Posted on 04/13/2012 9:53:42 AM PDT by dragnet2
Los Angeles Police Department officials described the shooting death of a 19-year-old man after a bizarre high-speed chase on the 101 Freeway "tragic" but defended the officers' actions.
Eight Los Angeles police officers fired more than 90 rounds, killing him.
LAPD officials will review several factors related to the incident, including communication tactics and whether the large number of rounds fired endangered other freeway motorists.
Police said they noticed Abdul Arian driving erratically near the Northridge Fashion Center on Wednesday and tried to pull him over. But he refused, instead taking them on a high-speed pursuit through city streets
He drove a black Crown Victoria, which his uncle said was a retired police cruiser that had been purchased at an auction.
During the chase, Arian called 911, and according to a partial transcript of the call released by the LAPD, he claimed to have a gun and made threats to the police.
The dispatcher, according to the release, pleaded for Arian to surrender, saying "I don't want you to hurt yourself."
Arian responded with expletives and warned that the police are "going to get hurt."
Police did not recover a gun from the scene.
After cutting across lanes, Arian stopped, jumped out of his car and began running on the freeway. Facing police while back-stepping, he extended both arms with clasped hands, a gesture captured on video by a KTLA-TV news helicopter.
But as Arian headed toward the shoulder of the freeway in the vicinity of a vehicle that had pulled over, he turned again and assumed what police called a "shooting stance." He appeared to wield a weapon. His uncle believed it was a cellphone. Sources familiar with the investigation who were not authorized to speak publicly confirmed that it was a cellphone.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimesblogs.latimes.com ...
I seem to remember an incident a couple years ago where the cops fired 200+ rounds at a guy in a car, didn’t kill him, and managed to shoot 2 or t3 of themselves in the process. A real circular firing squad.
Excessive exhibition of ammunition
This reminds me of the old Italian Army jokes. How was mousilini kiled? he was killed by a single bullet fired by 70 Italian marksmen.
90 to 125 bullets fired and they have to wonder is others were endangered by stray bullets. The LAPD should have to attend hispanic gang book camps and study up on drive by shootings.
If 10 police officers fire 9 rounds each (4 or 5 seconds), 90 rounds converge rather quickly.
If any of them re-loaded and fired, I’d investigate. Otherwise, it’s suicide by cop.
You can't blame the cops for this one.
Sounds more like they ran out of dogs to shoot and had a quota to meet!
Folks, as someone as who as been in few high speed pursuits, I would like to share some of the insights of such.
Your heartrate is well above two hundred beats during these things, and it’s not a gradual increase. It’s one second you are at your sitting heart rate and then you are at sprinting rate.
You become enraged because this guy is fleeing a crime that he just committed and putting you and every other person on the road at deadly risk. Just to flee responsibility for something he did.
Pursuits almost always end in a wreck, and adrenaline dump gives the suspect the ability to climb out of a vehicle crash that would have killed a normal person. They always proceed to run, leap fences, sometimes fight, etc, with amazing strength and endurance. But they very rarely give up, and many times when they do get cornered in the car and cannot escape, the reach for something in an apparent attempt to intimidate the officers into backing off.
It never works and they die in a hail of bullets.
Now, ask yourselves how well you would fare with accuracy after an extended vehicle pursuit, where your emotions are white hot, your heart rate is above 220 bpm, and you had to run after a suspect after he bailed?
Your rounds would be all over the place too.
Obviously they missed with the first 89 shots.
It happens at those distances.
100 rounds in 5 seconds...
100 Round Glock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4ZivnRZG5Q
Oh and I want one!
I completely disagree with the LAPD. This was in no way “tragic”. This was a violent criminal, putting civilian and police lives in serious jeopardy. He obviously *wanted* to be killed by the police, as demonstrated by his actions. And the police did their job, which they were hired to do and paid to do, in keeping the public safer by stopping such berserkers.
A “tragedy” would have been if he had harmed police or other innocent persons by his actions. A lesser tragedy were he to have destroyed the property of others who would be hard pressed to replace what he destroyed, perhaps costing them their livelihood. An “annoyance” were he, by his actions, to block travelers on public thoroughfares or cost the public money again, by his vandalism.
That the police shot at him 90 times to end his rampage is not “tragic”, but it does demonstrate that they need to improve their shooting skills.
In his condition, it would have gone right through him anyway.
The whole thing was caught by a camera in a police helicopter. The guy certainly did look like he was pointing a gun at the police while running away, and combined with the police statement that he told a 911 dispatcher that he had a gun, this seems like a justifiable shoot. I suspect the guy was trying to make the police think he had a gun in the belief that they'd let him get away rather than shoot. Bad choice.
That is the intellectual wit that has me addicted to FR.
Funny stuff.
If I were one of the people caught in that traffic jam I would want to pump 10 or 20 rounds into his dead body.
More info here:
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_20386028/friends-family-mourn-death-aspiring-cop-abdul-arian
So you wouldn’t aim to kill for yourself, or your fellow officers?
I’d hate to have to depend on you for backup.
Holding an object in your hands like you might hold a gun, will get you just as dead as if you really had a gun.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the officers were 40 to 50 feet away from the perp at the time of the shooting. I haven’t seen the video yet, but it’s reasoned to think the officers would fire until the perp went down. If he continued to hold his hands out in a firing stance, I’d still consider him to be a threat.
What would be your take on things if you stopped after firing two shots, and one of your fellow officers was shot dead shortly thereafter? Would his wife and kids be comforted by your efforts to keep the bullet count down?
If the guy demonstrates the behavior this guy did, you take him down. Only ONE PERSON is responsible for what took place. It was the dead perp.
If I ever take a shooting stance against the police in a similar situation, I give them permission up front to take me out.
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