I am as hard on bad cops and bad shoots as anyone on the FR but that is not what this was.
This post and replies is getting a little silly. The cop shot a fleeing murder suspect. If the guy would have stopped his car raised his hands he would be in jail awaiting trial.
When someone shoots an unarmed innocent the cops need to go after him with all they have.
It would have been fine for the suspect to go to trial, but, he made the decision to risk his life in fleeing from the police. Do you think he expected the cops to just give up and hope he turned himself in? The cops did the right thing in this particular instance. They did what we would hope they would do, they protected society from a violent murderer.
Suspected felons are fair game for police to use lethal force to stop. This wasn’t just a suspected felon, he was a suspected Violent felon who was in route to kill.
Way to go cops, keep up the good work.
That hasn't been true for a long time. The Tennessee v. Garner decision came down in 1985. In order to use lethal force the officer must have reason to believe that a suspect poses either a threat to law enforcement or the citizenry. That threat can be immediate or in the future.
This suspect was on video murdering an unarmed compliant victim. He definitely posed an ongoing threat to the public.