Is a syringe considered a deadly weapon?

[MikeGoob]

In the nasty parts of the big city (chicago) Ive seen some syringes in the gutter. I got a creepy feeling just seeing them. Now Ive heard of the police being attacked by junkies with syringes, and honestly I cant remember how they handle it.

In a CCW situation when threatened by someone with a syringe, is deadly force permissible?

Now im talking about those tiny needles--about an inch or so, nothing that could stab through to your heart or anything, but more for the intentional transmission of AIDS...

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Bud White]

Its a Good question but for me personally

I would say it is you don't know what's in there from infected blood to draino

[MikeGoob]

I get the willies even thinking about getting stuck with a dirty needle. Its hard to say I could let someone get within striking range if I couldnt get away...

[rstickle]

Heck, I hate needles when a doctor or nurse is pointing it at me!!

[Bob The Great]

An unknown syringe can be just as deadly as any other weapon, and not just from AIDS blood either. Bleach, Drain-O, or even just air can easily be fatal when injected into a person. It may not go bang, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't treat it as a potentially fatal attack.

[SIGguy229]

IMO, short answer: Yes

Shoot to stop.

[purple88yj]

I'm withrstickle. I don't like the doctor coming at me with a needle.

Anyone not in a Dr's. office, wearing a white lab coat, weilding a hypodermic is going to contract a bad case of high speed lead poisoning.

[lowflyer]

If somebody threatens me with a needle, I will run first. If backed into a corner, I will shoot until the needle falls out of the assailant's hand.

[QKShooter]

Student Accused of Assault With Syringe
By Eric Simons, Staff Writer

Published Monday, April 8, 2002

Issue 98 / Volume 82

A UC San Diego student was arrested Saturday morning, and accused of stabbing women with a syringe and injecting them with a tranquilizer in three separate attacks, including two in Santa Barbara.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Dept. Lt. Bill Byrne said Peter Butcher, a 21-year-old from Santa Barbara, stabbed an Isla Vista resident while she was jogging on the beach in front of Sandpiper Golf Course on Friday. A man walking on the beach found the girl three hours later.

Using information from two similar cases, sheriffs got a probable cause warrant, tracked down Butcher and arrested him in his student home in San Diego, Byrne said.

Both prior cases occurred in January. In the first, a man matching Butcher’s description attacked a French tourist in Santa Barbara city.

In the second, a man knocked down a girl skiing at Mammoth Mountain and held her down, then removed a syringe and injected her with a tranquilizer. The method of attack again matched Friday’s.

The girl was placed on a ventilator in the hospital and recovered consciousness four to five hours later.

Butcher, a member of the UCSD club ski and snowboard team, was in Mammoth for a competition that day, where he placed sixth in the snowboarding giant slalom.

Butcher was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and booked into San Diego County Jail on $250,000 bail. The Sheriff’s Dept. is looking for similar cases inside and outside the state and requested that anyone with information contact them at 681-4100.

[MikeGoob]

legally is it justified?

"I used deadly force because I feared for my life--I didnt want to contract AIDS"?

edit--you posted same time as me--so it looks like in CA at least its considered a 'deadly weapon'. Too bad theres no CCW there to do anything about it...

[QKShooter]

Police in Rockland, Mass., are searching for a man who robbed a liquor store with a needle and syringe he claimed was infected with HIV-infected blood.

Investigators said Vinay Patel, 29, owner of Station Liquors on East Water Street, said a man in a dark hooded sweatshirt walked into his store and threatened to stab him with the HIV-infected needle unless he handed over cash.

The man was videotaped lunging forward and threatening to stick Patel.

"It's the AIDS virus he said he had in the syringe," Patel said. "It looked like blood."

Patel handed over about $1,000 from the store's register and the man fled on foot.

"I wasn't expecting anything like this here," Patel said.

[Sheldon J]

An unknown syringe can be just as deadly as any other weapon, and not just from AIDS blood either. Bleach, Drain-O, or even just air can easily be fatal when injected into a person. It may not go bang, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't treat it as a potentially fatal attack.

What he said, and I add a very slow lingering and painful death Even someone spitting on you that is infected with the above and a host of other deadly Blood born diseases that can be transfered via saliva or a dirty needle must be considered a potentially deadly threat. When retreat is no longer a option the best less than lethal defense for these bozo's is
1. Tasor (can't use in Mi).
2 Some real good pepper spray.
3. All else failing your favorite CCW.

[QKShooter]

Police car attacked as victim gives statement
From the archive, first published Saturday 2nd Jul 2005.

A police car window was smashed as officers interviewed the victim of a syringe stabbing in Oxford.

Landscape gardener Terrentrus Andersohn, 56, was telling police officers about the attack when the car window was broken outside his home in Trefoil Place, Greater Leys, yesterday.

Mr Andersohn, who fears he may have contracted a deadly disease from the needle, was giving a statement when a neighbour knocked on his door to tell the officers about the incident. They went out to investigate and were met with a tirade of verbal abuse. It is thought the window was smashed by a teenage boy.

Mr Andersohn said: "Everything was chaos. There was a big rumpus outside my house. One of the hoodlums rode by on a bike and started laughing and shouting abuse at the officer.

"There was lots of bad language and the youth just had no respect. I'm worried there could be a backlash of abuse towards me."

Mr Andersohn was working at a garden in Staverton Road, Summertown, when he was stabbed from behind with a syringe at 1pm on Tuesday, June 21.

He said: "I was cutting the front hedge, had my back to the road and before I knew it, this young lad barged into me."

Mr Andersohn said he looked down and saw the needle, then looked up and saw his attacker running away.

He said: "I don't know if there was anything in the needle, but I will have to keep having injections every month for about six months."

Mr Andersohn, who came back to the UK from Kenya 11 years ago, when he contracted cerebral malaria, said: "This assault means I have to have injections to prevent HIV and other diseases. I didn't report it until Thursday, as I have had this week off work to sort myself out."

A spokesman for the John Radcliffe Hospital could not comment on Mr Andersohn's specific case. She said a patient who had been stabbed with a syringe would be tested for blood-borne infections, including hepatitis C and HIV. Treatment could include a course of antibiotics.

The attacker is believed to be a teenager. He is about 5ft 4in tall and was wearing a blue hooded top and blue jogging bottoms.

Police spokesman Victoria Bartlett said: "We're taking this assault very seriously and have gone through our usual procedures, advising Mr Andersohn to go to hospital. House-to-house inquiries are taking place in Summertown. We're also investigating the smashed car window."

Anyone with information should call Oxford police on 08458 505505.

[QKShooter]

I am considering anybody that comes after me with a syringe as knowing something about that syringe that I don't know about that syringe....yet.
I'm not taking a slow death HIV/AIDS infection from anybody.

[Biloxi Bersa]

It's dangerous and potentially lethal. I just hope I recognize the threat before it's too late.