Posted on 06/14/2006 8:13:20 AM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
Police are searching for two men who carajcked a family's SUV overnight and then ran over the family's toddler as they took off, according to television news reports this morning. The theft happened on Jensen near Sadler in northeast Houston as the father pulled into a car wash parking lot to use a payphone. He was then approached by two men, who demanded money and then the family's SUV. The suspects allegedly told everyone to get out of the car, including three young children.
Police told television reporters that the child was run over in the confusion. The toddler was reportedly about to celebrate her second birthday in just a few days. She was taken to the hospital where she died. Police are looking for suspects in the stolen white Chevy Suburban with license plate number 13BNW2. The family described the suspects as two black males, in their mid-20s.
Bullet ants are a LOT more painful than fire ants. A bit bigger, too; one inch long.
It's a distinct possibility.
When we moved to our current home in 2002, near Wilcrest and Briar Forest, we were in a nice neighborhood - not what I'd call upscale by Houston standards, but wholly decent and, well, nice.
Around last fall, we started to notice that the number of people milling aimlessly around the zip code was increasing. (Most of this number consisted of what I judged to be late teens or young adults, all of whom wore clothes so baggy they could double as tents.)
Then the Friday-night gunfire started.
We're looking to move pronto.
One need not even visit the link. It's in the last line of the posted story.
I defer to the menfolk on this one, but I think self-defense or defense of one's family is looked on with favor by the Texas judicial system.
Great minds think alike. :)
Chuck Rosenthal actually said that?
He'd probably have gotten a citiation for using too small a round.
On the local news this morning, it was stated that both perps were armed with pistols.
One shot. One kill. No remorse. I decide.
No. Two wouldn't be any more difficult than one.
I don't care if they were confused or not either. They set out to carjack someone and someone got killed. They deserve to die.
I agree with you, however most people that have these things happen to them never do a damn thing about it and of course the criminals either go free or live in a luxury prison.
When people start taking these kinds of things into their own hands, then maybe things will change. The cops and the justice system sure aren't doing their jobs.
When they demanded money and the man "felt" that he and his family was in danger of losing their lives he could have shot them and would have been no-billed by the grand jury.
You can bet your last buck I would have shot them until the threat had been stopped.
I have no idea why the cops are not calling this murder, but are refering to it as an "oopsi".
Okay, I see from another article that it was at midnight.
That makes it a no brainer. This father would NEVER be billed in Texas for stopping this threat with lethal force.
A lot of bravado here on this thread but apparently both perps did have guns and I can only assume they were already drawn. Even if you are armed, how would know unless you were actually there whether this guy had a clear shot at BOTH without endangering his own family, either from one of your owns shots or because one of them could shoot your kids before you got him? What if the dad sized things up and made the judgment that the best chance was to let the bad guys have the vehicle?
I just love it when people who weren't even there know just exactly what they would have done.
There is a Chronicle article linked in that thread but the Chron links are now out of date. The text of the article was also posted in that thread...
Aug. 30, 2005, 1:35AMDA opposed to new handgun law
Pistol-toting drivers without a permit will still be prosecuted, Rosenthal warns
By CLAY ROBISON
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Austin BureauAUSTIN - Motorists arrested for carrying pistols in their cars without a concealed handgun license will continue to be prosecuted in Houston, despite a new law that purports to give them a legal defense, Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said Monday.
Although the sponsor said the law should reduce the number of arrests for unlawful handgun possession, Rosenthal said it won't change enforcement practices in Houston after it goes into effect on Thursday.
"It is still going to be against the law for (unlicensed) persons to carry handguns in autos," the district attorney said, adding that the new legal defense can still be challenged by prosecutors.
The new law, enacted during the regular legislative session last spring, seeks to clarify a longtime law that allowed Texans to carry handguns while traveling, a qualification that was subject to a number of inconsistent court interpretations over the years.
The new statute says a person is "presumed to be traveling" if he or she is in a private vehicle, is not engaged in criminal activity (except for a minor traffic offense), is not prohibited by any other law from possessing a firearm and is not a member of a criminal street gang.
It also requires the handgun to be concealed in the car, although weapons can be discovered by officers during routine traffic stops if a driver gives permission for a car to be searched or opens a glove compartment where a gun is secured to retrieve an insurance card or other documentation.
"The intent of the law is to keep innocent people from going to jail," said the sponsor, Rep. Terry Keel, R-Austin, a former prosecutor and former Travis County sheriff who now is a candidate for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
The law, House Bill 823, was supported by the National Rifle Association and the American Civil Liberties Union and opposed by various law-enforcement groups.
More than 237,000 Texans have concealed handgun licenses. But many other law-abiding adults don't have licenses because they are disqualified by exceptions that have nothing to do with public safety, said Alice Tripp, a lobbyist for the Texas State Rifle Association, an NRA affiliate.
Tripp said people who have defaulted on student loans, who owe the state sales tax or franchise tax payments or are behind in child support payments are ineligible to receive a license.
Keel said he hoped the law will prompt police officers to think twice about arresting motorists who meet the new legal presumption and spare them the expense and "indignity" of arrest and prosecution.
Otherwise, he said, "They basically are going to arrest innocent people and make them prove their innocence."
Rosenthal and Rob Kepple, executive director of the Texas District and County Attorneys Association, disagreed.
Rosenthal said the new presumption about "traveling" doesn't define what constitutes traveling and can be challenged in court by prosecutors, leaving it to juries to decide verdicts "based upon the facts of the case."
A prosecutor could summon witnesses to successfully argue that a defendant wasn't traveling because he was simply "driving around the corner for a carton of milk," Kepple said.
"I really don't think (the law) should affect how police officers respond in arresting somebody," he added.
Houston Police Department spokeswoman Johanna Abad indicated Houston police were going to take their advice from Rosenthal's office.
Unlawful possession of a weapon is a class A misdemeanor punishable by as much as one year in county jail and a $4,000 fine. Rosenthal said most cases are resolved through plea bargains.
The prosecutor said he asked Gov. Rick Perry to veto the bill because "taking weapons off the street is a pretty good deal." He said his office handled about 5,000 weapons cases of varying degrees of severity last year.
Tripp called Rosenthal's opposition a case of "sour grapes ... and a threat to the general public."
I don't know but the girl I know who had a sawed off shotgun pulled on her and was kicked in the ribs wished that she had been carrying her gun and she vowed to carry it again.
I just love it when people second guess events in favor of letting the criminals go unmolested by the victim.
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