YASECT: cop shoots at minivan full of kids

[iGas]

So fleeing from the cops is fine with you as long as they send a ticket to the registered vehicle owner?

Remind me of that the next time I am using a stolen vehicle with 100 pounds of cocaine and a dead hooker in the backseat. :biggrin:

It is possible to have a stolen vehicle with kids in it, and perhaps the driver license and registration papers were stolen as well.

Perhaps it make more sense to give the cops gatling gun to mow down anyone/any vehicle that break the law to save the great America nation from the unwashed.

 

[Newbian]

It is possible to have a stolen vehicle with kids in it, and perhaps the driver license and registration papers were stolen as well.

Perhaps it make more sense to give the cops gatling gun to mow down anyone/any vehicle that break the law to save the great America nation from the unwashed.

Sorry but driving away from the cops is a great sign of guilt and having kids in the vehicle is not a defense.

I was just sad the son didn't get tased when he came out the 2nd time.

 

[iGas]

Sorry but driving away from the cops is a great sign of guilt and having kids in the vehicle is not a defense.

I was just sad the son didn't get tased when he came out the 2nd time.

I agree that the woman is guilty, but perhaps the cops should just empty their clips on the cretins to save the world from the potential drugs dealers/killers, or stop them from aspire to become drugs dealers and killers in the future.

 

[Newbian]

I agree that the woman is guilty, but perhaps the cops should just empty their clips on the cretins to save the world from the potential drugs dealers/killers, or stop them from aspire to become drugs dealers and killers in the future.

Yea but then you would have to clean up the mess and best to do that when in a area where a dead body won't be a issue.

 

[OutHouse]

The risk of shooting one or maybe two shots at the tire of a fleeing vehicle is incredibly less than the risk of a high speed chase. The officer was completely justified, but "society" will be up in arms over while policemen harassing a black family, as usual.

fail. shooting out the tires does not stop a car. the risk of the bullet ricocheting and taking out somebody is extremely high.

this was not a movie or video game. its extremely dangerous and difficult as you can see from the vid, the cop was under pressure, amped up and missed. which is why shooting out tires is an absolute last resort. a lot of depts have a policy against it.

 

[smackababy]

fail. shooting out the tires does not stop a car. the risk of the bullet ricocheting and taking out somebody is extremely high.

this was not a movie or video game. its extremely dangerous and difficult as you can see from the vid, the cop was under pressure, amped up and missed. which is why shooting out tires is an absolute last resort. a lot of depts have a policy against it.

The chances of that happening are not extremely high. Shooting a hollow point downward into a moving vehicle, having it miss, not disintegrates upon impact with the pavement, and continue in a trajectory into the vehicle striking a person, is not extremely likely. In fact, chances are it is far less likely then some moron running speeding down a highway trying to escape the police.

Do I think it was the best idea? No. Do I think the cop in question was justified in doing it? Yes.

 

[Gunslinger08]

Difficult to tell where he was aiming. If he's shooting for the tires and is reasonably close, I'm okay with it. If he's aiming for the body of the vehicle, I don't think he should have been firing. A fleeing vehicle/suspect without a weapon don't pose an immediate risk to life. The rules on the use of deadly force by police officers should be the same as those for regular folks, minus the need in most states to retreat.

 

[tcsenter]

So many things depend on an outcome going one way or another. e.g. if this woman had crashed the van at a high rate of speed one mile down the road, killed many of her kids or maybe someone else's family, THEN what measures in an attempt to stop the van on the part of the officer would you have found reasonable??

These are the things officers have to decide in two seconds, then get criticized by someone who has minutes to think about it, has the ability to replay the video in slow motion 10 times, knowing details the officer did not or could not have known at the time, and also knowing what the conclusion or outcome of the incident was.

I don't think he was shooting into the van, but rather trying to shoot a tire out. I don't support it but in his mind it might have seemed reasonable, if his concern or thinking was that the driver might wreck-out down the road.

 

[Jodell88]

Normally, I don't mind a good cop bashing thread, but I can't really fault them in this incident.

 

[Juddog]

Wow that woman was incredibly stupid - literally all she had to do was say "yes officer, no officer" etc., and accept the ticket. Instead she argues and drives off in a high speed chase? What the hell was going through her mind - did she really think she could get away from a bunch of cops in a loaded minivan?

 

[Svnla]

So instead of a speeding ticket, the woman and her son are facing multiple felony charges. Stupid, stupid, stupid. The son could have been shot to death when he tried to rush the cop.

I do not get people that try to run away from police for something trivial.

 

[BUTCH1]

I have no problem with it, if your pulled over stay pulled over until he's done writing your ticket. Stupid people think laws don't apply to them should be shot at IMO..

 

[OBLAMA2009]

when i saw this on the news, it showed a cop taking a club or something to the windows and body of the car, just freaking destroying the hell out of it. vandalizing property is not cool... at all.

a lot of cops are very dangerous people, there have been a number of policehomicides of innocent people around here in the news, you cant blame that woman for being afraid

 

[OBLAMA2009]

I have no problem with it, if your pulled over stay pulled over until he's done writing your ticket. Stupid people think laws don't apply to them should be shot at IMO..

uh...even fleeing from a cop isnt a death penalty punishable crime in america

on the news i think they said the woman is being charged with something like child endangerment because the cops fired at the car...amazing, america is a truly screwed up place

 

[Newbian]

uh...even fleeing from a cop isnt a death penalty punishable crime in america

on the news i think they said the woman is being charged with something like child endangerment because the cops fired at the car...amazing, america is a truly screwed up place

Going 71 in a 55 and then resisting arrest and going on a high speed chase with your van full of kids is where the endangerment comes from not because the cop fired at the tire.

You either heard the news wrong or they are making up shit to try to make the story sound worse then it was.

But even if the cop part is true she did cause it because she was was at fault but honestly she is probably charged with stronger crimes because of what she did and this needs to be one of them.

 

[Captante]

Woman is amazingly stupid & deserves every bit of legal trouble she's in. Kid should have been tasered certainly and if the cop had shot him when attacked I would have understood it, if not condoned it.

However having said that, the cop was out of line for firing on her vehicle. If she had driven AT the cop attempting to run him over it would be different but simply for fleeing the scene?

 

[BikeJunkie]

Hell no that wasn't justified. I can't believe that's even in question.

That said the mother is a fucking idiot.

 

[ForumMaster]

should the cop have fired? maybe, maybe not. it's looks more like he was trying to disable the vehicle. was it justified? hell yes.

when an officer tells you to get out, you get out. you do not assault a police officer.

 

[BikeJunkie]

when an officer tells you to get out, you get out. you do not assault a police officer.

The cop wasn't under assault when the shots were fired. Therefore you're condoning shots fired in retaliation, and that's never justifiable. Cops are not permitted to retaliate.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Hell no that wasn't justified. I can't believe that's even in question.

That said the mother is a fucking idiot.

Pretty much this. If the cop would have shot the 14 year old the second time he got out, I could see both sides of that and it could be an argument either way. But I don't see a reason to shoot into the fleeing van.

Now if the cop was shooting at the tires, I am ok with that. Sure there is a chance of the bullet ricocheting, but the danger is probably less than letting the lady go on a high speed chase in a minivan full of kids driving on the wrong side of the road and evading, as she did. Obviously she is ok with putting her kids in danger anyway...

 

[Newbian]

The cop wasn't under assault when the shots were fired. Therefore you're condoning shots fired in retaliation, and that's never justifiable. Cops are not permitted to retaliate.

Except he wasn't but was shooting at the tires to disable it.

 

[notposting]

Maybe she just wanted colonoscopies for the whole family!

 

[rudder]

as i said in the other post. the parents and kid are idiots.

BUT to shoot into a van full of kids over a damn ticket? fucking insane.

I would put it more on the mom. Who knows what was going through her head. But the police are also to blame. This was a speeding ticket... 71 in a 55. Not a major drug bust. There were screaming kids in the car. Rather than bust out a window with a baton and escalate the situation... He should have stood down called in backup and taken better control of the situation.

 

[ch33zw1z]

The woman conducted herself like a nimrod.

The cop was not justified in shooting at the vehicle in any manner. These people don't appear to be the type of criminals where that would be justified, in my opinion.

The police already have her information. Too bad if her acting like a tool puts a kink in the cops day. Opening fire on a vehicle full of kids over a speeding ticket is just poor judgement. Issue the warrant and let her suffer the consequences.

Sure, he shot at the tires, but are we going to pretend that ricochets don't happen, or accidents don't happen? The children are innocent bystanders (except that one kid), would the cop be charged if one of the kids was injured or killed? Seriously, they don't have control of the situation...They're at the mercy of dumb(cop) and dumber(mom).

On a side note, the article mentions drug paraphernalia. I'm curious as to what that was, and if that had a part to play in her behavior.

 

[BikeJunkie]

Except he wasn't but was shooting at the tires to disable it.

Which is still a total overreaction to unarmed suspects.

If using your firearm to shoot out the tires in situations like this is SOP, then I'll eat my hat. Otherwise, it's unjustified by definition.