Posted on 01/12/2017 9:15:20 PM PST by JoeProBono
An armed passing motorist was credited with saving the life of an Arizona state trooper by shooting and killing a gunman who ambushed the trooper in the middle of a lonely interstate highway before dawn Thursday.
"I would just say at this point, thank you, because I don't know that my trooper would be alive today without his assistance," Col. Frank Milstead, director of the Arizona Department of Public Safety, said after he met with the seriously injured trooper at the hospital.
Thanks for the thoughts and prayers this morning for our Trooper that was shot. Looks like he will be okay after some recovery @Arizona_DPS — Col. Frank Milstead (@frank_milstead) January 12, 2017
The trooper — a 27-year veteran who hasn't been identified but was reported as stable with gunshot wounds in his chest and right shoulder — was responding to reports that shots had been fired at about 4 a.m. (6 a.m. ET) on Interstate 10 about 40 miles west of Phoenix, Milstead said.
On the way, the trooper spotted a rollover accident, stopped to investigate and began blocking off the scene. A woman who was believed to have been ejected from the vehicle was later determined to have died at the scene, authorities said.
"As the trooper exited his vehicle and began to lay out flares, it appears at this point that he was ambushed by the suspect," Milstead said. "In the initial confrontation, the suspect shoots the trooper in the shoulder [and] right chest area at least one time, possibly twice, disabling the use of the trooper's right hand and right arm."
The gunman then attacked the trooper with his hands, bashing his head into the pavement, Milstead said. That's when the passing motorist stopped.
"The trooper says, 'Please help me,' and asks the uninvolved third party for help," Milstead said. "That person retreats back to his vehicle, removes his own weapon from the vehicle, confronts the suspect, giving him orders to stop assaulting the officer. The suspect refuses. The uninvolved third party fires, striking and killing the suspect."
The hero driver was identified only as a man who was traveling to California with his wife...............
Sweet
Had this happened in California, the passing motorist who saved this Trooper’s life would not have had the freedom to help the Trooper - as he could likely have been invocation of the law for transporting said weapon...
And upon arrival in California having that access to a firearm is a crime.
Good guys: 1
Bad guy: 0
Don’t you just love stories with happy endings?
The officer was identified as Edward Andersson, a 27-year veteran. He is hospitalized in serious but stable condition after being shot in the right shoulder and chest. (snip)
Arizona has a “defense of third person” law that allows someone to use deadly force against another who is threatening or injuring a third person. It was not unusual that the passing driver was armed in this gun-friendly state with loose regulations.
“Arizona was open-carry before it was a state,” Charles Heller, co-founder of guns-rights group the Arizona Citizens Defense League, said of laws allowing people to carry firearms in public. “If you see a guy walking down the street in Tucson, Arizona, with a gun on, you don’t think much of it. It’s natural.” (snip)
http://ktar.com/story/1421534/arizona-state-trooper-shot-traffic-accident-10-near-phoenix/
Vicarious self defense is part of the law everywhere, phrased differently in different jurisdictions, but essentially the same under different labels. What differs greatly is the practical ease/difficulty of actually being armed in different jurisdictions. Thank God this was AZ, in MA or CA the result would have been different in that the probability a passing motorist would have been armed would be much, much lower.
“..Thank God this was AZ, not MA or CA...”
I would stop and assist any LEO in trouble in a heartbeat, but in MA, NY, CT, CA, etc., I wouldn’t even bother to look twice and just kept on going. It’s just not worth going to jail for a year...or more because I was passing thru and happen to be carrying a weapon they didn’t like....nada, no way, sorry. Change your laws or suffer the unintended consequences.
and his next of kin will sue.
The poor dead perpetuate was just doing what St. Martin Trayvon was doing when a racist white Hispanic gunned him down.
The poor dead perpetuate was just doing what St. Martin Trayvon was doing when a racist white Hispanic gunned him down.
What is truly horrifying is that the soon to be kicked to the curb ex President is a huge part of the reason that cop killing/ambushing has become so accepted and prevalent in our society.
What does the Agitator-in-Chief say? To paraphrase: "A post racial America was never realistic". This guy's descent into ignominious oblivion cannot happen soon enough.
> > > And upon arrival in California having that access to a firearm is a crime.
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From the novel, Collateral Crimes:
“What are we stopping here for?”
“I need to get something.” Mark unlocked a cabinet in the sleeper cab.
“What are you looking for?”
“My Python.”
Jonathan’s voice rose. “Your what?”
Mark held up a large revolver. “My Python.” He closed the cabinet door, unlocked another cabinet, and pulled out a box of ammo. He opened the cylinder, loaded six rounds from the box into the chambers, and closed the cylinder.
“What do you need a gun for?”
“Insurance. In case we have to stop in the middle of nowhere, I don’t want to get jacked. The desert is full of predators, my friend, some of them animals, some of them human.” He was trying to sound like a movie character, but Jonathan couldn’t tell which one.
“Well, if you think you need it, why lock it up?”
“It’s not legal for me to carry a firearm in California.” He smiled and said, “But this is Arizona, Johnny.”
Jonathan was pretty sure that one was Jack Nicholson.
https://www.amazon.com/Collateral-Crimes-Jeffrey-Yochim-ebook/dp/B01EPXWMEO
You just explained why they haven’t named him and will decline to do so.
So? It's the price of doing the right thing, service to your country and community. What do you think veterans have been going through? Sometimes a man just has to do what's right and take what comes afterward.
Turning your back on a man being murdered, under any circumstance, is about as unmanly as it gets.
If we let the scum force us away from our duty, they have won and we have lost.
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