Ridiculous Police News (Specific events)

[Clash Perez]

The real moral of the story seems to be that one should always keep up with one's vehicle maintenance, because there's legally nothing wrong with cops killing one if one doesn't.

...Did I get that right?

[zoobernut]

Even if justice wasn't served against the one officer things are changing in Cleveland at least. Hopefully this actually goes somewhere and makes a difference.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/clevelan...olice-conduct/

Also personally I don't think that the officer should be charged with manslaughter for the same reason that Salodin stated but he certainly should be charged with something along with the officers above him who allowed the chase. From what little knowledge I have about the case it did seem ridiculous to jump up on the hood of the car to fire shots. If you feel comfortable jumping up on the hood of the car then you no longer fear for your life enough to be firing bullets.

[6souls]

He was also charged with Felonious assault, and cleared of, for jumping on the hood.

[Salodin]

If the car didn't backfire it might have stuck, but between the chase and assumed gunshots they stood little chance of coming out alive unless they jumped out of the car and surrendered before the officers started firing =(. It's all just an unfortunate series of events that's quite tragic.

[Byrthnoth]

So wait... the police executed someone whose car backfired and we're supposed to brush it off as a misunderstanding instead of gross incompetence?

I mean, here's the rough timeline:
1) Two "homeless, mentally ill crackheads" (to paraphrase CBS) are driving past police HQ and their car backfires
2) Bystanders think that a gun has been fired, so cops roll out
3) Cops proceed on a 22 mile high speed chase that reached 100mph
4) They are eventually stopped in a school parking lot and are almost immediately shot a few times
5) After a brief pause, cops position and shoot their car another 100 times before they've opened the doors, including one cowboy motherfucker who jumps on the hood (the only one charged)

Here is an animation of the end:
http://video-embed.cleveland.com/ser...hmSCKNFhrBY-nL


First off, why engage in a high speed chase? High speed chases cause ridiculous amounts of collateral damage and afaik it's typical police practice to not engage in them unless there's a clear threat to public safety. The biggest threat to public safety in this case was a guy with a BAC half a drink over the legal limit and a hit of cocaine in his system driving a car, which only gets worse if he starts driving faster. Leading the police on a high speed chase, for the record, is not legally punishable by death.

Hindsight 20/20 on the noise, but the gunshot wasn't real and thus nothing was hit. In a 22 mile chase, there must be some amount of time for someone back at HQ to look around and go "uh, there's no hole anywhere. Maybe they weren't aiming at us or didn't fire a gun. Try to de-escalate the situation."


I understand the officer not necessarily being charged with murder or whatever, but this is manslaughter at least. If a bunch of randos without uniforms did the same thing they'd all be going to jail regardless how much they thought the other guy might have had a gun.

[Salodin]

No way is it manslaughter. You're being ridiculous if you think there are investigators holding back looking for ballistics when the chase is still going on, stop being obtuse about it. Hindsight is 20/20, that is the moral of this story. I didn't know that they ended up in a school parking lot, which is probably why they went above and beyond making sure the threat was over in trying to stop them.

I agree they shouldn't have chased them for 22 miles, but that's not manslaughter. There are plenty of other rules/laws they probably broke in doing so but no, no cop should be charged with manslaughter/murder. You don't go "oh well what they did was still pretty bad so slap them with any serious charge". The prosecution fucked up when they went for that charge, and they could have probably had a lot more success with lesser, more numerous charges for the other stupid things they did.

[kuronosan]

No. Sorry, but no. This is gross incompetence.

[Salodin]

It is incompetent. It is not manslaughter. Blame the prosecution for fucking up the charges.

[kuronosan]

Yes, but not the shitty cops or the system that fosters it?

[Salodin]

I never said that, but keep the strawman alive.

[kuronosan]

It was a question.

[Salodin]

Absolutely they should be investigated, rules and procedure reviewed and changed, and if they did anything wrong then charge them accordingly.

[Brill Weave]

Blame the system, blame the cop. Whatever you do though, don't blame the couple that led cops on a chase. Definitely not their fault. I'm sure they were good law abiding citizens.

[Andalusian girls]

they could be lifelong criminal masterminds i never want my police to use deadly force unless there is a clear and present danger to themselves or to civilians; in all others cases restraint and deescalation should be the standard

[archibaldcrane]

Blame the system, blame the cop. Whatever you do though, don't blame the couple that led cops on a chase. Definitely not their fault. I'm sure they were good law abiding citizens.

Yeah, we shouldn't expect cops to keep their shit together when their authority is challenged.

[Melena]

While what the cops did was disgusting and way overboard, there is absolutely ZERO reason to lead them on a 100mph chase. I'm still shocked at that speed that no one else got hurt/killed/shot/tazered/ran over/etc. over it.

[jmc]

they could be lifelong criminal masterminds i never want my police to use deadly force unless there is a clear and present danger to themselves or to civilians; in all others cases restraint and deescalation should be the standard

This I agree with, as deadly force should only be used if there is a legitimate threat to officers safety or the publics safety.

Leading officers on a 100+ MPH chase is a safety risk to both though.



*edit*In no way am I say what the officer did was ok, I haven't read too much into it to give a valid opinion on if the shooting was justified

[Clash Perez]

Leading officers on a 100+ MPH chase is a safety risk to both though.

A safety risk which ends as soon as the chase does, no?

[jmc]

A safety risk which ends as soon as the chase does, no?

Situational, depends if the car can still be driven even after being stopped.

[zoobernut]

This I agree with, as deadly force should only be used if there is a legitimate threat to officers safety or the publics safety.

Leading officers on a 100+ MPH chase is a safety risk to both though.



*edit*In no way am I say what the officer did was ok, I haven't read too much into it to give a valid opinion on if the shooting was justified

Aren't there other tactics to apprehend or stop suspects that don't involve engaging in a high speed chase? Shouldn't they have employed other tactics to stop the chase? Or not engage in a highspeed chase in the first place?