Posted on 10/06/2013 11:46:55 AM PDT by nickcarraway
It's been two days since 34-year-old dental hygienist Miriam Carey was killed after she rammed her car into a barricade in front of the White House and led security forces on a chase toward the U.S. Capitol, and some are asking whether the use of deadly force against her was truly necessary. While the first accounts of Carey's death said she exited her black Infiniti before she was shot, investigators now say she was still in the vehicle when officers fired the fatal bullets. Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance W. Gainer told reporters that Carey "was trying to make a U-turn [toward the officers] between a United States Capitol Police security booth and some planters in the middle of the street on Constitution Avenue. Capitol Police officers and uniformed Secret Service officers shot at the car with semiautomatic pistols." D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier indicated that the car was not moving at that time and confirmed that officers shot at Carey beforehand, near Garfield Circle, when the car was still moving.
As has been noted, D.C. police have a policy against shooting at moving vehicles "unless deadly force is being used against the officer or another person...For purposes of this order, a moving vehicle is not considered deadly force." But when speaking to the Washington Post, Gainer acknowledged that the location of the incident complicated the situation: "The thing that’s distinctive about this is it was not your typical traffic violation...We operate in an environment under the constant threat of attack from suicide bombers and improvised explosive devices." He added, "Whenever there are bullets flying, there are risks. I think these officers minimized the risks to others." (Carey was unarmed, so — appropriately discharged or not — the only bullets flying were those of the security officers.) The New York Times points out that it is "not clear" whether the Secret Service or the Capitol Police share the D.C. Police Department's policy against shooting at moving cars. Spokespeople for both the Secret Service and Capitol Police declined to provide the Post with more information regarding their organizations' protocols.
Scores of experts have weighed in on the matter, though they mostly (and understandably, given that many details are still unavailable) seem unable to say whether it was handled correctly. Geoffrey Alpert, a criminologist at the University of South Carolina who spoke to the Times, said, "[Carey] had to be stopped. The question is, were there better ways to stop her? I don’t know what the answers are." William J. Bratton, who has led the Boston, L.A., and New York City police departments, also pointed out that D.C. offers "a different set of challenges than most police agencies. It’s truly an exceptional city with exceptional security circumstances." (He also said it was hard to judge the situation because we don't know if Carey "disobeyed commands" form officers.) Chuck Wexler of the Police Executive Research Forum told the Post this was "clearly an out-of-control situation" and said that "it's very important to think, what did the officers know at that point in time versus what we know today," which he said was a reference Carey's widely reported history of postpartum depression and possible psychosis and the fact that her 1-year-old daughter was also in the car.
In an interview with ABC News, Carey's sisters said she was not violent and attributed her struggle with mental illness. They also said the police should have acted differently. Valarie Carey, a retired NYPD sergeant, said, "Officers had enough time to assess the occupants of the vehicle. They actually not only put someone at harm's way, but they took someone's life." "She had no political agenda. She didn't hate her country. She wasn't a terrorist. She was on medication," said another sister, Amy Carey Jones, a registered nurse. "Mental illness really should have more attention."
Congress applauded Bush’ absurd pronouncement that Islam is a ROP, right after the events of 9/11/2001.
And, after all that has happened, if some fool would again say the same today there would still be a large number of critters getting up on their feet and joyously approve of that idiotic declaration.
They could have disabled that vehicle without murdering a mentally ill person.
They obliterated a black woman with a toddler in the car. They've just told me what chance they'll give me if I make a wrong turn in the Imperial capital. I thank them for that.
Nobody came out of this picture looking particularly beautiful for what they did. SWAT teams more and more assume the worst today. Now put that together with a potential threat to the Capitol and it’s easy to understand, if not necessarily excusable.
So they get the car to stop and then reach in and take the kid out and then shoot her to death.
Now that’s bothersome —
Very true. I think anyone with a relative with mental illness knows the sense of helplessness.
Was she crazy? I'm not sure. Did she use her car as a weapon? I'm not sure.
She might not be a very good example of a citizen standing up to government tyranny -- but the day comes when good citizens WILL stand up to government tyranny. And the government WILL carry out executions with extreme prejudice.
So I think people might want to be a little slow in cheering for the government guys who are killing citizens. Unless, of course, you like that sort of thing.
I guess if the L.A. cops had shot Rodney King as soon as he stopped instead of beating his a$$ they would have received standing ovations and medals of valor: instead of going to jail!!
“...with the car blocked in on all sides, shoot out the tires???”
Maybe they WERE shooting at the tires.
Yes, it is.
Suppose she was wired...or the car was loaded with explosives...You use your instincts and training. I don’t always agree with them...but this time...I do.
If the car was going to be detonated why spend all the time on a chase?
You said it. I almost threw up when they all applauded and then that puking RINO Eric Cantor had to suck up with his little kneebend to the Capitol police.
Not one person that I have heard has denounced this basic execution of an unarmed citizen. Where are Al, Jesse and the NAACP? Crickets so far. They are afraid to bite the hand that feeds them.
The exercise was still in progress. The actors were given scenarios and being hyped up with all the “terrorism” were ready for anything to happen.
Many times these “exercises” tend to go live and oops a non actor gets caught in the middle.
I recall one “exercise” on the range were an unauthorized drove his M/C onto the range where 25 guys popped up out of the weeds and let loose with M-16’s full auto (blanks).
I am sure he needed a clothing change after that fun.
But you can see how a “training” exercise can have bad endings.
Murdering a confused woman in a city where she was probably lost and having armed men pointing guns at you screaming orders would tend to cause the flight reflex in a woman with her baby in the car.
Just saying.
Applauding the “hero’s” who just killed a human well that’s just sick and sadistic!
It just seems something is fishy here. She was unarmed. The car was stopped. The cops emptied clips. She’s dead. No information or video released. There must be 100’s of “security” cams in the effected area.
I’ve heard there was no damage to the front of her car... indicating it hadn’t rammed anything
have you heard the same? any information on this?
If that car was wired to blow, don’t you think it would have blown over at the WH where this started?
Isn’t it curious how we haven’t seen either the WH videotape nor any video of how this ended?
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