Just in case police in Maine might be as out of touch with reality as the police in Los Angeles, let me point out that there are always other alternatives to dealing with a distraught father, using his child as a shield, than to kill the father and the child. If it were a lion or tiger causing the threat, police officials would have brought it down with a tranquilizer.

“The suspect’s actions left the officers no choice,” according to Los Angeles Police Chief Bratton, who blamed the child’s death on the father.

Like Tony Blair, following the London bombings, placing blame is the most urgent thing to do, even if it requires something as lame as saying we had no other choice.

Fortunately, we humans always have choices about our behaviors. That’s what makes us different from rabbits.

Jim Tierney, Auburn