Posted on 04/30/2007 10:35:55 AM PDT by Eyes Unclouded
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday gave police officers significant protection from lawsuits by suspects who lead them on car chases.
The justices ruled 8-1 against Georgia teenager Victor Harris, who was left a quadriplegic after a police vehicle rammed his car off the road in 2001.
A police officer used "reasonable force" when ramming the teen's speeding car, the high court ruled. A videotape of the pursuit played a key role in the decision.
"The car chase that [Harris] initiated in this case posed substantial and immediate risk of serious physical injury to others," Justice Scalia wrote for the majority. "[Deputy Timothy] Scott's attempt to terminate the chase by forcing [Harris] off the road was reasonable."
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that Harris' lawsuit against the deputy could go forward. The justices overturned the lower court ruling, meaning the suit can be dismissed.
Eight of the nine justices said they had closely viewed the videotape of the six-minute nighttime chase. It was taken from the dashboard of Scott's car and from the vehicle of another deputy from a neighboring county.
Similar pursuits have been aired, sometimes live, on many cable and broadcast television stations, and entire programs have been built around such incidents, such as "World's Wildest Police Chases." Tape fascinates justices
The tape seemed to fascinate some of the justices. Scalia referred to the videotape repeatedly in his opinion, calling it a "wrinkle" that clearly swayed the bench.
Scalia wrote, "The videotape tells a different story."
He continued, "Far from being the cautious and controlled driver the lower court depicts, what we see on the video more closely resembles a Hollywood-style car chase of the most frightening sort, placing police officers and innocent bystanders alike at greater risk of serious injury."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Police should never have to stop chasing a suspect who refuses to pull over. By definition, anyone who does not does a lawful order to stop is either insane or more likely has committed a crime. I don’t want either one driving thru my neighborhood.
This is one of the best law and order decisions to come down all year. One can only hope that the next case will eliminate frivilous lawsuits from injured bystanders against the police who engage in such chases to apprehend felons. Anyone who is injured should sue the criminal, not the LEO.
You got that right. In order to satisfy the liberal trial lawyers, maybe we should just have a standing order to open fire on anyone who decides to run. That would put an end to these chases pretty quickly without risk to other drivers.
Of course, you can’t really blame felons for running - it’s human nature. As Cruise noted in Minority Report, “Everybody runs.” But the funny thing is, I’ve never felt the need to run. Guess I was just raised to obey the police.
“Do you really think a quadriplegic is going to be doing a lot of driving?”
Did you ever see that woman that has nothing from the chest down? She’s just boobs up! She drives a full size pick up. She was on Discovery Health a while back.
Some intelligence from the SCOTUS.
And some contrast with the Dhimmicrats:
Codey ‘upset’ over focus on Corzine’s speed, seatbelt
Star-Ledger
Posted on 04/20/2007 7:54:49 PM EDT by Omega Man II
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1820964/posts
What, by my rational backed up by scripture, I simply prove that ignoring small crimes leads up to bigger crimes. (example: Clinton not taking action on the first WTC bombing with a truck bomb, directly lead to OBL to try his second deadly attack).. I am not saying that if you jaywalk you should be held in forever in prison, I am saying that if you get away with a crime once, you might be inclined to try it again and again until you get the message that it will not be tolerated.
And furthermore, the risk of injury to innocent person or property is simply too great from wild police chases.
I just proved that ignoring what you called a "petty" crime lead to the death of a fine man. Anyone with any semblance of common sense knows that people that are allowed to do evil and get away with it does not stop crime, it only encourages it. Compare crime statistics from the US to other countries where crime is held accountable, and see which country is floundering, and it seems wealth does not play a role because the poorer middle-east countries have nearly zero crime.
I will leave you with some more pearls.. I don't know if I cast them before swine or not... we will see..
* Let grace be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness... Isa. 26:10
* A man of great wrath will suffer punishment; for if you rescue him, you will have to do it again. Prov. 19:19
"because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold" (Mat. 24:12).
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