L.A. Officers Kill Suspect as Viewers Watch on TV

TvSpy Shoptalk ^ | 2-25-2004 | Richard Winton and Kevin Pang

[Diddle E. Squat]

Spare us the cophating crap. The guy was a crook, endangered other's lives, and then threatened the cops with a car, which IS a deadly weapon.

From the article: "For more than an hour, Killinger sped through side streets and drove on the wrong side of the road."

6am, with kids soon to be walking to school, sorry, but to let him out again and back on the road was too risky. If you run from the cops, you take your life in your own hands. End of story.

If anything the cops waited too long to shoot him.

[Ophiucus]

Oh, man, you have a heck of a job.
Since I'm a BSA Venture Adviser, I've taken all the First Aid/Lifesaving/CPR courses and Wilderness Medicine is coming up this March. I hope I've learned enough to keep the lid on until you guys can get there and work your magic . . . I've certainly learned enough to appreciate all you do.

Thanks. It's one of those 'the worst job you'll ever love.' The Red Cross and Wilderness training is a good start.

At least I know I won't seize up or freak out. . . training is a wonderful thing, you just go on autopilot.

That's exactly right. The best advice for a first aid emergency is don't panic and go with you first instinct of training - don't hesitate and second guess yourself and you'll do fine.

[bootyist-monk]

Just an idea. But don't hold up someone at knifepoint. Don't commit a robbery. Don't get into a car chase by running from the police. Don't try and back into the cops to get away. Don't get your sorry ass shot dead.

Like I said, it's just an idea.

[nicmarlo]

Killinger was driving east on Pico Boulevard, then tried to make a U-turn on 6th Street, according to the videotaped broadcast. He could not complete the U-turn and began rolling backward, toward two LAPD patrol cars that had stopped behind him.

Three officers stood alongside their patrol cars and fired about 11 rounds into the rear window of Killinger's car as it began moving in reverse.

Killinger's car bumped the front of one patrol car and the driver's side door flung open. Bullets could be seen hitting the car near the opening. Killinger fell face down out of the driver's side door.

I saw all of this on FOX news the other morning; they covered it non-stop.....my remark at the time was that FOX news covers this "non-event" continuously, but failed to cover much, at all, of the nonstop fires in California, which injured and killed many people and burned thousands of acres and hundreds of homes......

Everything stated above is accurate as to what I saw, except, I didn't see officers shooting at him, nor did I see any discharge.....of course, you couldn't hear anything, as FOX wasn't playing the sound until it was over.....(then they just had a policeman saying the suspect had been caught, etc., no mention of shots fired, that I heard). The suspect did back up into the police cars, however....so, I'm not that surprise they shot him.

[Ophiucus]

I'm not shedding a tear for the loss of the perp, but I am concerned about the precedent set. Suppose a cop pulls someone over for speeding, and after pulling over, the driver, nervously, puts the car in reverse instead of neutral for a split second, which means the reverse lights come on and the cop, behind, sees this. Should this become a textbook deadly force situation?

Not quite similar. One situation is where the suspect already led the police on a high speed chase escaping from a crime - a dangerous situation with high threat. Your situation is where a routine traffic stop occurs, the car pulls over after being signaled to do so - a much less dangerous situation with little threat.

In your case, which actually happens, the cop tries not to laugh while saying 'sir, please put your car in park and turn off the engine.' The driver does it - and no problem.

[nicmarlo]

sorry it's all in italics.....that wasn't an oops (I must have hit a wrong letter).....preview, preview, preview! : )

[lodwick]

bttt

[Ophiucus]

Did I miss any?

A possible one for your list:
Always follow the cop's orders - especially when he has his hand on his gun.

In other words, 'lie down' means 'eat pavement NOW, dumbass.'

[NormalGuy]

Sounded like suicide to me. He backed up right into the bullets.