I guess I was confused by the earlier reference to the girl in the crowd that died when she got hit by a pepperball, and your statement about pepperballs. Sorry
Still, even when it's one perp and a half dozen cops, why should the cops risk a knife in the chest out of consideration for the perp's health? A perp with a knife is going to get shot dead if the cops don't have less than lethal options and the authority to use them. It's not the easy way out, it's the safe way out. If a guy is so hopped up on coke that his heart stops when he gets tazered, then really that's just too bad. My dad saw a guy on meth break a set of standard cuffs. It broke every bone in the guys's wrists, but it also broke the cuffs. They shot one guy high on something 11 times in the chest before a round hit his spine and he dropped. He had a knife. Sure, 10 cops could have jumped on the guy and maybe taken a few losses in the name of public safety, but that's what they signed up for, right?
Wrong. Give them a tazer and let them use it when the other option is to either risk the cop's life or shoot the guy dead. Pepperballs and 40mm baton rounds are supposed to be even one step further down the lethality scale, but a shot to the head can still kill. When it comes down to consideration for a criminal or the cop, I'm pretty much on the cop's side so it's the duty of our society to make sure the cops have less than lethal tools so he can protect us without unreasonably risking himself.
As for the unfortunate girl in the crowd, that's a tragedy. But you know, I don't join mobs or crowds confrontating cops any more than I run with the bulls in Pamplona or chase tornados with a camera. Shxt happens when participating in dangerous activities. I'm a fighter pilot and I know damn well I could die anytime due to a violent act, a criminal act, an act of war, an act of god, simple negligence, or a simple mistake. It's a risk I accept when I engage in that activity. Joining a mob confronting a cop carries a risk and only an idiot needs a warning label to point this out. That girl was in the wrong damn place at the wrong damn time and she shouldn't have been killed, but the fact remains that she was in an area of increased risk and the whims of the fates determined that she would die that day.
Even a 7 yr old with a knife ought to get whacked with something. I'm sure as hell not going to try to grab a freaked out kid with a knife... If he needs controlling, I'm not going to go in with my bare hands unless he's my own kid. If someone else has to control my kid in such a situation, it's my own damn fault for not bringing him up properly.