Posted on 11/06/2013 8:32:18 AM PST by Rusty0604
LOUISIANA, MO. -- The Missouri State Fire Marshal continues its investigation into an early morning Thursday fire that took the life of a 3-year-old Louisiana, Mo. boy. A city police officer stunned Riley's stepfather Ryan Miller with a Taser gun three times as he tried to enter the burning house. Lori Miller, Riley's grandmother, said police stunned Ryan Miller as he tried to get back in the house.
He tried to get back in the house to get the baby, Lori Miller said. They took my son to jail because he tried to save his son.
Ryan Miller's sister-in-law doesn't think the police handled the situation correctly.
"It's just heartless. How could they be so heartless? And while they all just stood around and waited for the fire department, what kind of police officer wouldn't try and save a three year old burning in a house?" said Emily Miller. "We've been going through pictures and he's just smiling in every picture. He was just a happy, go-lucky kid."
(Excerpt) Read more at connecttristates.com ...
Well,
He is a cop.
Why didn’t he order the fireman to save the baby?
Seems he was more preoared to enter a fully engulfed home and maybe his negligence is manslaughter.
Exactly what legal authority does a cop have to “order” a firefighter to do anything?
I’ll give you a hint:
None.
I think that at any scene where cops and firefighters are, the top firefighter is in charge of everything.
I think that at any scene where cops and firefighters are, the top firefighter is in charge of everything.
You are correct.
Do not disobey orders from those in government.
*******
This reminds me of a local news article I read where a woman caught her recliner on fire and to be safe called the Fire Dept. Being rural she knew it would be a while so tried to pull the smoking chair out of her house.
She said when FD arrived they told her to leave the premises and she asked for help to get the chair out....problem solved.
But the FD guy in charge called the County Sheriff instead to have her arrested for failure to vacate! Cope gone wild.
Ok, let me get this straight.
According to Lurker, an innocent person can, and should, be punished for the actions of another person? In your example, a person whose father did something of which Lurker disapproves can even be justifiably be killed...by, who exactly? The state? Lurker? The aggrieved party? But doesn’t this theory run afoul of several millennia of Western tradion (viz, Deuteronomy 24:16 Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin.). Not to mention the founder’s explicit prohibition of the much milder concept of “corruption of blood” even for the crime of treason.
Help me out here Lurker, you’ve got me puzzled.
Would you let the guy run into certain death?
Give me your psych analysis or moral apogee for why he should be allowed to commit suicide.
He knew where his son was in the house. He knew his house better than any of the responders. He had the best chance of saving the child of anyone there. If the fire was too intense to run into, he would have felt enough pain to stop him. At least he had the opportunity to carry out the rescue. Your main comment that I object to is the notion that time will heal. No one knows how this will scar the man. Maybe he will feel guilty and kill himself. Who knows. He should have been left to make his own choice.
Firefighters are not always the best judge of choices in a fire. A few years ago in Worcester, Massachusetts, six firefighters lost their lives in a burning building. Neighbors told the responders that two homeless bums were living in the burning abandoned commercial building. A few firefighters went in looking for them. Then a few more went in looking for the firefighters. They died. The bums had started the fire and left the building. Whoever ordered the firefighters to attempt to rescue the two bums should have been fired. They were their illegally. They later charged the bums with the deaths of the firefighters. As usual, public service managers escaped liability.
What do you me “woe unto anyone trying to stop me.” They would just tase you, cuff you and take you away. What are you going to do about that. You are unlikely to be prepared to do anything and you are fighting against time to get to whomever you need to rescue.
So this is a matter of what we as a society accept from the police.
I don’t think you made the case for letting a guy kill himself and the part about the fire fighters was odd.
They are not always the best?
They have more experience than most people.
Then again EOD’s aren’t always the best person to disarm a bomb.
Sometimes a Caveman should try it.
Well some cops don’t accept they aren’t in charge:
http://www.fourwinds10.net/siterun_data/health/safety/news.php?q=1203383265
i have not seen the home. all i know is its really really sad.
I think it was the father’s call whether to try and save his child or not. As a parent myself, I’d rather die trying to save my child than stand there and know he was dying inside.
If we cannot make autonomous decisions in our society, isn’t it true that we’re naught but slaves?
Not to suggest what happened to him was right in ANY way, but...
...my godson was killed (7 y/o) when he bolted and ran back into their burning house to rescue his dog (it was too late to catch him; all were safe outside. There’s a lesson there for folks with children in a house fire situation). In all likelihood they saved this man’s life, based on description of the fire at that time.
I still have not read an adequate explanation for why both parents found themselves outside without the child...
I have also seen people that needed to be locked up for their own safety after emotional tragedy/events. No story yet seen by me is detailed enough to be anything but hype.
He needed to be prevented from committing suicide.
Not having a taser, I personally would would have knocked him unconscious with a club to keep him safe.
Very cute.
But what you are really saying, under cover of sardonic humor, is that you would have stood around and watched a man burn himself to death for no reason.
It is heartbreaking.
I don't know why so many are upset that the stepfather did not join his stepson in death.
Very stirring use of the word "naught."
You realize, of course, that both the stepfather and the cop are free moral agents?
And that both could choose to do what they thought was right?
And that the stepfather did what he thought was right, and the cop did what he thought was right?
And that telling the cop that he is obligated to do nothing while a man tries to kill himself is every bit as "enslaving" as telling the stepfather that he cannot burn himself to death?
it’s his right. Either he would have been able to get in or it would have been impossible to get in. To be allowed the attempt is something any normal father would want.
So we should always give people whatever they want, then?
It was the cop's right to abide by his conscience and prevent a suicide.
And no, I do not believe there is such a thing as a right to commit suicide.
A co-worker of mine had a friend that, sadly, accidentally backed over his daughter with his truck. The parents called 911 for medical assistance and when the police arrived they handcuffed and restrained both parents from comforting their daughter, and that was the last thing that poor girl saw of this earth before she died.
______________________
Were the animals prosecuted?
The cops said they were following protocol when a child is injured because it could have been a case of child abuse. I guess they can’t make any decisions based on the individual incident. The whole town was in an uproar, but nothing could be done.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.