The way it should have played out.LRPD policy is to be armed off duty for situations like this.
I'm going to have to change my tagline to: "When your life is on the line, and seconds count,the police are minutes away won't do shit".
“LRPD policy is to be armed off duty for situations like this. “
I bet the cop would have acted if he had to. Otherwise, playing John Wayne could have gotten someone killed.
“Thomas’ job in that situation was to ...”
...double tap both of those scumbags, preferably in the head.
I suppose he's the witness who provided the sort of "average height, average weight, dark clothing" description? Good job!!
“He’s going to be a great witness for us when we get these people into a courtroom,” Hastings said, “he accurately described half the population in record time.”
Goes to show you what the police view their duty as.
It’s more about processing the crime scene than preventing or stopping crime.
Nobody got hurt right? The way I look at it is, if my wife and kids were in that pizza parlor, I’d be glad the cop let the perps get out the door without firing a shot.
Sounds great. I suppose off-duty LR cops are unarmed. Great witness just as soon as they pin down Mr. "black, in his mid-20s, 6 feet tall" and Mr. "black, 5 feet 9 inches tall,"
They will probably get convicted for stupidly using a credit card, NOT for the "great witness" testimony from Officer C. Feathers.
The way it should have played out.
The detailed descriptions of the perps sort of surprises me. Had this happened in the Twin Cities we would have been told that there were two people, with both skin AND eyes.....
The off duty officer wasn’t a rent-a-cop, he was a customer. He may have had a few drinks and didn’t believe himself to be in good enough condition to engage the robbers.
The Monday morning quarterbacks need to think about what it means to start shooting the robbers in a crowded restaurant.
Let’s say the cop takes down the short, fat robber. As he starts firing at the robber, the tall, skinny robber starts shooting at the cop. Being a typical gangbanger, he can’t hit the cop, but does shoot two or three innocents before the cop can shoot him.
Is that a better result?
"Do you have any idea who you're stealing from?? You and your friends are dead!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43L1IR5qHIU&feature=player_embedded
This video is HILARIOUS, but 1:36 applies to this thread.
(But for an ‘everything happens for a reason’ moment, check out :17)
Crook: [during a diner robbery] What’s you doing, you pighead sucka?
Harry Callahan: Every day for the past ten years, Loretta here’s been giving me a large black coffee- except today she gives me a large black coffee and it has sugar in it. Alotta sugar. I just came back to complain.
Crook: Say what, sucka?
Harry Callahan: Well, we’re not just gonna let you walk out of here.
Crook: Who’se we sucka?
Harry Callahan: [slowly drawing his .44 Magnum] Smith and Wesson... and me.
Amish robbers, again?
Should have stopped after the word quarterback. Two guys with guns and lots of civilians in a confined space, and you think the cop should have played Dirty Harry. Not a smart move, IMHO. This was real life, not a damn movie.
40 years ago, a neighbor of mine died in a stupid hold up of a corner grocery store when the owner came out firing away at a couple of punks sticking the place up. She left a husband and three young daughters. Her life was worth a lot more than the $30 bucks in that cash register.
This is more of the same crap that brought us the pathetic LEO "response" to the Columbine massacre: Establish a perimiter and let the shooters go on shooting.
A police officer should neutralize the threat in order to keep everyone safe. Doing nothing during the commission of a violent crime might keep the officer safe in the short run, but it increases the threat to the public and only encourages criminals in the long run.
Would the officer have considered doing something after the robbers shot someone in the head?
"Oh, maybe I should try to stop them now."
He's very lucky nobody was killed while he stood by.
i was there. officer thomas acted perfect under pressure and kept everyone calm. im glad no one thought this was a video game or seagal movie. it was real life. the fact that no one got seriously hurt or killed means we all did just what we should have. stick to the xbox. real guns fire real bullets.