>The officer simply tried to stop her in as non-lethal and non=-harmful way as possible, and there was a terrible accident. Never would have happened if she hadn’t been into drugs, used someone’s vehicle without permission, committed two hit and runs, and then tried to escape police custody.<
Jeff, I respect you, I do. That said, how on earth is a 90 pound, HANDCUFFED female going to wrest the gun from a 250+ pound, trained officer of the law? I’m sorry, but tasers knock out the muscle control of the individual. That man could have grabbed the woman, pulled her to a stop and gotten her into a nice jail cell within minutes. Instead, he caused her death just as surely as if he had put a gun to her head.
As others have said on this thread, tasers should be used only as a last resort before going to a gun. The taser has been proven to be far from “non-lethal” and this officer was in little if any danger in subduing this suspect. He took the easy way out and this woman is now brain dead. To add insult to injury, her care is costing the taxpayers in the locality untold amounts of money, not to mention he has put those same taxpayers at risk of even more loss at the hands of a civil lawsuit.
Sorry, darnright, I disagree.
As she was running, grabbbing her, tackling her, any of that while running like they were could have caused either or both to fall and injure one or both. A scuffle could have ensueed and particularly if a person is on drugs, the outcome is not certain.
Perps get officers guns far too often and the result is then a very deadly situation. If you are wearing your sidearm, one of the last things you want to do is to allow a fleeing perp, a fugitive, to get anywhere near your weapon in a scuffle or physical match. They have already shown by fleeing that their intent is not to remain captured at almost any cost.
He made a call based on his training and I cannot fault him for it.
As I have said, this lady had shown she was very capable of injuring others or worse...and she didn’t care enough to even stick around and see on two different hit and run cases.
She was known to be into drugs. She took another persons vehicle.
Then, when finally arrested sho took the first chance and tried to escape.
The outcome was a terrible accident...which by the way could have equally happened in the other scenarios had the officer tried them...but it was an accident that at every phase of the decision chain leading up to it, this lady could have avoided by simply making a good choice. She didn’t.
The officer could not be expected to just “let her go,” she was under arrest and his job was to stop her...and he did. Sadly with tragic results...but those results can and should not be laid at anyone else’s feet except the woman herself.
This officer did not abuse his authority, or try to harm or injure this woman in the least. He tried to stop her with as little force and danger to all involved as possible in the circumstances. In this cae, the terrible accident occurred.
As I have said, I am sorry she and her family are going through this tragedy, but I am not sorry she is no longer on the street. She was an accident, more crime, and real potential injury to innocent bystanders waiting to happen. She had proven it by her own actions.