Thursday, March 6, 2008

Officer involved shootings

Seems like things are getting a bit intense here in South Carolina. The number of officer involved shootings over the past month have me concerned that it is a societal trend. What scares me is not so much the gunfight itself, but what happens afterward. Most don't realize that if Hannibal Lechter were machine gunning an elementary school and I put a bullet through his head, I would still be open to criminal charges and, even worse, the family of the serial killer can (and will) sue me with a good chance of coming out the other side with a check. Unlike a criminal court, a civil court is open to alot more evidence that really shouldn't be considered such. Speculation, hypothesizing, "I heard from a friend..." and other such nonsense could actually be paraded in front of the jury. If they believe it, then Lechter's family gets paid.
I won't go into too much detail but a Deputy from another county recently was face to face with an armed man who had taken a hostage. The Deputy should be clear to shoot, right ? The criminal had a gun and was using it to threaten an innocent, all you need, right ? Seems there are some questions now about how many times the Deputy fired. Scary, isn't it. Because this kind of stuff can only lead to law enforcement officer's questioning their own actions prior to doing them. In a gunfight you don't have that time. Let me ask you. If a criminal is shooting at you, do you want the officer who is rescuing you to hesitate before firing ? Do you want him thinking about saving you or thinking about losing his house, car, and assets ? If he does, you can thank your local civil litigation lawyer. To be continued....

2 comments:

Cheltenhamdailyphoto said...

i agree with this. In the UK our police have to answer for their actions more and more, giving rise to the thought they could become afraid to act. We should trust our police that they act with the current information at hand, and such information poses real risk to life.

Chicken McFuggits said...

Thank you for stopping by. Don't get me wrong. I have obligations and laws that govern my actions for a good reason, but once the threshold of deadly force has been crossed by the criminal, I shouldn't have to worry about losing my family just because I fired 8 times. I have sixteen bullets in my weapon and all will be fired, I can gaurantee you. Then I'll go change my shorts. Just hope the day will never happen.