Quote:
Originally Posted by anothersteve
Why the hell can't people just comply? This crap is avoidable if people would just comply! I'm not saying who's right or wrong, it's just avoidable.
Steve
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100% correct. But shoot him??
The driver was reported for sleeping in his car, not pulled over while driving. I know it’s illegal to be behind the wheel of a car (in that condition), driving or not. Maybe he stopped because he couldn’t or knew he shouldn’t be driving.
Their approaching him wasn’t racially motivated, and he was respectful to and treated respectably by the officers. The officers clearly followed protocol.
I’m NOT suggesting that the driver’s actions were acceptable in any way. The driver was drunk, which definitely impairs a person’s judgement and subsequent actions. The officers in pursuit by foot did warn him several times to stop, and their actions were completely justified...
until they they shot him.
No excuses- not even that his wife died 1- 1/2 years ago. When he was told to return to his car and “don’t go anywhere,” he could have driven away- but he didn’t. Instead, he resisted arrest, fought them, and grabbed the officer’s taser, still all clearly wrong. While tasers ARE weapons, they don’t kill anyone. By running away, the guy made things much worse than they could have been, but the officer didn’t drop to the ground, nor was he specific about where he was tased when asked, just like the guy didn’t remember what kind of drinks he had, which wasn’t relative. If a person is tased, I would think they’d know exactly where the taser hit him. Is there proof that the cop was tased? I couldn’t tell in the video.
Was the car stolen? Was there a warrant out for his arrest? Was he carrying a gun or were there drugs in his car? While he was running AWAY, he was no threat to the officers’ lives. Did he point a gun at them?
If the driver got that far away, rather than shoot the guy, they could have backed off. Not only were they in no danger, but they had his license and his car. Under the circumstances, especially with all of the current tension, shooting the driver as he ran off was not the best decision. Instead, since they couldn’t catch him, the cops could have stopped their chase- they could have had his car impounded. He wouldn’t be dead now. Eventually he would have found his way home, maybe slept it off, and then cops could have been sent to his home with a warrant for his arrest. I’m sure that’s happened at one time or another. Why not this time?