Miami Beach police officers will no longer treat a moving car as a deadly weapon — meaning officers won’t be allowed to shoot at one unless someone inside displays a weapon or opens fire first.
The deadly force policy change — expected to be unveiled by Police Chief Dan Oates next week — comes more than three years after the high-profile Memorial Day weekend shooting of motorist Raymond Herisse. He died in a bullet-riddled blue Hyundai targeted by 116 police rounds, which also wounded four innocent bystanders
via Miami Beach cops to overhaul vehicle shooting rules | The Miami Herald.
I have been trying to find polite words for the past 10 minutes and I find myself failing. The stupidity of considering several thousand pounds of metal and plastic launched at you not being a deadly weapon is beyond comprehension…unless you factor in a heavy dose of Miami race politics.
Can I ask for Chief Oates to demonstrate the use of Less Lethal devices against a car coming at him? I’d pay good money to see him stop a truck with pepper spray.
Cars: kill 30,000 Americans every year, “Not a deadly weapon.”
Guns: kill 10,000 Americans every year, save an unknown number of lives every year, “OMGZ BAN TEHM!”
Ok stop! Tell me how shooting at a car with a pistol will protect the officer, instead of getting out o f the way?
You can’t use a pistol to stop that threat. Yes you can potentially make it a shorter rampage by poking a few holes in the suspect. But shooting the driver even killing them with a round to the brain won’t protect the cop in front of the car.
If they know they can’t use the gun or tazer maybe they will do it right. You know catch em.
People do tend to change directions when bullets come their way for once. And the directive is not to shoot, it does not say anything about being in front of the car. So if the guy is gonna plow into a crowd, you have to use pepper spray to stop him.
Changing the policy is easier than effectively training officers to not participate in “mad minute” contagious firing. One Hundred and Sixteen (116!) rounds were fired at a car on a public street crowded with people. They are damned lucky no bystanders were killed.
Bingo!
Exactly. I have a friend who “stopped” a car that was trying to run him down with a single 110gr JHP from a .38Spl.
Sumdood decided to steal a new car in the middle of the night, right off the lot. Tried to run down the rent-a-cop who was doing a routine check of the lot.
First (and only round) hit the windshield and the driver (untouched by bullet or glass), reactively jerked the wheel to the right as he ducked and smashed into a wall at an estimated speed of 35mph and accelerating. He was still too disoriented to get out of the car when the ambulance arrived (no seatbelt).
Maybe they can put up signs that say NO RUNNING PEOPLE OVER or NO CARS in areas where people shouldn’t do that. Bilingual, of course.
Trilingual… Creole also.