Opinions of this

[Murph]

Opinions please:

http://www.officer.com/videonetwork/...?showid=378811

We have had that one here for a while, and have argued it pretty much agreed that it was an unjustified shoot from WHAT WE HAVE SEEN. However, I would liked to have seen the video from car #4 the one rammed into the bg's car at the end. The Texas Ranger said he would HATE to have to work this shooting. Did the crook deserve to be DRT (Dead Right There), yes. Were they justified in shooting, I'd say no at this point, understanding that we DON'T have all of the information we need. There was NO attempt by the BG to ram the first car, in fact it looked like he was just attempting to go around the car. Notice the date on the video, I'll bet the DA just came unglued when his evidence was on the internet before the Grand Jury saw it....

[mwaldrop]

Boy, this is a tough one. It didn't look like the bg tried to ram the first car at all. But, it did look like the bg was still trying to evade when the car is moving, trying to drive off? with an officer on the hood screaming at him to stop. I've worked two officer fatalities and my son is a deputy in Brazoria County so I don't have much sympathy for guys who put LE at risk with high speed pursuits.

Without more evidence or some more info., our guess is somebody is in trouble. Hope there is more to it that what we saw.

[directmk]

As a BG you know what the risks are, just as the officers doing their jobs know what the risks are every day they suit up for work.

In my view as an ex BG, we watch tv, we know what can happen...and it happend to them.

Justified? - I'd have to say they had it coming (now a days). I think its sad that someone would think they could do all that (what we saw in the video) and get away with a good ole fashion police beating.

[Huck]

I think because the officer was on the hood of the car, with the suspect taking off like that yeah it was justified. Maybe the actions of the officer jumping on the hood of the car were not normal procedure. But reguardless, look how many times the suspect tired to ram the police cars, had that been a busier time of day, a lot more people could have been hurt.

[Cope]

As a citizen, and not a LEO, I am sick and tired of scumbags leading the police on high speed pursuits. Many feel the polcie should abandon the pursuit above a certain speed, but this just allows more people to escape justice.

[janetg]

for all you can see, the 'suspect' and i use that term loosely - could have had a gun in one of his hands ready to fire. we won't obviiously know until the facts come out. if the guy wasn't guilty of something, he wouldn't have been running from them.

IMO - the only way to deal with police officers is 'yes sir or no sir...' be polite, take your lumps, don't argue. that's for the courts, laywers, etc.

i say this to all who protect and serve us - great job guys and thanks for it.

[Murph]

I read the newspaper article later, the guy had a blood alcohol level above .12, and he also had marijuana and cocaine in his system. No gun was found, the passenger, however, desperately needed a clean pair of underwear....

[KdLaneJr]

I agree with the second post in that I didn't see any indication that the BG tried to ram the first LEO's car.

In spite of all the reckless high speed driving, the first ramming I saw on the video was the pursuing LEO ramming the BG's car. After that, what was happening is anyone's guess until the footage shows the LEO on the hood of the car after what appears to be a ramming by a second LEO.

While the BG needed to be off the road permanently, I don't see any way to call that a justified shooting.

I'm not a LEO, nor do I aspire to be one, but if all they have is in the video shown, I'd hate to be the LEO on top of that car.

That said, When the adrenaline is up, even the best of the best can make bad choices.

Murph, If you follow this to see the outcome, please let us know.

[iCe]

Whew... that's a tough one. The video of the officer on the hood of the car pumping rounds into the driver doesn't look very good. It would be interesting to know the entire story... if that is possible...

[KJ Smith]

Originally Posted by iCe

It would be interesting to know the entire story... if that is possible...

Click on the video when it is done, and there is article under it.

Kevin

I think a 150mm mf is closer to a 105 35mm.
It is the typical portrait lens for mf

[Murph]

Here is the article:

http://www.wcpo.com/content/news/nei...f-757bb372f02d
http://www.newsnet5.com/news/1401204...subid=10101081

[Buddha]

Going only with what I could see, the shooting wasn't justified.
Running from cops isn't grounds for shooting someone, nor is being disrespectful to them. Cops get alot of leeway in court and beforehand, but they basically need the same reasons to shoot someone that anyone else does. Angering them is not a shooting offense.
If you want to think that it is, put yourself in the place of a bg, and ask what laws you would like to see enforced.
The drugs and booze are irrelevelant. Noone knew about them until later.
The comment made while underway about "taking this guy out" will be devastating to the cop in court. Given later events, it will be indefensible unless the cop can show that the bg endangered his life.
The cop on the hood must have felt pretty safe or he wouldn't have gotten up there. One shot from the driver, or even a glimpse of a gun, and he would have stayed on the ground and shot from there rather than expose himself so completely. Even if the cop felt endangered at one point, he felt safe enough to get on the hood rather than react immediately and that will be hard to defend, probably indefensible.
We have courts to decide who did what based on all of the evidence. Cops' function is to see that they get to the courts.

[CybrStudd]

My wife is a LEO, and from the stories I read about this, and from what I know, it looks like it was justified. Officers have every right to use resonable force to stop a crime, and if he tried running over an officer with his car, they have every right to shoot to kill. When my wife was in the academy, they basically told her that you have to keep in mind that you are going home at the end of the day no matter what it takes. You have to be ready to pull the trigger to save your life.

So yes, I feel it was justified. If the guy was stupid enough to do what he did, he has to be ready to pay the consequences. He may have been on drugs and drunk, but that's no excuse.

[iCe]

Still hard to call it... The report says one thing but the video doesn't seem to quite fit. Close... but not exactly. On the other hand... I wasn't the one that someone was attempting to run over with their car so I am definitely not one to be judging how the officers reacted. Either way... it sounds like the man that was shot wasn't exactly a model citizen. Not to sound callous... but good riddance.

[mmcmurr]

I have a friend that's a LEO (a good friend of my brother, who also happens to be a LEO). A few years back, he answered a call for a domestic disturbance. The couple were fighting in the front yard, and the suspect turned to Jeff with shovel in his hand and raised it. Jeff shot him center mass and killed the man.

Now, I only tell that story, because just as a shovel is a deadly weapon, so is a vehicle. I didn't see the officer actually jump onto the hood of the car and the reason for it, but if indeed the man was in the car even threatening to run over the officer, that's attempted assault with a deadly weapon. Which the officer has every right to defend himself with every means necessary.

If the officer just ran up there and jumped on the hood just to shoot the suspect, then that's wrong. But I personally did not see evidence that is what happened.

To each their own. I guess that's why it takes 12 to convict (in most cases).