I can’t say for sure if the man had a weapon or not...
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He had a weapon. A two-ton weapon on four wheels. Courts have routinely sided with the cops who argue the suspect was using his vehicle as a deadly weapon as he tried to run over the cop as he fled.
Cops are actually taught how to move their way into the path of the fleeing vehicle but not get hit. The are told that their hand on the door of a car as it pulls away constitutes deadly assault that justifies deadly force.
In Cop-land, this was a clean shoot.
If the officer can show that he was threatened by the car, then I would support his actions.
I can’t directly see from the video that he was, but if he can establish that, then ok.
I look at it like this. People seem to think oh I can just run from the police and no problem.
But it is a problem. In doing so you put your life at risk, you put the lives of police at risk, and you put the lives of anyone who may come into the chase at risk.
What if you decide to run from the cops, and as you take off down the street a little child runs out after their ball and you kill the child?
I see a whole lot of people taking actions in which it’s obvious that they do not give a sh*t about anyone, but when that person dies, I’m supposed to give a sh*t, you know what I mean?
If people took responsibility for their actions instead of behaving like irresponsible madmen, then maybe they will find themselves dead less often.
All I am saying with this particular case is that in my initial watching of the body cam footage, it looks bad for the cop.
Could be that I’m wrong though. I’m not convicting him yet.
I see another poster has shown me that the cop is indicted, so we will see exactly what happened here eventually.
Whoa!
I didn't know that.
Is there good case law on it?
Correct. That is the problem.