by Bob Walsh
Hung Lam, 30, is a Vietnamese immigrant and appears to have some mental health issues. Dondi West is a cop in San Jose, CA. Officer West shot Lam in the back on his own front lawn. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has said that San Jose owes Lam $11.3 million for crippling him in that incident.
The officer asserts that Lam was holding a toad sticker to his own neck, then walked backwards towards her. At some point she (allegedly) feared that he was close enough to present a threat to her and she shot him, in the back, because his back was towards her.
Unfortunately for the officer and the people of San Jose a retired deputy happened to be nearby and saw much of the interaction. It was her opinion that Lam was NOT an immediate threat to Officer West. She stated that Lam made stabbing motions towards HIMSELF and not Officer West. The neighborhood busybody ex-deputy did say that Lam was sometimes facing towards Officer West and sometimes away. Officer West said Lam was turning towards her when she fired.
Lam was a cook in a restaurant and hoped to become a dancer according to his boyfriend. Being stuck in a wheel chair will probably put a crimp in that career aspiration. Unfortunate, but true.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Looks like a good shoot to me. Instead of claiming she feared for her life, she should have told the jury she shot the guy to keep him from harming himself.
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