Conclusion to that Case Last Year

[StanAE86]

Kid runs from cops, they ram car, kid ends up paralyzed. Kid sues cops for ramming him.

http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles/_a/supreme-court-backs-police-in-chase-case/20070430233109990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001

[ZfrkS62]

good.

i don't see why criminals even have the right to sue.

[Erez]

^ +1

[5vz-fe]

my two cents:

The guy was only wanted for speeding and the police passed up many safer opportunities to try to disable the vehicle. This decision opens up some scary floodgates implying that a cop has the right to kill you in a car chase. what if the cop had just pulled up next to the guy and shot him in the head? would that be legal? would that be constitutional?


In another point of view, the guy also had many chances to surrender and stop his vehicle. He decided to continue speeding away meant he gave up that right.

I think ramping a vehicle is entirely different from shooting the driver, so please try to be more reasonable.

[nthfinity]

something i've been following for some time.

The thing is, at what point does the upholders of the law become unable to uphold the laws we have, including speed limits. the chase continued, where a typical spin manuver was used. the car flipped, and shit happens.

Without the officers' ability to serve and protect, then what purpose does it serve to have them?

[ZfrkS62]

something i've been following for some time.

The thing is, at what point does the upholders of the law become unable to uphold the laws we have, including speed limits. the chase continued, where a typical spin manuver was used. the car flipped, and shit happens.

Without the officers' ability to serve and protect, then what purpose does it serve to have them?

they wouldn't have used the PIT maneuver on the freeway either, they would have used spike strips. But as the article says, this was on a 2 lane road at 90+ mph. A head on collision with anything but a Freightliner would have killed the other driver.

(i know you're on the cop's side, i was just adding to the point)

[TopGearNL]

Simple, if they would have stopped nothing would have happened.

But they didn't, they ran and they brought the safety of innocent in danger, that is unacceptable, police handled correctly..

[graywolf624]

The minute you start running from cops the legal assumption is your up to more. Running from the cops is a felony in its own right. While its sad that the kid died, the cops need some method to stop the person and there is a potential for bystandards to die in these type of situations. Taking care of it before it goes into a new neighborhood is a great example. The kid was a darwin award winner.

[graywolf624]

No Chase laws are crap.. They are basically a license to do anything you want as long as you have a fake or no plate. Youve essentially created a situation that if your doing something wrong your rewarded for running away.. especially if your plate is stolen. If you cant see a problem with creating that incentive I dont know what to say.

No innocents got hurt.. Some jackass kid who became a felon the minute he began to run did. Tough shit.. Its like illegal immigrants complaining about how they are treated... Once your in a situation you wouldnt even be in the first place if youd stop for 5 secs and act responsibly.. I lose total sympathy.

[graywolf624]

article says that the driver never went above 83.

Thats damn fast in a residential area... Youd lose your license for going that fast..

[silentm]

my two cents:

The guy was only wanted for speeding and the police passed up many safer opportunities to try to disable the vehicle. This decision opens up some scary floodgates implying that a cop has the right to kill you in a car chase. what if the cop had just pulled up next to the guy and shot him in the head? would that be legal? would that be constitutional?


In another point of view, the guy also had many chances to surrender and stop his vehicle. He decided to continue speeding away meant he gave up that right.

I think ramping a vehicle is entirely different from shooting the driver, so please try to be more reasonable.

and you think that justifies killing him? imo the cop should use every safe opportunity he gets to disable the car and not act like a blood driven maniac...

[novass]

^ I don't think it was the cops intention to hurt and disable the kid, only to stop him and to keep him from hurting others. It sucks that the kid is now crippled, but he was the one that made the choice to run. The cops can't sit around and wait for the perfect scenario to try the PIT because who knows what could happen while they wait for that.

[Mattk]

I really think that it should be up to the police officers. It should be up to their discretion to determine what is safe or not. Is it safer to end the chase now or just let it go? Maybe in this instance, the cop should have let it go. But we have the benefit of hindsight and can look at the video many times. The cop only had one shot. He made his decision and has to live with it. As for the speedster, well, he started it, so even in a lawsuit, the vast majority of the blame would be on him.