Insane Police Chase and Shooting (of Suspect) in Downtown Seattle

a reply to: Zarniwoop

By the time the officer had run down the perpetrator, it seems as if discharge of the fire arm is appropriate.

Im just not sure that everything leading up to that point is appropriate. It has been a discussion on a local message board before, as they have had some pretty bad crashes caused during high speed pursuits.

a reply to: SlapMonkey

All I know is what I saw in the video. Armies of cops chasing (pushing) a 'suspect' to try and get away, all of them endangering the public.

Then an execution by cop firing squad who emptied their sidearms on a busy street.

If they hadn't chased him he'd still be alive. Lost less people would have been frightened and or endangered.

What if your kid was walking to school on that sidewalk or in the back of that car at the end?

Reckless endangerment is what they were after him for, what they killed him for, the cops were more reckless.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

I completely agree on high speed chases in general. The risk/reward is rarely worth potentially harming innocent people.

a reply to: intrptr

Yea lets just put a BOLO out on somebody sticking guns in people's faces. I'm sure that'll work great.

Ladies and Gentlemen.. We have the 2015 Motor Trend Car of the Year the all new Chevrolet Camaro! Like a rock.... Man that thing took a beating and went out doing a burnout. I have nothing good to say about the coward driving it. He is a piece of crap that for his own freedom put random people at risk. You do the crime be man enough to do the time, you will never out run their Motorola. But man.... What a car.

I bet trigger happy Cops hate the side curtain air bags. I know I would. That was scary as hell, he was just shooting at them, I fully expected to see it start dancing around once the bullets started flying out of it into the camera.

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: SlapMonkey

Then an execution by cop firing squad who emptied their sidearms on a busy street.

Inflammatory editorializing on the situation.

If they hadn't chased him he'd still be alive. Lost less people would have been frightened and or endangered.

Speculation and wishful thinking--you have no way of knowing what would have happened if the cops backed off of their pursuit.

What if your kid was walking to school on that sidewalk or in the back of that car at the end?

Appeal to emotion--an oft-invoked logical fallacy.

Reckless endangerment is what they were after him for, what they killed him for, the cops were more reckless.

The end result was warranted based on the fact that the driver was recklessly firing a gun at the officers during the pursuit and his felony fleeing from the officers, not to mention the danger that the suspect put the public in by continually fleeing from the officers. You can blame the cops for escalating the situation, and I'd say that's possible but improvable, but to pretend that the LEOs shoulder the blame for the way this went down is like trying to polish a turd and claim that it's just tarnished silver.

I had to work on one of our Officers in our little town outside of Ft. Hood when I was a Medic. He decided it best to follow the high speed drunk on the wrong side of the highway. We cut him out of the car, two young soldiers died in the civic they were driving, and the drunk was gone, kept right on driving made a quick exit on a lucky country road and got away. He was only lucky because the pursuit had just started so no other officers could give chase.

Needless to say, it's bad that the boys died, terrible... But who knows what is really best, the officer had good intentions in trying to prevent an accident... What do you do?

The OP video gets me though... I will always have a problem with 20 Cops pumping 17 rounds each into the guy... There were houses and people nearby... Needlessly reckless to the public.

originally posted by: Zarniwoop
a reply to: IslandOfMisfitToys

Several seconds don't count in this case......

If the cop were shooting at the innocent person running away, you might have a point.

But, he was shooting directly at a car trying to run him down and was reasonable certain he wouldn't harm innocent folks in the vicinity.

So yeah.. several seconds count in his decision making process.

How did they know there wasn't a child or two in the car the lady got out of, even the black car

a reply to: Raggedyman

Simple... they didn't know. They made a judgement call based on what they did know.

Most Moms wouldn't high-tail it down the street and leave their kids in the car.

As for the Camaro... It's impossible to determine what information they had based on the video.

In any case, it's a quick decision made by people with a tough job.

Should cops never use guns based on what-if scenarios?

a reply to: boncho

As a Seattle resident for nearly 10 years, I know exactly what streets these are and what a threat he was. He was flying through the University district, which always has thousands of students milling about.

I agree this was not an over use of force by the police. He clearly was about to try to continue endangering life.

I was out having a jog with my wife at the time. I could have been in one of these intersections he blew through.

Good riddance.

originally posted by: Raggedyman

originally posted by: Zarniwoop
a reply to: IslandOfMisfitToys

Several seconds don't count in this case......

If the cop were shooting at the innocent person running away, you might have a point.

But, he was shooting directly at a car trying to run him down and was reasonable certain he wouldn't harm innocent folks in the vicinity.

So yeah.. several seconds count in his decision making process.

How did they know there wasn't a child or two in the car the lady got out of, even the black car

What if the subject had a nuclear warhead?

What ifs are fun. Pointless, but fun.

Only 1 person is responsible for this and that is the criminal.

Obviously they were worried about public safety right?

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

Most, major cities have gone to a policy where only a commission of a felony is grounds for a chase. Detroit recently suspended an officer for that very conduct. Depending on the initial call, if they felt significant threat to the community, the officers really get left with little choice. The what if scenarios suck both ways.

a reply to: Cypress

I belive he was firing his guns down town and then car jacked someone at gunbpoint.

Then he drove like a manic for awhile before you even see the cameras start following him.