海角大神

A Toronto police officer did not shoot the man suspected of killing 10 people Monday by driving a van down a crowded city sidewalk.

Why is this newsworthy? The perception of US and Canadian police behavior is that when confronted with a gun 鈥� or what looks like a gun 鈥� they respond with lethal force.

captures the arrest of Canadian Alek Minassian, who is pointing an object at the police officer.

鈥淜ill me!鈥� the man says.

鈥淣o, get down!鈥� replies Constable Ken Lam.

鈥淚 have a gun in my pocket,鈥� Mr. Minassian says.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 care. Get down,鈥� the cop says repeatedly, closing the distance until he complies.

If Constable Lam had shot the suspect, few would have criticized him. In fact, Michael Lyman, a law professor at Columbia College in Missouri, that the officer may have had a 鈥渄uty鈥� to use lethal force.

But most 鈥� including the Toronto police chief 鈥� consider Lam鈥檚 restraint and poise as exemplary, and it should be the norm. 鈥淵ou know that police are specifically not supposed to act as judge, jury and executioner, right? We need to normalize non-violent police intervention,鈥� .

Indeed, when reason and wisdom prevail over fear and base instinct, justice is truly served.

Now to our five selected stories, including a closer look at relationship-building between nations, a test of US Constitutional legal boundaries, and how one man taught a nation to appreciate its natural wonders.