Posted on 08/15/2014 9:21:32 PM PDT by conservative98
Edited on 08/15/2014 9:25:06 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
WINCHESTER, Va. (AP) -- A Virginia deputy sheriff shot his 16-year-old daughter after mistaking her for an intruder, then crashed his car as he rushed her to the hospital, authorities said.
The teenager was in stable condition at a Winchester hospital, according to media reports.
(Excerpt) Read more at wtop.com ...
Children have to get their smarts from someone...
Kid was being a kid. Cop was an idiot for shooting at a shadow when he had the advantage, and therefore the luxury, of knowing of the presence w/o it knowing about him.
He also needs to learn how to drive.
Kill ‘em all, let God sort ‘em out.
Live by the gun, die by the gun. I’ve been in his position. If you don’t live alone, you have to take the risk. Whatever got your attention is far more likely to be innocent than malice.
Why isn’t the Thug in PRISON for Attempted MURDER?? Felony Reckless Endangerment?? Using a Firearm during the commission of a Violent Felony?? Felony Reckless Driving??
Improper storage of a Firearm that resulted in Injury or Death of a Minor?? LIFE IN PRISON, NO EXCUSES. Because that is exactly what would happen to a mere citizen.
NO MORE SPECIAL RIGHTS FOR ANYONE,If it’s a good law then it shall be applied EQUALLY TO ALL PERSONS.
“This guy needs a smart gun.
*************************************
..... his daughter, who had been returning home after apparently sneaking out .....
or a smarter daughter.”
No, his over reaction was on him. I’ve been in his shoes, and I understand I can’t pop the first thing that moves. Unless you live alone, it is far more likely to be innocent than criminal. Could it hazard me? Ya. But me surviving is not the only care in the world.
Cops? That is all they care about. He operated like he does on the street, and it bit him. Make no mistake, he was a danger to all he encountered. Cops live and work in a CIVILIAN world, not Baghdad. The should ASSUME innocents are present. We don’t pay them to keep themselves safe. We pay them to keep US safe.
How sad. Hoping for the daughter’s full recovery.
With that said, although I would be petrified if there was an unknown person in my house, really petrified, I would not want to shoot, without first lighting up the target to ensure that it isn’t some neighbor kid, or lost drunk. And in my neck of the woods those are the most likely scenarios. Not too many armed break-ins in these parts, thank goodness.
So for me, I’ve decided it’s better to take the added risk of clearly identifying my target, than to kill an innocent.
Okay, I’m the deranged one.
Someone is inside your garage in the dark, and you think it’s a good idea to turn on that cute little light on your gun. The gun is in your hand connected to your body, and you think I’m the deranged one. That’s okay with me. It’s your life at risk. You’ll be the one they’re digging slugs out of if one of your heartwarming stories isn’t in the cards in the middle of that night.
There’s an intruder. Your reaction is to make a decision that the intruder will get courtesy from you. You are willing to sacrifice your life to the intruder. If you make the wrong decision it will be you on the floor, and the intruder leaving the scene of you lying in a pool of blood, your brains splattered on the garage wall. So tell me some more heart warming stories.
You know why I don’t burglarize or do home invasions? Number one it’s morally wrong to do so, and two I forfeit my life when I enter someone else’s property. Once inside, it’s open season on me. I don’t want to put myself in a situation where a homeowner can gun me down with no exposure to prosecution.
Tell me smart guy, why is the homeowner not going to be prosecuted? He won’t be because it’s his home and the intruder could just as we’ll be a mortal threat as not.
If I had kids in the home I would say one word to that person in the garage. GUN
I wouldn’t spot myself for anyone, friend or foe, because I wouldn’t know.
As for the kid in your charming story, it’s not my obligation to make sure he makes it out if the confrontation. It’s my job to make sure I do. My family has a right to have their loved one live on too.
I’m not turning on lights. If I shoot the intruder, I’m not going to lose any sleep over it. My home, my space, I didn’t decide to forfeit my life by breaking into someone else’s home.
You see your heartwarming story could just as easily have wound up with the homeowner lying there dead. That’s not a risk I’m taking. I’m not going to turn the lights on to give the intruder a break. I owe the intruder nothing. There are two entities that deserve a break when an intruder enters my my home or garage. Me and my family.
Enter my property and I’m not obligated to do one damned thing for you. Don’t whine to me because you or anyone else doesn’t get consideration.
The whole “I’m not going to judge this guy” seems superfluous. I’m not judging him either. There will be a court for that, maybe, or his family.
I’m expressing an opinion about an incident. That is not the same as judging a person, it is discussing what would be the more appropriate action.
If we couldn’t discuss what would be best because it reflects poorly on someone who did something else, what is the point of an opinion thread?
In my house, if an alarm goes off, nobody is sleeping soundly in their bed. And the first thing I do is check to make sure everybody is accounted for.
Suppose a guy successfully broke in, kidnapped the daughter, and the daughter set off the alarm in the garage to warn her dad. You wouldn’t want to walk into the garage and shoot the first thing you see moving, it could be the daughter.
Or maybe the daughter or wife ran down to the garage just like you did to check out what the alarm was about.
Yes, you have no idea what the situation is. But the response to unknown is not random shooting at unidentified objects, it is to get the information you need about the situation. A police officer should be better at this than a typical citizen.
Garages are connected, but have doors separating the garage area from the rest of the house, and typically those doors are exterior doors, often with the same locks as on the exterior doors of the house (since garage doors are not as secure).
I don’t know why you would think about intimidation in the non-applicable scenario you posit about a person walking down the hallway.
If a person has managed to get into the upstairs hallway of the house, without setting off an alarm, and I have no people living in the house, I’m going to get on the phone and dial 911. If I have a gun I’m going to position myself where I can use the gun if someone comes through the door.
I’m not going to burst out in the hall with my gun drawn and shoot the first thing I see moving. That has been shown to often lead to tragic results. If I WERE going to open the door and burst into the hall, which seems a rather odd tactical manuever, I’d actually open the door and shout “identify yourself”, but I’d be crouched down on the floor with barely an eye looking out the door, so if someone was going to start shooting through the door they wouldn’t hit me.
I can’t think of a situation in which standing up, throwing the door open, and running into the hall makes sense.
When they’re wrong, wrong, wrong, they get snide, snide, snide.
They criticize and insult you rather than making a cogent argument.
Ultimately, anyone who is reading the thread gets embarrassed for
the fool who rails on about everything but the issue at hand.
Best to press your “Ignore” button. Yeah, it’s imaginary, but it works.
Your comments regarding the garage make sense to me now. What you are probably advocating (having read your full response) is to call the police and position yourself inside where you could deny deeper intrusion.
It’s a thought that hadn’t occurred to me when presented with the scenario of the two players already in the garage. This is the best scenario, and just the right suggestion.
My wife and I slept with the bedroom door open. An intruder could venture up to the entryway. That’s why I addressed the danger of hesitation.
No children in the home, it would generally be considered open season with this presentation.
Your comment about only exposing a little of yourself and positioning to wait for the police was good too. I wouldn’t advocate roaming to confront either. It’s once the person is present that I would take action.
What I addressed in the garage was once you’re in the presence of the other person, then... I agree it would be best to avoid contact if it can be managed that way.
Now, if you have kids in the house, it could lead to you having to compromise on this to varying degrees. You would need to prevent the intruder from coming close to them
Your comments regarding the garage make sense to me now. What you are probably advocating (having read your full response) is to call the police and position yourself inside where you could deny deeper intrusion.
It’s a thought that hadn’t occurred to me when presented with the scenario of the two players already in the garage. This is the best scenario, and just the right suggestion.
My wife and I slept with the bedroom door open. An intruder could venture up to the entryway. That’s why I addressed the danger of hesitation.
No children in the home, it would generally be considered open season with this presentation.
Your comment about only exposing a little of yourself and positioning to wait for the police was good too. I wouldn’t advocate roaming to confront either. It’s once the person is present that I would take action.
What I addressed in the garage was once you’re in the presence of the other person, then... I agree it would be best to avoid contact if it can be managed that way.
Now, if you have kids in the house, it could lead to you having to compromise on this to varying degrees. You would need to prevent the intruder from coming close to them.
No argument there.
I would have made sure of my target, and quite possibly risked getting shot in the process. That is a decision everyone would have to make for themselves, weighing the risk of hurting a loved one versus being disabled or killed and unable to help your loved ones. Everyone paying attention has a plan, but plans don't survive hostile contact very often.
As for crashing the car, my years in EMS taught me speed only counts if you get there.
My brother once went to investigate a noise in the back part of his house. It was the wee hours of the night, and he went carrying a .30-30 Winchester. He met his youngest son in a hallway, trying to enter the house very quietly and get into bed without waking anyone up. By the accounts of both of them, this was a very narrowly averted catastrophe.
With kids in the home, there’s a real danger something like this could happen.
Parents of course would feel terrible if they shot their kid.
On the other hand the kids would feel terrible if the parent were killed because they saw no danger thinking the robber was their child.
I do not advocate shoot on confrontation when kids are in the home. You have to know the whereabouts of your spouse too.
Glad no one was hurt.
If my parents had a gun when I was young, I’d probably be dead, the number of times I was sneaking around outside at night. Sometimes I’d sleep in the back yard and sneak back in before they noticed I wasn’t in my bed.
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