It’s a shame the young man is dead. Having said that it sure seems like stupidity ran in the family.
DUMB!!!!
Des Moines Register article with police audio:
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20131106/NEWS/311060044/?odyssey=nav|head
Looks like another case of felonious revving of engine with intent to be uppity. Clearly a danger to the public safety and you can see why the cop had to shoot him. He feared for his life after all. (/s)
That said, the parents are darwin award contenders if they’re calling the police to deal with their parenting issues. What part of: Don’t pick up that phone and dial 9-1-1 unless you’re willing to see someone end up dead are people failing to understand?
Defund the police. A free and well armed people have little need for them.
So, trying to cut through the emotional BS and hand-ringing in the article it sounds something like:
1. Dumb dad sicks the cops on his son (what could possibly go wrong?)
2. Dumb son decides that pulling over is for suckers, he’ll just get in a car chase with the cops (what could possibly go wrong?)
3. After watching Dumbass Jr. nearly run over a few folks before crashing the truck, officers decide to permanently end the chase via the Smith and Wesson brand of conflict resolution before Dumbass Jr. can get the truck rolling again for round 2 of GTA 6: Iowa State University.
A quote from one of the articles: “So he didn’t shut the damn truck off, so let’s fire six rounds at him? We’re confused, and we don’t understand,” said the boy’s Step-Grandfather.
Yeah, well, I’m betting that’s not your first time being confused. Given the fact that Dumbass Jr. refused to pull over, sent a lawn and garden truck careening through a college campus, and then acted like he was trying to get the crashed truck moving again in order to plow through more student-infested college grounds, I can see why the officers there thought Dumbass Jr. wasn’t going to cooperate and was going to end up being a threat to more pedestrians. Come on, college students don’t even look up to see where the normal traffic is, you think they’ve got enough situational awareness to avoid someone crashing a truck through the lawn and parking lots?
Trying to get the cops off your ass by speeding through the college grounds is likely going to get someone killed. The fact that the step-grandad can’t grasp that leads me to believe that Dumbass Jr. was just continuing a family tradition of dumbassery.
Not that I advocate shooting every dumbass kid that thinks it’s a good idea to start a car chase with the police. I would have been happier if police had ripped Dumbass Jr. out of the truck and utilized non-lethal means of encouraging compliance until such a point that Dumbass Jr. ceased being a threat to life and limb, however that kind of response is not always going to be an option.
If the remaining options are letting someone play demolition derby on the ISU campus or shooting the dumbass, then I’m going to have to cast a vote for shooting the dumbass. Overall, it sounds like the officer shooting the kid was making a more rational decision than either the father or the son in this story.
“Once the truck had stopped, the teenager refused to turn it off and revved the engine.
Six shots were fired into the truck by the officer with two shots killing the 19-year-old, according to the medical examiner.”
I think they shot too early. If he tried to drive away after stopping that’s one thing (because he already rammed a car, etc.). Not following an order to turn the motor off is not a reason to shoot. Even if he sat there until the thing ran out of gas, the only harm would’ve been the cops had to wait. Maybe they couldn’t wait to buy their smokes either.
He learned a lesson, unfortunately the hard way, this dy and age, one never, under no circumstances, get the police involved in anything. They are not there to help you, they are not your friend.
These police dash-cam video clips are rather graphic considering it's the last four minutes of a young life.
Watch full-screen. You'll probably need to turn up the sound on the player. Very sad.
ISU Police dashcam video (trailing pursuit).