Dave Smith
You are way off base here. Because you or no member of your family has been caught up in such a situation you are having trouble comprehending it fully. *My granddaughter died needlessly*, that is the bottom line here. If the kid had not stolen the car for an afternoon's joy, true, no one would have died. However, if the cop had followed his department's policy, no one would have died: the kid would have been taken in later that very afternoon--and this time, maybe he wouldn't have been sent home with a sharp scolding.
I harbor no hatred for the cop; he made a serious error in judgment, and my grandchild died-- that's something he will have to live with, and he was really suffering at the ceremony. I also harbor no hatred for the dumb butt 16-yr-old: he has the next 30 years to think about the error of his ways. I maintain, however, that they are both equally to blame. Along with the uncle, who moved into the intersection a split second too soon or too late. And the girl's mother, who was late leaving work and allowed someone else to pick up her daughter. And the car owner, who left his keys in his car at a 7-11. And Tiffany too, who should not have released her seat belt and leaned forward across the front seat, trying to see her own rest approaching. There was lots of blame to go around. It was the matter of a split second. If the boy had been a hundredth of a second slower getting on the gas; if the uncle had been either quicker or slower by a tenth of a second to react; if the girl's mother had left work on time and been at the school. If if if.
If the cop had been a civilian chasing another civilian into that intersection, he'd have been charged with liquidate,What I will not allow you or anyone else to do is absolve the cop of all responsibility-- he certainly does not absolve himself, BTW.
And the original subject of this thread? A cop speeding needlessly wrecked and end several people. Having a badge is not a replacement for commonsense and a sense of what is appropriate and what is not. A cop is not permitted to shoot a fleeing shoplifter; therefore, he is not permitted to cause a rest by chasing said minor criminal into a car filled with innocent children. Use your commonsense rather than your sympathy for the man with the badge.
I beg your pardon. *He* did not kill her, not in the sense that you mean it. If the cop had shot at the car thief and instead end a bystander, do you believe for one moment that the car thief should be judged guilty of liquidate? No jury would have convicted him of it, although in that case, they both ought to be charged. What the cop did amounted to excessive use of force, Dave. End of story.
Witnesses stated for the record that the cop was driving in excess of 90 mph through a 35 mph zone within two blocks of a school. He was the biggest baddest boy on the police force; he wrote more tickets than anyone in the history of the department; he was the crack shot of the entire state, and he was said to be damned quick to use his baton during routine traffic stops--maybe the kid was afraid to stop for this particular cop, or maybe all that is irrelevant.
Catch the bastard even if in the doing so they kill someone's (yours, maybe) daughter????
We're having a civil conversation here, Dave. Please don't get a chip on your shoulder. We are discussing the *rest of my nine year old granddaughter*--and I am trying to remain civil with you while you discuss the value of an $800 car. She is gone forever. She'd be about to start a family of her own if she had not died needlessly that day. f*** your car! a life was lost that day because an overzealous cop wanted to make a bigger name for himself within the department. Insurance would replace your damned car, but no one can replace a dead child.
I repeat: if the cop had fired and end her with a bullet, the kid should still get all the blame and the cop be slapped on the back???? Get real. We've been on the same side more often than not, Dave. Except when any form of law enforcement is discussed. You need to accept the fact that cops-DOT officers can and do make mistakes, that they can and do act negligently and cause harm to innocent people.
