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...PedroMartinez..snipped...Edit: BTW, I just noticed that the back window is fully intact. Was the officer shooting at the tires?
I heard on the news that the policeman said he was aiming for a tire, not the body of the vehicle. The person that scared me the most and who I thought had completely lost it was the one bashing out the side window. What did he hope to accomplish with that.......? He just looked out of control. JMO.
If he was shooting at the tires, just as bad. The minivan is speeding away and he is shooting at tires, obviously not too concerned with where the ricochet might go or that if he misses, he could just as easily hit the fuel tank, hit a brake line.
So what if he hits the tire? The minivan is speeding away. Loss of control from the tire being shot could make the van cross into oncoming traffic. Then we'd have plenty of people saying it was all the woman's fault that the police messed up. In addition, the van could roll over and we get into all the what ifs.
The officer that shot was stupid and challenges the woman for stupid person of the incident. The kid runs a close third.
The video is being broadcast and probably on tube.
From what we know (from the Police dash cam), woman gets pulled over for speeding. 5 kids in the car. Woman evades the police by taking off. Stopped again this time police try to get her out of the car, she resists. 14 year old gets out and scuffles with police officer. Woman and 14 year old get back in minivan and starts to leave. Officer smashed out passenger side window with baton. Woman drives away and another officer fires what appears 3 rounds at rear of minivan.
I don't car who did what, there was no justification for shooting at the minivan. First, just what did the officer think, he was going to disable the minivan by shooting at it from the rear? Really? Then, the officer who smashes out one of the passenger side windows with the baton? Are you kidding me? He was going to do what with 5 kids inside, try to open the door and then what? Jump in or drag the kids out?
Where did he think the glass from the impact of the baton and the end of the baton were going? How about inside the car and toward the kids?
The police knew there were kids inside or they were more than incompetent. During the first stop he looked inside.
I don't get it either.
Cop writes her a ticket for 71 in a 55 mph zone, she maybe gets the last word in before hastily leaving, then they pull her over again, then charge her with having drug paraphernalia in the van plus child endangerment? I think the cops involved did the endangerment.
I was a cop for several years. These officers totally overreacted and handled the situation very unprofessionally. As the officer had made initial contact with the woman, she could be identified as the driver and could have been arrested at her home for taking off from the traffic violation. One would think too the officer would have seen or heard the children in the van on initial contact, engaging in pursuits when children are in the car are handled with much more care and restraint. Usually officers will back off and just follow the person.
The officer breaking the window in the van was just uncalled for, what about glass fragments in the childrens eyes? People have been blinded like that. And shooting at the van when there was no imminent threat to the officers lives was absolutely wrong. They do not aim for tires, they use stop sticks for that. They certainly did not follow proper procedure. These two idiots should be fired and in jail themselves. Luckily no one was killed. This is why people distrust and label all cops as bullies, because of a few bad apples. It makes me sick.
100% in agreement and I don't know anyone who actually works in law enforcement who wouldn't agree either. I'm surprised at some responses since normally posts tend to blast LE for any justified actions, but some of these are blasting the woman for unjustified police use of course. You don't shoot at a car with children, this pursuit should have been called off or not even started, you don't pursue when the suspect is identified and there is no imminent deadly danger, SO MANY procedural problems here. That guy does not need to be defended. I do sympathize as I know people do make the wrong decision in the heated moment but this is not something to defend.
Maybe you can answer this for me as I don't understand (I worked in Canada LE), is it legal in this US state to use deadly force on a vehicle fleeing an assault PO after being identified? Here, this would not be justified. A shooting (attempted murder) yes, not an assault PO.
She should've never driven off in the first place. Secondly, her son should've kept his ass in the car.
Yes, the police were wrong for shooting at the minivan. Everyone knows about police brutality, that's why you should just do what they say, especially when you're DWB.
(Sigh).....Pick any item out of your local produce department, and you will find more intelligence and reasoning power than either this woman or the cops displayed here. I am holding the cops more accountable because of their use of lethal force. Yes, this woman is hardly an example of how to behave in a traffic stop, but, the cops lack of ability to keep control hardly impresses me either.
Nothing in this womans actions, as dense as they may have been, justified the types of force applied. Heat of the moment my aching azz!! Don't they encourage cops to THINK anymore? Are they just turning a bunch of attack trained chimps out on the street?
I offer no apology for expecting better than this out of LEOs. If they can't be smarter than the likes of this woman, it's no wonder they can't do anything about REAL criminals. The lack of composure and rational thinking displayed by these cops is frightening. As is the complete willingness to go straight to lethal force. This type of thing is happening a lot. This is not an isolated incident. There is something dangerously wrong with LE thought processes these days....
Many of y'all keep saying that the cop shouldn't have shot at the car with children in it. If you pay attention, you'll notice that the police officer firing the shots was NOT the cops involved in when the kids were out of the vehicle. I've yet to read any information stating that he knew there were kids in the vehicle.
If there is information showing that the cop knew there were children in the car, please post it. If not, quit stating that your assumption is fact.
(Sigh).....Pick any item out of your local produce department, and you will find more intelligence and reasoning power than either this woman or the cops displayed here. I am holding the cops more accountable because of their use of lethal force. Yes, this woman is hardly an example of how to behave in a traffic stop, but, the cops lack of ability to keep control hardly impresses me either.
Nothing in this womans actions, as dense as they may have been, justified the types of force applied. Heat of the moment my aching azz!! Don't they encourage cops to THINK anymore? Are they just turning a bunch of attack trained chimps out on the street?
I offer no apology for expecting better than this out of LEOs. If they can't be smarter than the likes of this woman, it's no wonder they can't do anything about REAL criminals. The lack of composure and rational thinking displayed by these cops is frightening. As is the complete willingness to go straight to lethal force. This type of thing is happening a lot. This is not an isolated incident. There is something dangerously wrong with LE thought processes these days....
Yet another post based purely emotion and speculation after the fact.
If the cop did not know there were children in the vehicle and he thought that another officer was in harms way (if a cop might have been in front of the vehicle), his actions were completely justified and reasonable.
At this point, we apparently don't have information about it; therefore, such posts at the one above are just a rant based on ignorance.
Yet another post based purely emotion and speculation after the fact.
If the cop did not know there were children in the vehicle and he thought that another officer was in harms way (if a cop might have been in front of the vehicle), his actions were completely justified and reasonable.
At this point, we apparently don't have information about it; therefore, such posts at the one above are just a rant based on ignorance.
If you say so. I'm hardly "ranting", nor am I analyzing this on raw emotion. The "ignorance" here, appears to be in what actually justifies use of lethal force. Verily, there is NOTHING in this video that supports its use here. That you cannot, see that, matters little to me.
I'm not defending the womans actions, in that I was very plain, however, being stupid does not carry a death sentence or beating as remedy, last I checked.
You might want to watch the tape again. The cop that fired his weapon was hardly worked up and fearing for anyones life. He very deliberately aimed and fired, and had PLENTY of time to think it over, and he was there through the whole bit.
I may see things here through a different prism than you. There's good reason for that, I will add. "Ignorance"here doesn't factor in, however. Having been through a couple lethal force reviews gives me a different slant on things. And no, I'm not a cop. Their reviews grant THEM a bit more lattitude than the ones I've dealt with, which is wrong. The rules are the rules, when a weapon comes into play, and nobody, especially cops, gets a pass.
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I'm hardly "ranting", nor am I analyzing this on raw emotion. The "ignorance" here, appears to be in what actually justifies use of lethal force. Verily, there is NOTHING in this video that supports its use here. That you cannot, see that, matters little to me. 
