So what do you do when trigger happy cops chase you around?

Started by Razgovory, May 23, 2015, 02:26:32 PM

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Razgovory

In response to this latest Cleveland trial, I have to ask, when police start shooting at your car and chasing you, what is the proper response?  Pulling over into a parking lot seems dangerous because a cop very well may legally jump on your car hood and shoot you and your passenger.  Do you call the Sheriff's department and complain that group of lunatics dressed as police officers are hunting you down, and you need protection?  I like to think of myself as an law abiding person but this seems like a no-win situation.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

Agelastus

"Come grow old with me
The Best is yet to be
The last of life for which the first was made."

Admiral Yi

I would pull over and stick both hands out the window. 

Razgovory

Quote from: Admiral Yi on May 23, 2015, 02:48:41 PM
I would pull over and stick both hands out the window.

Make sure you aren't wearing dark colored gloves, and you might have a chance.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017


Tonitrus


Iormlund


Razgovory

Quote from: Admiral Yi on May 23, 2015, 03:01:47 PM
Thanks for the heads up bro.

I'd say the odds are still good that a the police officer jumps on your hood and simply shoots at your.  After all, he already thinks you shot at him.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

jimmy olsen

Reading about that story on the New York Times. I can understand arguing whether he was justified, but this seems an odd thing to argue. What did the defendant expect to happen when he shot at them? :huh: Of course he knowingly caused their death.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/24/us/michael-brelo-cleveland-police-officer-acquitted-of-manslaughter-in-2012-deaths.html?_r=0&referrer=

Quote
While Officer Brelo did fire lethal shots at the two people, testimony did not prove that his shots caused either death, according to the ruling of Judge John P. O'Donnell of the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. "The state did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant, Michael Brelo, knowingly caused the deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams," he ruled.
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Faye: Ordinary. The kind of beautiful, dangerous ordinary that you just can't leave alone.
Jet: I see.
Faye: Like an angel from the underworld. Or a devil from Paradise.
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Eddie Teach

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dps

Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 23, 2015, 10:42:38 PM
Reading about that story on the New York Times. I can understand arguing whether he was justified, but this seems an odd thing to argue. What did the defendant expect to happen when he shot at them? :huh: Of course he knowingly caused their death.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/24/us/michael-brelo-cleveland-police-officer-acquitted-of-manslaughter-in-2012-deaths.html?_r=0&referrer=

Quote
While Officer Brelo did fire lethal shots at the two people, testimony did not prove that his shots caused either death, according to the ruling of Judge John P. O’Donnell of the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. “The state did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant, Michael Brelo, knowingly caused the deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams,” he ruled.

Tim, I think the argument is that because so many other shots were fired, it's wasn't possible to prove that he was the one that fired the fatal shots.

grumbler

Quote from: dps on May 24, 2015, 10:16:20 AM
Tim, I think the argument is that because so many other shots were fired, it's wasn't possible to prove that he was the one that fired the fatal shots.

This is a stupid fucking ruling.  He fired fatal shots, intending them to be fatal.  The only issue was whether the victims were dead before he killed them, or not.  How that isn't manslaughter at the very least, I don't understand at all. The judge certainly seemed to have the evidence for a second-degree murder conviction, if he had at all been interested in convicting.

I'm thinking Brelo is fucked in the civil trial that will surely follow...  maybe even in the federal civil rights trial that won't likely follow.
The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.   -G'Kar

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Razgovory

Raz agrees with Grumbler!  I'm normally on the cops side in a lot of these things.  I kept an open mind on the Fergusson thing, but as the facts came out, I believe Mr. Wilson was justified in his actions.  I can't imagine any possible circumstances where you justified in jumping on the hood of a car and blowing away the driver and the passenger.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

Eddie Teach

Quote from: Razgovory on May 24, 2015, 03:33:52 PM
I can't imagine any possible circumstances where you justified in jumping on the hood of a car and blowing away the driver and the passenger.

They're about to detonate a bomb.
To sleep, perchance to dream. But in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?

LaCroix

Quote from: grumbler on May 24, 2015, 01:46:39 PMThis is a stupid fucking ruling.  He fired fatal shots, intending them to be fatal.  The only issue was whether the victims were dead before he killed them, or not.  How that isn't manslaughter at the very least, I don't understand at all. The judge certainly seemed to have the evidence for a second-degree murder conviction, if he had at all been interested in convicting.

I'm thinking Brelo is fucked in the civil trial that will surely follow...  maybe even in the federal civil rights trial that won't likely follow.

i can see it. prosecutors couldn't prove that his bullets killed the victims, so there goes the primary charge. for secondary charges, this professor makes a good point:

Quote"To find him responsible, to find him unreasonable under these circumstances (the judge) will be asking himself how come anyone else wasn't reasonable, too?" Valore said. "It was such a maelstrom of shots."

thirteen cops fired over a hundred bullets into this car. while brelo jumped on the hood, that's not necessarily unreasonable. if no cop had ever jumped onto a car hood and fired bullets into the windshield, then brelo's actions would probably be unreasonable. but, i'm sure there's case law that shows this has reasonably happened before. if a cop can "reasonably" (through beyond a reasonable doubt standard) pull a brelo when actual dangerous criminals are involved, then brelo's additional actions here shouldn't matter that much. assuming there aren't more to the facts, of course.