LAPD Has a VI Team?

[Brill]

Our nation of laws has devolved to a police supervisor with "authority" to hand out death sentences. Guess they were out of spike strips or other ways to stop a vehicle.

US driver shot from police helicopter
US driver shot from police helicopter - BBC News

If the marksman can hit the driver, why not the engine block, tires, or whatever?

 

[TLDR20]

The police have a job, to protect. When idiots start driving the wrong way down the freeway it is time to stop them, before they kill a family, or any unsuspecting motorist. A vehicle is a 1 ton weapon.

 

[Ooh-Rah]

I read the story, maybe I missed it, but it is there confirmation that the police officer was aiming for the body?

And even if he was, telling him to aim for the engine block or the tires seems analogous to telling a police officer that he should aim for a leg or an arm versus a center mass body shot.

 

[Ranger Psych]

Our nation of laws has devolved to a police supervisor with "authority" to hand out death sentences. Guess they were out of spike strips or other ways to stop a vehicle.

US driver shot from police helicopter
US driver shot from police helicopter - BBC News

If the marksman can hit the driver, why not the engine block, tires, or whatever?

Why block shot when the guy's already endangered a significant amount of the population and is fleeing from the police? You can't spike strip highways in cali, it just won't work. Too much traffic to be able to go GEE WE CAN LEAVE THIS OPEN and not have 7000 people try to drive over them before your target vehicle, and as you're waving them off to get the fuck out of the way now you have a 10 car MVA because that truck that was running just plowed into car 1 which then domino'ed all over the fucking place.

easiest solution? Civic fucking instruction in high school so kids learn laws and rights and how to be responsible members of society.. and a passing grade requirement of the class to get the fuck out of high school, too.

 

[Brill]

Can anyone cite a case where attempted manslaughter ended up with the defendant sentenced to death?

 

[Gunz]

The concept of televised high-speed pursuits was born and perfected in LA to the point where some people do it just to get their 15 minutes of fame.

It's one thing to lose loved ones in a car accident. It's a different story when they die because some asshole decided to go apeshit on the interstate.

More drivers in LA need to be shot from helicopters.

 

[Brill]

The police have a job to protect. When idiots start driving the wrong way down the freeway it is time to stop them, before they kill a family, or any unsuspecting motorist. A vehicle is a 1 ton weapon.

100% agree and openly wonder when/how the decision is made to transition from apprehension to killing, which is a needed "tool" in the toolbox. Going WAY out there, which I don't advocate at all, I suppose an argument could be made that DUI driver could suffer the same fate?

 

[AWP]

An SUV is a weapon. Point a weapon at a person and you'll be shot. I have reservations about a number of police shootings but given the facts as presented now I have no problem with this one.

I think the big issue is the LAPD's history. Without that this wouldn't be a point of discussion.

 

[Florida173]

The driverless SUV crashed head-on into a Dodge Durango injuring three people, one of whom remains in hospital, police added.

I'm sure the decision to shoot from a helicopter was not taken lightly, but I can't imagine they would have more faith in a dead driver, or driverless, SUV driving down the wrong way.

 

[Brill]

An SUV is a weapon. Point a weapon at a person and you'll be shot. I have reservations about a number of police shootings but given the facts as presented now I have no problem with this one.

I think the big issue is the LAPD's history. Without that this wouldn't be a point of discussion.

Disregard for public safety isn't a capital offense. That's my position.

From a legal perspective, Obayashi said, “if the officer reasonably perceives an immediate threat to the public, that justifies reasonable force, including deadly force.”

The use of the helicopter technique is so rare, however, that there is no published legal decision testing officers’ ability to use the specific tactic, noted Obayashi, a former public defender who now advises law enforcement agencies on use-of-force issues.

Police shooting from helicopters -- rare but not unheard of

 

[Marine0311]

Good shot by the police. One less reckless person out there on the road posing a danager.

 

[DA SWO]

We had a rash of wrong-way vehicle accidents in San Antonio, 90% plus are drunks or people running from the cops.
I don't have a problem, the driver was willing to kill in his desire to get away; drivers need to understand that a willingness to kill also means a willingness to die.

 

[Muppet]

Fuck him. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. I am tired of savages acting the fool and good folks dying.

M.

 

[Ranger Psych]

Can anyone cite a case where attempted manslaughter ended up with the defendant sentenced to death?

How many people have to be lucky they're alive before you shoot the person risking their life?

Oh, and as for your attempted manslaughter death sentence?

 

[SpitfireV]

I'm sure if it was a legal use of force it will all come out in the wash.

 

[medicchick]

Can anyone cite a case where attempted manslaughter ended up with the defendant sentenced to death?

Look up officer involved shootings that ended in death, plenty involved the deceased endangering other lives. It's not like this is a rare thing, you endanger peoples lives and you will be stopped by any means necessary. Not sure why you are so shocked, this was the street as it was happening not in a courtroom.

 

[Ranger Psych]

I'm just surprised that someone's thinking there's no limit to how many felonies someone needs to commit before "stop them NOW" comes into primacy.

 

[policemedic]

Can anyone cite a case where attempted manslaughter ended up with the defendant sentenced to death?

If you mean attempted murder, yes.

 

[Gunz]

Disregard for public safety isn't a capital offense. That's my position.

"Disregard for public safety" is understating it. It's an out-of-control freakin maniac endangering the lives of innocent people. No different, IMO, from somebody waving a gun around in a crowd and popping off rounds indiscriminately.

 

[x SF med]

Disregard for public safety isn't a capital offense. That's my position.

I beg to differ using the reasonable man argument.

A reasonable man would argue that disregard for public safety by the brandishing or use of a deadly weapon, is, in all logical circumstance, actually a case of premeditated murder or attempted murder. The violator knows that a vehicle is a weapon, and is using it in the manner of a weapon, therefore, premeditation is inherent in any case brought against him; and, per that argument, the protectors of public safety then have the option, or even the obligation to use whatever force necessary to deter, detain or stop the instigator from causing any, or any further, danger or harm to the public.

But, since this argument will be deemed fallacious by you, and I am not a vindictive individual - I will still hope that you, your family or friends are never on the receiving end of a vehicle driven by another who feels that disregard for the public safety isn't a capital offense, and needs a peace officer to make the shot to save their lives at the cost of the person who is threatening them driving the wrong way down a freeway, nor speeding into the stands at a middle or high school football game/rally/memorial service or other gathering, or just going about peaceable and quiet enjoyment of life.