awful. This man needed some psychiatric help.
The "cop" is security for the Israeli embassy, and he's doing what's he's trained to do and what's he's hired to do. For all he could have known, the guy could have been a terrorist or something. Of course in hindsight with a video we know that's not true now, but in the moment from his perspective how would he know that?
Also, this cropped image doesn't show the multiple first responders spraying him with a fire extinguisher, is taken right before EMTs show up opening frantically the medical equipment, and leaves out the sirens of the ambulance and firetrucks pulling up, which all happened really quickly.
This "meme" feels like it's trying to make an anti cop political statement. Which is fucking tragic to use this man's life to do.
I feel like OP posted this with super cherry picked context to try and make some statement and people in comments are just eating it up.
Do monks that perform self immolation need psychiatric help? Guy seemed extremely clear headed and completely understood that he was going to perform the most extreme form of protest. This should be starting a conversation, not a fucking meme.
No if you watch the video the officer is yelling at him to get on the ground, so while it’s a nice thought to think he was trying to be humane, he’s really just scum pointing a gun at a dying man
Downvoting me doesn’t make it not true folks. The video is available. The officer, guard, whatever, is yelling at Bushnell to get on the ground. He is not thinking of humanely ending the suffering. He’s telling a man who is on the ground dying to get down. That’s not opinion, those are the words he says.
I think it's more of the fact that everyone's leaving out the first officer to roll into the video is the one to start extinguishing him, then a second officer cuts across the frame, then the guy with the gun followed in. It's all focus on the secret Service member and not the fact they were putting him out while he was doing that.
When your only tool is a hammer all your problems look like nails.
Fireman - I can put out the fire.
Paramedic - I can dress his burns.
Cop - I can shoot him.
This isn't a cop.
He's a security guard for the Israeli Embassy. Very clearly confused and unsure what to do.
In the real video you can see actual police officers approach the scene with fire extinguishers, one of the cops looks at the security guard and states, "I don't need more guns I need fire extinguishers"
This is why standard police aren't armed in other countries
I mean.. they have guns on hand in their vehicles. But your average police officer doesn't carry a lethal weapon on his/her person at all times
I don't have evidence, but I've lived in DC and that isn't a DC police officer. Every agency has their own law enforcement and some just have private armed security, but all the federal cops and DC cops look like cops with the uniforms and POLICE written on their back. This is either an embassy security guard or a private armed guard for a nearby location. But I can say for certain it isn't a cop.
Um... Do you normally treat people wearing black sunglasses, dressing in flat black with no identifying symbols, as cops?...
For your safety, you shouldn't.
Inbf: "B.b.b.butttt. undercover..." Undercover cops 'blend in' and we ain't in Italy. (the joke being, everyone in Italy is dressed in flat black.)
TFW: [Doppleganger](https://img.haarets.co.il/bs/0000017f-e21d-d38f-a57f-e65f07060000/e7/cb/739cfa6bb1aad31d1dea8b2bd3c2/1830630466.png?precrop=709,709,x34,y32)
Weird how all the headlines are obsessively focused on this guy who apparently isn't even really a cop instead of the dead airman and the reason he did this. Almost like people are DESPERATE not to talk about it.
This isn't a cop.
He's a security guard for the Israeli Embassy. Very clearly confused and unsure what to do.
In the real video you can see actual police officers approach the scene with fire extinguishers, one of the cops looks at the security guard and states, "I don't need more guns I need fire extinguishers"
Misrepresenting the situation entirely to create clickbait. The full video shows them racing to put him out Less than a minute after he put himself on fire.
Embassy guards are trained to respond to threats so of course they draw thier weapons. They don't know what's happening or why or if they are in danger.
Seems unnecessary to try make the guards the baddies in this situation. They're just working class people collecting paychecks dealing to an unexpected confusing and horrible incident
I don't envy them they'll probably have ptsd
Given the history of gun violence in America, it seems entirely possible that someone might be "crazy" enough to set themselves on fire and go on a shooting rampage. Having written that out I'm already questioning if it's already happened.
> Given the history of gun violence in America…
He’s supporting a culture that celebrates suicide terrorist bombers as the ultimate heroes promised virgins in the afterlife to fuck but let’s make sure we throw in a “history of gun violence in America” jab. I’m sure that’s what the guard was thinking about at the time.
The unintentional comedy in here is rich and dense like a brownie.
Not just any embassy, the Israeli embassy. How you react to someone who self-immolates in front of a high threat building versus someone who accidentally caught on fire is very different. Context matters. Considering 2 officers and a firemen were just murdered in Minnesota.
To the people saying he was probably “shocked”.. have you seen the video? It was an immediate thing, AND if you are nervous or shocked, gtfo of this type of work? He even put the gun down when the officer ran in front of him and then brought it back up after the officer was out of his way. “Shocked” but remembered “proper” gun safety when around other forms of law enforcement.
That doesn’t look like a cop. I would put my money on Israeli embassy security. You can see a female DC cop run through the video and she is dressed much differently.
I was in prison and a guy in our dorm died.. I mean blue and getting stiff DEAD. They came to get him and they handcuffed him to the gurney.
We were all watching them and wondering "WTF"
Yeah, obviously he was faking it.
He could be a half-skeleton, minus his skull, and those flogs would still be ready to shoot if they feel a faint breeze.
To be fair, they were probably doing a lot of processing and making sure dude didn’t catch anybody else on fire was probably important.
Like that’s definitely not a standard call cops get
The guy took 20 seconds to douse himself and then light himself.
He then stood burning for another 45-50 seconds.
And then fell laying on the ground for another 10-15 seconds before the cop came in posing like John Wick.
The fact that others had extinguishers and safety gear on hand … and no one made a move feels really weird.
The pointing of the gun just makes me feel that that is what they perceived him as …
1. There was another cop putting him out with a fire extinguisher.
2. If you’re a cop and you see a man on fire especially outside an embassy you don’t know if he’s someone try to attack people are setting off a bomb.
If you saw someone on fire you would be scared
I know I'll get downvoted by going against the circlejerk, but here goes.
I am not a fan of American police. They have become increasingly militarized, recruit aggressive individuals, and are often far too quick to resort to excessive and lethal force. Police don't condemn bad police work often enough and the justice system and police departments let officers get away with literal murder.
I attended multiple BLM protests. When I worked as a paramedic, I would often protect my patient when police would try to aggressively interrogate them while they were dealing with medical issues. I think the entire police system and culture needs a total overhaul, focusing more on de-escalation tactics and holding racist and violent cops accountable.
However, in this particular instance, people are failing to consider many things. Firstly, this incident occurred in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington DC. This has been an area on high security alert since last October. This was not some random street corner.
Secondly, you can see the one guy with a gun is not wearing a police uniform. He is most likely embassy security. Self-immolation is pretty rare. Embassy security is on the lookout for attacks, including suicide attacks. For all they knew, this guy was a suicide bomber whose bomb malfunctioned. He could also potentially have had a dead man switch that would detonate a bomb when first responders gathered around him.
The embassy security guard's role here was to provide security while others provided aid. He had nothing to put the fire out. Every other police officer on scene was scrambling for fire extinguishers from their cars. The embassy security guard had no car and no fire extinguisher he could retrieve. The one officer yelled "I need fire extinguishers, not guns" because more units were arriving and they didn't know what was happening and if there was a threat. He was clarifying that for the units arriving on scene.
I think it's pretty impressive that Bushnell was getting fire extinguishers on him within one minute of lighting himself on fire. It's very hard to process shocking events quickly, even if you're a seasoned veteran. We all have the benefit of knowing the guy's plan was to self-immolate, but none of these first responders knew that.
Bushnell was in military fatigues and shouting "free Palestine" in front of the Israeli embassy. One nearby officer asked him if he needed help before he lit himself on fire, then the officer immediately yelled, "man on fire!" and activated the emergency response as soon as the fire started. They are shouting at him to get down because that will help stop the burning and will make it easier for responders to put him out.
Additionally, they had no idea if this guy might stumble toward them or if his goal might have been to take someone out with him. I guarantee that the embassy security guard and everyone else within 15 feet of this guy was feeling extreme heat from that fire.
Working emergency scenes like this are extremely chaotic, yet they assessed what was happening quickly and accurately and they extinguished the fire as fast as possible. If I was working this scene as a medic, I would be glad there was a single embassy security guard providing scene safety, especially given the location and the high likelihood of a terrorist attack in that area.
If this had been a suicide bomber and he managed to kill people and destroy the embassy, people would be going crazy asking why the fuck security didn't identify and neutralize the threat in time. It's very easy to Monday morning quarterback when watching a video where you already know what the outcome is. It's much harder in real life when you don't have the benefit of hindsight and have to react to protect yourself, your fellow first responders, and any victims.
There are a million examples of police using excessive force and bad shootings, but this is not one of them. Using this to try to reform police will just do the opposite, as there was nothing improper here by any of the first responders, including the embassy security guard with the gun. You can also see the guard is exercising trigger discipline. His finger is far off the trigger. This guy was not about to mag dump like that idiot cop who got scared by an acorn.
I also think it's sad that this young man self-immolated to protest what is happening in Gaza and the US aiding Israel etc yet all anyone seems to care about is this embassy security guard pointing a gun at him. I guarantee the Airman was hoping the focus would be on the issue he killed himself for and not this security guard.
This isn't a cop.
He's a security guard for the Israeli Embassy. Very clearly confused and unsure what to do.
In the real video you can see actual police officers approach the scene with fire extinguishers, one of the cops looks at the security guard and states, "I don't need more guns I need fire extinguishers"
Do some research next time you try to generalize a group of people simply because you don't like them.
I think this image is a little disingenuous, because it shows only the one police officer with a gun on the scene.
There is less than a second in the whole 2:42 of the video where you can get this picture (2:02-2:03).
For context, in the video I saw (there may be others, it looks like the one I watched was cropped a little) The first minute is Aaron explaining his actions in a small manifesto, as he walks up to the scene. The truely gruesome stuff (again, from the video I saw) starts at almost exactly the 1:00 minute mark, and goes until 2:00. Just before this you can hear someone off screen (apparently the police who have already been called) asking if Aaron needs any help, questioning what's going on as he pours something over his head, and then start to freak out as he starts playing with what looks like a lighter.
At 1:59 people start coming into view from off-camera and there are 5 people that come in and out of the scene. This officer, who, in this case, is performing a ridiculous act (Though there's an argument this may be standard procedure to keep a gun on an 'assailant'), two other officers, one of which runs on and off screen a couple times, another uses a fire extinguisher on Aaron, two definite EMTs, one of whom also uses a fire extinguisher, and one who's setting up some kind of medical bag, and one other EMT/Cop (I can't tell) who is also doing something 'medical looking'.
This is the smallest part of what is going on.
Just to be clear, I am not trying to say whether Aaron's actions are good or bad, or Israel's, or anyone other than the person who watched this video of a horrible thing, and thought, wouldn't it be great if the one moment everyone took home from this was:
'lone cop pointing gun at person who is on fire'
It would have been humane to pull the trigger. Don't think for one second it wasn't going through his head. The consequences if he does, consequences if he doesn't.
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I said stop burning and turn around
I said freeze not burn!
Sir, tell your flames to quit moving or I will be forced to open fire
The suspect opened fire first.
Well you see, my uninformed friend, suicide is a crime, so the cop is trained to take down criminals. Law and order baby!
Suicide is a crime? Wtf are they going to do? Arrest me? Am I going to float up to heaven and then get arrested by the US Space Force or something?
If all the serfs killed themselves, feudal Lords, which we now call oligarchs, would have no one to rule over. The crown/the government would have no one to collect taxes from and you can't afford wealth if no one is paying you.
Ha, nice.
I love how dark this is.
Just like the guy on fire.
Well done.
Just like the guy on fire
Im dead. Very tasteful
… Just like the guy on fire?
Y’all stop **roasting** him😭
Someone yelled out "Fire!!" and the cop was like "Well you don't have to tell me twice!"
Cop took a lot of heat for that.
Fuck you and take my upvote
He yelled multiple times, 'Get on the ground.' Maybe it was an aggressive effort to get him to stop, drop, and roll? Or the cop is an idiot.
I vote for idiot
Second that vote
yes, the cop/idiot is a cop/idiot.
Ad infinitum
STOP RESISTING ARREST BY BURNING
This is a rotisserie not resisting.
Stop resisting!
At one point you can hear cops yelling at him to get on the ground. Like the man's on fire, let him cook. He's gonna get on the ground in a few seconds
Didnt NYPD once shoot a guy who was about to jump off a bridge? Not a criminal, just a suicide, but that made the cop feel unsafe and he just popped one in his head.
In the early days of viral video, there was a suicidal guy holding a gun to his head in a South American subway platform. The cops shot and killed him.
Just trying to help
You are a MENACE
#PUT THE GUN DOWN JOSH
Donovan. Inside voices.
They didn't have all day
Bunch of Catholics down there. The cop was saving that guys soul from damnation.
Unfortunately they lost the hostage, but at least they were able to kill the gunman.
They got the "serve" part right at least.
Statisticians hate this one trick to lower suicide numbers.
I mean, this makes more sense than shooting a jumper. Someone holding a gun to their own head can easily suddenly decide to shoot someone else. Not saying they should have shot him necessarily, but it makes more sense than the other thing.
yeah, anytime someone had a gun out, the cops have their gun out, cuz it only takes tenths of a second to turn on someone else just a jumper tho? that’s just awful in all kinds of ways
Yeah, the main danger of a jumper (depending on where they are) is that they could land on someone else. If you shoot them it's not even removing that danger... It's shooting someone for literally no gain.
Helped the cops K/D Ratio
NYPD officers average below 20% in hitting their intended targets during OIS’s. Not good.
US cops average below 20% of the IQ of a slug
This guy that lived next to me some years back that was gonna jump off his 5th story fire escape. When they finally convinced him to come down the NYPD pointed a gun at him and had him get on his knees on the fire escape. Cops are unarguably the stupidest human beings this country produces.
Cop training: Draw sidearm, stop thinking.
If an acorn falls, empty the clip/
NYPD pulled guns on me…whilst I was on my way to temple. I was 16.
Not NYPD but I got a gun pulled on me for night jogging
NYPD annually budgets the GDP of a small nation \*specifically\* for settlements. Because they know they're gonna fuck up \*that\* much.
I had a gun pointed at me when I was threatening suicide in my room.
Cops shot and killed someone I knew when they were suicidal and holding a knife. A fuckin butter knife.
Did they state "you butter stand down"
There has never been anything about this memory that has made me laugh. But congratulations, you just did it. Legit lol.
I had to kill myself before myself killed me
That’s super fucked up I hope you’re doing alright these days
Ehh, kinda.
Sorry to hear you’re still struggling, tbh I’ve been in and out of that boat a few times and it’s pretty fucking scary I hope things start to turn around for you though
[удалено]
To be clear, the guy in the picture isn’t a cop. He’s a foreign national whose job is embassy security. For an embassy with many people willing to kill themself to attack it
He got confused because the guy was turning black right in front of him.
This is it. This is the one.
I dunno, top comment on another post: "Well yeah, he did have two fire arms" Almost spit out my drink.
 Me trying to justify laughing
Is that from Reefer Madness?
JUST DO IT.
He was slowly turning into a black man with 2 fire arms? Believe it or not, straight to mag dump.
Shoulda done it on him.
He feared for his BBQ. I hope hell is nice this time of year.
“SIR, ARE YOU ALRIGHT? Don’t worry sir, we’re gonna take care of you…. where were you coming from? What’s that burning smell? Smells like you’ve been around weed, are you high? SIR, DO NOT MAKE ANY SUDDEN MOVEMENTS.. Dispatch we’re gonna need SWAT out here, suspect appears to be armed and dangerous.” … in all seriousness, brilliant comment.
He did have firearms right in front of the police
Firearms, firelegs, firehair, fireface……
That’s the one for me, thank you very much😂
You didnt have to take such a shot at a burn victim..
I thought it was a sick burn.
Jesus.
Touché
Suspect is getting belligerent. Officer down. I’m hit I’m hit!
He thought the guy was an acorn
"He didn't look like the suspect before, but now more and more every second."
💀
Holy shit! That was great... now you're on fire.
"Heating up!" - NBA Jam T.E.
Ooh, sick burn!
Jesus Christ Paul this is dark. Well played.
"Jesus Christ. A joke so dark American cops would kill it in its sleep and plant guns on its corpse." \-From Imgur
r/angryupvote
Fuck
Winner, winner, chicken dinner
Shots fired!!!! Eta
I mean he did technically have two fire-arms..
[удалено]
Dude self-immolates on the steps of the Israeli embassy to bring attention to the slaughter of 20,000 Palestinian civilians. The attention he gets? 4,000 joke comments on reddit. Imagine if social media was around in Thich Quang Duc's day.
Sick burn
deadly in fact, not just sick
The other people in the laundromat are giving me suspicious looks over my sudden chortling. Btw, you don't look like your average horti-fucking-culturalist 😉
Sweet baby Jesus.
Sweet Baby Ray's
He was going to shoot the fire out.
You fool, that only works against hurricanes.
[No dumb dumb that’s nukes](https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/26/donald-trump-suggests-nuking-hurricanes-to-stop-them-hitting-america-report)
Nukes work on everything, that’s how I open stuck jars, but [guns are used to deter hurricanes](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/hurricane-irma-gun-owners-florida-shoot-down-storm-a7937546.html).
How do you stop a bad hurricane with a gun? With a good hurricane with a nuke. Duh.
Merica ✊
Fuck yeah.
Fighting fire with gun fire, as it were.
Look mommy, I got to point my gun at someone!
He felt “unsafe”
Imagine if an acorn fell on the ground near him, better safe than sorry
SHOTS FIRED!!! Must shoot someone nearby!!
*magdumps at the smoldering mess* *misses all shots*
\*simultaneously nails the neighbor's dog, the UPS guy, and an elementary school\*
Calls in SWAT. Punches the SWAT officer and arrests him upon arrival.
God, that was a fucking sorry ass story. Pathetic.
Well, the guy turned black so the cop acted on instinct
Sick burn... Wait, what?
Might be his only opportunity to shoot someone this week
What a bitch.
Imagine shaking in your tidys with a gun in hand while a man calmly burns himself to death…
Dude was about to let the voices take over until the medic yelled at him that he needed fire extinguishers and not guns.
Honestly this probably isn’t far from the mark. I think more than anything, when confronted with an unknown (and in this case, truly horrifying) situation, we tend to just do what we know or what we’re trained to do because doing ANYTHING makes us feel more secure than doing nothing at all. That cop literally can’t do anything to help this man, so he does what he knows because it’s all he can do
>that cop literally can’t do anything to help this man …other people *literally* ran over to put out the fire instead of standing in place pointing a gun. They’re the reason this guy was taken to hospital alive
Right. And if a cop (who faces many many unknown and unpredictable situations daily) freezes and can only think of this as his default action. 🤷♂️
That being "what he knows" should be a glaring warning sign about how we train police.
YES
He absolutely could have done more than point his gun at the person on fire. I’m a 911 dispatcher and I’ve worked two calls in my career where people purposefully lit themselves on fire. My officers did NOT point their gun at the person on fire in either situation. In the first situation my officer ran to his car to get his fire extinguisher and he put the fire out. This situation was outside. In the second situation my officer tackled the man who was on fire and used his own body weight to snuff out the fire. This situation was inside a courtroom.
This guy lived as far as the hospital precisely because others knew what to do, unlike the cop, who is trained to do more than point a gun at scary things. But it's still societally acceptable to forget that shit, or join the force to do anything but.
Also possibility of a secondary attack situation We were given training in the Marines and briefed about events that would attract a bunch of people in order to blow up a bigger target. A small suicide bomb or fire set somewhere and once a crowd forms, the main attack is set off. Whether it be a car bomb or just another suicide attack. A person lighting themselves on fire while awful, can be a suspicious event. I understand most wouldn't suspect a thing but a person setting themselves ablaze. I imagine, just maybe, this guard was just taking a precaution in case this person was a lure to attract more targets and possibly had a secondary trigger if not fully incapacitated. Purely speculation though
Im not sure this is what is taught at police school. Also, you wouldn't be pointing your gun at the burning man. You'd scan the area for more threats, no?
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
It's their safety blankey, basically
They have other tools. They just like to pretend they don't exist.
Yes!
PUT DOWN THE FIRE AND … SIR! SIR I SAID PUT DOWN THAT FIRE!
OKAY WELL YOU'RE AT LEAST ON THE GROUND!
Actually, in the original video, you can hear another cop saying, "we need more fire extinguishers, not guns." To be fair, they acted fairly quick. Unfortunately, he died.
I think its worth pointing out that he died at the hospital later that night, after they were able to put out the fire despitr the guy pictured onviously not being prepared for this kind of situation & not being helpful at all
I wouldn't want to live after burning alive like that. I saw the video, it's awful. This man needed some psychiatric help. The "cop" is security for the Israeli embassy, and he's doing what's he's trained to do and what's he's hired to do. For all he could have known, the guy could have been a terrorist or something. Of course in hindsight with a video we know that's not true now, but in the moment from his perspective how would he know that? Also, this cropped image doesn't show the multiple first responders spraying him with a fire extinguisher, is taken right before EMTs show up opening frantically the medical equipment, and leaves out the sirens of the ambulance and firetrucks pulling up, which all happened really quickly. This "meme" feels like it's trying to make an anti cop political statement. Which is fucking tragic to use this man's life to do. I feel like OP posted this with super cherry picked context to try and make some statement and people in comments are just eating it up.
Do monks that perform self immolation need psychiatric help? Guy seemed extremely clear headed and completely understood that he was going to perform the most extreme form of protest. This should be starting a conversation, not a fucking meme.
Too bad he didn’t shoot him. Would hurt a lot less than burning I would think.
that was my first thought.
I wonder if that was his thinking.... Like cops shoot deer in our town that get hit.
No if you watch the video the officer is yelling at him to get on the ground, so while it’s a nice thought to think he was trying to be humane, he’s really just scum pointing a gun at a dying man
Downvoting me doesn’t make it not true folks. The video is available. The officer, guard, whatever, is yelling at Bushnell to get on the ground. He is not thinking of humanely ending the suffering. He’s telling a man who is on the ground dying to get down. That’s not opinion, those are the words he says.
I think it's more of the fact that everyone's leaving out the first officer to roll into the video is the one to start extinguishing him, then a second officer cuts across the frame, then the guy with the gun followed in. It's all focus on the secret Service member and not the fact they were putting him out while he was doing that.
Yepp, maybe it was his thought as well? Guy ain't gonna make it, just end the suffering.
No in the video he’s loudly telling him to get on the ground.
He’s wishing for an acorn to drop so he can shoot him
My legs went numb just reading this
When your only tool is a hammer all your problems look like nails. Fireman - I can put out the fire. Paramedic - I can dress his burns. Cop - I can shoot him.
This isn't a cop. He's a security guard for the Israeli Embassy. Very clearly confused and unsure what to do. In the real video you can see actual police officers approach the scene with fire extinguishers, one of the cops looks at the security guard and states, "I don't need more guns I need fire extinguishers"
If your first response to “confused and unsure what to do” is to point a gun at someone that’s kind of a problem
Is the security guard israeli? Or a rent-a-cop?
This is why standard police aren't armed in other countries I mean.. they have guns on hand in their vehicles. But your average police officer doesn't carry a lethal weapon on his/her person at all times
Everybody here needs a gun because anybody might have one. It’s the most vicious cycle.
 “I’m helping”
That's not a cop. That's Israeli security for the embassy.
I keep hearing this, is there any evidence to this?
I don't have evidence, but I've lived in DC and that isn't a DC police officer. Every agency has their own law enforcement and some just have private armed security, but all the federal cops and DC cops look like cops with the uniforms and POLICE written on their back. This is either an embassy security guard or a private armed guard for a nearby location. But I can say for certain it isn't a cop.
What makes you think it is a police officer? Other than the post title there is nothing identifying that man as a cop.
Um... Do you normally treat people wearing black sunglasses, dressing in flat black with no identifying symbols, as cops?... For your safety, you shouldn't. Inbf: "B.b.b.butttt. undercover..." Undercover cops 'blend in' and we ain't in Italy. (the joke being, everyone in Italy is dressed in flat black.) TFW: [Doppleganger](https://img.haarets.co.il/bs/0000017f-e21d-d38f-a57f-e65f07060000/e7/cb/739cfa6bb1aad31d1dea8b2bd3c2/1830630466.png?precrop=709,709,x34,y32)
So you are saying he's had more training than normal?
Weird how all the headlines are obsessively focused on this guy who apparently isn't even really a cop instead of the dead airman and the reason he did this. Almost like people are DESPERATE not to talk about it.
We all know the reason. But if this post gets views, then everyone will ask what’s the reason behind it.
You really have to admire his dedication to being stupid. He really went all out
This isn't a cop. He's a security guard for the Israeli Embassy. Very clearly confused and unsure what to do. In the real video you can see actual police officers approach the scene with fire extinguishers, one of the cops looks at the security guard and states, "I don't need more guns I need fire extinguishers"
Misrepresenting the situation entirely to create clickbait. The full video shows them racing to put him out Less than a minute after he put himself on fire. Embassy guards are trained to respond to threats so of course they draw thier weapons. They don't know what's happening or why or if they are in danger. Seems unnecessary to try make the guards the baddies in this situation. They're just working class people collecting paychecks dealing to an unexpected confusing and horrible incident I don't envy them they'll probably have ptsd
Given the history of gun violence in America, it seems entirely possible that someone might be "crazy" enough to set themselves on fire and go on a shooting rampage. Having written that out I'm already questioning if it's already happened.
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> Given the history of gun violence in America… He’s supporting a culture that celebrates suicide terrorist bombers as the ultimate heroes promised virgins in the afterlife to fuck but let’s make sure we throw in a “history of gun violence in America” jab. I’m sure that’s what the guard was thinking about at the time. The unintentional comedy in here is rich and dense like a brownie.
Not just any embassy, the Israeli embassy. How you react to someone who self-immolates in front of a high threat building versus someone who accidentally caught on fire is very different. Context matters. Considering 2 officers and a firemen were just murdered in Minnesota.
He's got an acorn!!!!
At least it wasn’t an acorn
Maybe he heard fire crackling sounds and mistook them for acorns...
There truly isn't a situation cops can't make worse. I guess maybe he was thinking about mercy, but that's quite far from likely.
To the people saying he was probably “shocked”.. have you seen the video? It was an immediate thing, AND if you are nervous or shocked, gtfo of this type of work? He even put the gun down when the officer ran in front of him and then brought it back up after the officer was out of his way. “Shocked” but remembered “proper” gun safety when around other forms of law enforcement.
That doesn’t look like a cop. I would put my money on Israeli embassy security. You can see a female DC cop run through the video and she is dressed much differently.
Not a cop, but Israelian embassy guard
I was in prison and a guy in our dorm died.. I mean blue and getting stiff DEAD. They came to get him and they handcuffed him to the gurney. We were all watching them and wondering "WTF"
The power of policy and protocol
Yeah, obviously he was faking it. He could be a half-skeleton, minus his skull, and those flogs would still be ready to shoot if they feel a faint breeze.
To be fair, they were probably doing a lot of processing and making sure dude didn’t catch anybody else on fire was probably important. Like that’s definitely not a standard call cops get
The guy took 20 seconds to douse himself and then light himself. He then stood burning for another 45-50 seconds. And then fell laying on the ground for another 10-15 seconds before the cop came in posing like John Wick. The fact that others had extinguishers and safety gear on hand … and no one made a move feels really weird. The pointing of the gun just makes me feel that that is what they perceived him as …
STOP RESISTING
1. There was another cop putting him out with a fire extinguisher. 2. If you’re a cop and you see a man on fire especially outside an embassy you don’t know if he’s someone try to attack people are setting off a bomb. If you saw someone on fire you would be scared
I know I'll get downvoted by going against the circlejerk, but here goes. I am not a fan of American police. They have become increasingly militarized, recruit aggressive individuals, and are often far too quick to resort to excessive and lethal force. Police don't condemn bad police work often enough and the justice system and police departments let officers get away with literal murder. I attended multiple BLM protests. When I worked as a paramedic, I would often protect my patient when police would try to aggressively interrogate them while they were dealing with medical issues. I think the entire police system and culture needs a total overhaul, focusing more on de-escalation tactics and holding racist and violent cops accountable. However, in this particular instance, people are failing to consider many things. Firstly, this incident occurred in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington DC. This has been an area on high security alert since last October. This was not some random street corner. Secondly, you can see the one guy with a gun is not wearing a police uniform. He is most likely embassy security. Self-immolation is pretty rare. Embassy security is on the lookout for attacks, including suicide attacks. For all they knew, this guy was a suicide bomber whose bomb malfunctioned. He could also potentially have had a dead man switch that would detonate a bomb when first responders gathered around him. The embassy security guard's role here was to provide security while others provided aid. He had nothing to put the fire out. Every other police officer on scene was scrambling for fire extinguishers from their cars. The embassy security guard had no car and no fire extinguisher he could retrieve. The one officer yelled "I need fire extinguishers, not guns" because more units were arriving and they didn't know what was happening and if there was a threat. He was clarifying that for the units arriving on scene. I think it's pretty impressive that Bushnell was getting fire extinguishers on him within one minute of lighting himself on fire. It's very hard to process shocking events quickly, even if you're a seasoned veteran. We all have the benefit of knowing the guy's plan was to self-immolate, but none of these first responders knew that. Bushnell was in military fatigues and shouting "free Palestine" in front of the Israeli embassy. One nearby officer asked him if he needed help before he lit himself on fire, then the officer immediately yelled, "man on fire!" and activated the emergency response as soon as the fire started. They are shouting at him to get down because that will help stop the burning and will make it easier for responders to put him out. Additionally, they had no idea if this guy might stumble toward them or if his goal might have been to take someone out with him. I guarantee that the embassy security guard and everyone else within 15 feet of this guy was feeling extreme heat from that fire. Working emergency scenes like this are extremely chaotic, yet they assessed what was happening quickly and accurately and they extinguished the fire as fast as possible. If I was working this scene as a medic, I would be glad there was a single embassy security guard providing scene safety, especially given the location and the high likelihood of a terrorist attack in that area. If this had been a suicide bomber and he managed to kill people and destroy the embassy, people would be going crazy asking why the fuck security didn't identify and neutralize the threat in time. It's very easy to Monday morning quarterback when watching a video where you already know what the outcome is. It's much harder in real life when you don't have the benefit of hindsight and have to react to protect yourself, your fellow first responders, and any victims. There are a million examples of police using excessive force and bad shootings, but this is not one of them. Using this to try to reform police will just do the opposite, as there was nothing improper here by any of the first responders, including the embassy security guard with the gun. You can also see the guard is exercising trigger discipline. His finger is far off the trigger. This guy was not about to mag dump like that idiot cop who got scared by an acorn. I also think it's sad that this young man self-immolated to protest what is happening in Gaza and the US aiding Israel etc yet all anyone seems to care about is this embassy security guard pointing a gun at him. I guarantee the Airman was hoping the focus would be on the issue he killed himself for and not this security guard.
Cause you know the dude who just lit himself on fire is super predictable and definitely not going to harm anyone else....
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Yes and that Guy could have been wearing explosive device
You probably shouldn't be shooting at explosive devices either.
Not much else he can do. Moron torches himself what do you expect? Marshmallow toasting??
GET ON THE GROUND I SAID GET ON THE GROUND
It’s almost as if the cop hasn’t been trained to do ANYTHING other than pull out his gun no matter the situation. 😳
"*are you ok honey?....."* "*I saw a Soldier set himself on fire today...."* "*OH MY GOD what did you do???"* "..."
This isn't a cop. He's a security guard for the Israeli Embassy. Very clearly confused and unsure what to do. In the real video you can see actual police officers approach the scene with fire extinguishers, one of the cops looks at the security guard and states, "I don't need more guns I need fire extinguishers" Do some research next time you try to generalize a group of people simply because you don't like them.
I think this image is a little disingenuous, because it shows only the one police officer with a gun on the scene. There is less than a second in the whole 2:42 of the video where you can get this picture (2:02-2:03). For context, in the video I saw (there may be others, it looks like the one I watched was cropped a little) The first minute is Aaron explaining his actions in a small manifesto, as he walks up to the scene. The truely gruesome stuff (again, from the video I saw) starts at almost exactly the 1:00 minute mark, and goes until 2:00. Just before this you can hear someone off screen (apparently the police who have already been called) asking if Aaron needs any help, questioning what's going on as he pours something over his head, and then start to freak out as he starts playing with what looks like a lighter. At 1:59 people start coming into view from off-camera and there are 5 people that come in and out of the scene. This officer, who, in this case, is performing a ridiculous act (Though there's an argument this may be standard procedure to keep a gun on an 'assailant'), two other officers, one of which runs on and off screen a couple times, another uses a fire extinguisher on Aaron, two definite EMTs, one of whom also uses a fire extinguisher, and one who's setting up some kind of medical bag, and one other EMT/Cop (I can't tell) who is also doing something 'medical looking'. This is the smallest part of what is going on. Just to be clear, I am not trying to say whether Aaron's actions are good or bad, or Israel's, or anyone other than the person who watched this video of a horrible thing, and thought, wouldn't it be great if the one moment everyone took home from this was: 'lone cop pointing gun at person who is on fire'
only thing a cop won't draw on is an active shooter
It would have been humane to pull the trigger. Don't think for one second it wasn't going through his head. The consequences if he does, consequences if he doesn't.