There is a story out of Spokane yesterday about an 'alleged' car thief who ended up very dead. dead, dead. However, some of the details coming out so far...well, let's just say they are raising some questions about the justification of the shooting.
At first, it started out sounding like a good shoot. The car owner called it in properly and said the guy had been armed. But, once the police got there, it's looking like while that may be true, it appears the bad guy was shot in the back of the head through the rear window of the truck.
As he drove away down the street.
That paints a little different story, and means all you are really hanging your case on is that you were stopping a felony, and is different than if the bad guy was sticking a weapon in your face, and you drew your gun because you feared for your life at the beginning of the encounter.
Nope, this smacks a little too much like 'dude swiped my car out of the driveway, and he ain't gonna get away with it!'. I'm not saying he is going to jail...but I wouldn't be surprised to see charges filed. The shooter should just say his prayers that no one else got hurt after the Suburban lost control. I imagine if it had wiped out three kids waiting for the school bus, the story would have a different slant.
What would you or I have done? Ask yourself this, what would a policeman have done? My guess? If the perp has proven willing to pull a weapon in a show of force and threat in order to commit a crime, and steal property, and elude arrest, all combined? He very likely would have taken the shot.
ReplyDeleteNow, is the average armed civilian as good of a shot? Did the man consider the situation before shooting? I would like to think both are in the positive. I know I would have considered all such things. I convey that trust to him, and probably more so than I do to police officers as a general rule anymore, at least in big cities.
Given the variables, and that what he did is probably acceptable police procedure, I have to think what he did was correct. Either men arm themselves and do the hard things, or they disarm and choose to wait for the police to do those things... at least until, like in Britain, even they are disarmed leaving only criminals with weapons. Your mileage may vary.