Posted on 01/17/2014 9:12:59 AM PST by CedarDave
Dash-cam video released Thursday shows a State Police officer running toward and alongside the car driven by Jeanette Anaya and firing multiple times into the Honda sedan as he screams expletives and for the occupants to get their hands up.
Anaya’s car did back into officer Oliver Wilson’s cruiser, apparently narrowly missing Wilson himself, but the video shows that the Honda was moving away from Wilson as most of his 16 shots were fired.
Anaya, 39, was hit and killed by two of Wilson’s shots, following a vehicle chase that started when Wilson tried to pull her over for a traffic stop after midnight on Nov. 7.
When the shooting took place, Wilson was outside his patrol car. He had used a bumping maneuver to force her car to stop on Camino Carlos Rey. All within just a few seconds, Wilson gets out of his car, Anaya backs into the cruiser, and Wilson starts shooting at Anaya’s Honda. A passenger in Anaya’s car, Jeremy Munoz, 34, was not injured.
Earlier this week, a Santa Fe County grand jury ruled that Wilson was justified in firing at Anaya and that he will face no criminal charges. Wilson testified he feared for his life when Anaya backed into his police car, according to District Attorney Angela “Spence” Pacheco.
But Tom Clark, attorney for Anaya’s parents, said Thursday that Anaya should have stopped during the car chase but that if Wilson wasn’t wearing a police uniform, he’d be facing a first-degree murder charge now.
Clark said he was “shocked and dismayed” after viewing the video.
“I had no idea it was going to be as bad as it was,” he said. “I didn’t think it would be so dramatic with the officer running alongside shooting point-blank into the car.”
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
The reason society is such a mess is because we’ve lost our morals. Cops are shooting more people now.
All is hunky dory until he starts running beside her car shooting at her. That is what I have a problem with.
He wasn’t shooting at her as she backed toward him. he shot at her as she drove away.
Should we start shooting everyone who drives with excessive speed?
I further suspect it's because of strong comments by those who support police vs. those who don't. Comments on the news forum tend to be generally of one mind - either supportive or disagreeable depending on the article content.
Other examples of topics kept out of News forum are articles about religion and pit bulls killing people.
15 with one in battery.
So you're saying that they wouldn't appreciate a story about founding a religion based on pit-bulls killing people. ;)
The LE had witnessed both her felony reckless driving and her attempt to run him over which is a violent felony. She had been driving at speeds up 89 MPH in 25 MPH residential areas. She was a very real and immediate threat to the life and welfare of everyone in her path.
How many of those people was he supposed to allow her to injure, mangle, or kill before he stopped her from doing more damage? That there was no one on the streets for as far and as long as this chase lasted was just pure good luck. It would not have gone on much longer.
But the devil is in the details and there are a LOT of them here. What many people are ignoring is how God wired human beings - how we think, how “fight or flight” works, what adrenalin does, etc. This applies to what the woman was thinking as well as what the cop was thinking.
Reminds me? What exactly are the ‘Rules of Engagement” for our Troops in harms way???? Everyday??? Like I said. Drug Test Police, every week.
So it is her fault?
If I ever found myself doing what she did before she was shot, I would naturally assume I was putting my life into the hands of another human being who probably had adrenalin flowing from the chase and it was significantly pumped up when I rammed his car and it is quite possible that in the emotion of the moment he thought I tried to kill him.
And his job is to protect the public and the person who just tried to kill him is driving off and he has a gun. He may just try to use it to stop me. Not that he should, but adrenalin does interesting things to the thought process. It is why people do things in a mob they would never normally do.
Neither the woman nor the cop is a machine. They are both human beings. It means the risk of something happening that did, in fact, happen, increases as the situation increases in intensity.
And a bad thing happened. It impacts the woman’s family and it impacts the cop and his family. All of them for the rest of their lives. And because it was, essentially, over a $500 bond, it makes it truly a tragedy for all concerned.
“The LE had witnessed both her felony reckless driving and her attempt to run him over which is a violent felony. “
For which she should be charged with and face a jury.
Not summarily executed.
You are leaving out key aspects of this that are actually the main points I hang my opinion on.
I guess I just cut human beings more slack than most here. I also don’t believe he was shooting to kill. I believe he was shooting to get her to stop - at the subconscious level.
Being a man, I know the heart of man. Under the circumstances as I understand them, I can see myself doing what she did. I can also see myself doing what he did. Not that either would be right. I feel for both of them.
Our troops certainly can not shoot under similar circumstances. in a war zone.
“And his job is to protect the public”
Thats not his job or function.
Rule #1: obey the law. Would have prevented this tragedy.
“And his job is to protect the public”
Thats not his job or function.
Its a nifty slogan frequently printed on stickers used in the law enforcement community.
You and I both know that law enforcement has no obligation to protect any person.
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