One thing I will thank IDPA for is having ingrained reloads under stress in my brain. In over a decade I probably have done over a thousand reloads in different positions and levels of movement.
Why did the Office switched hands for the reload? I guess I won’t find out. The magazine was oriented to be picked up by the left hand while the gun is held by the right hand.
It kind of reminds me revolver reloading where you use your support hand to hold the gun and keep the cylinder open while the shooting hand goes for the speed-loaders. And the way he crosses thumbs is also the old school way to shoot a revolver.
He did his job, stopped the bad guys and went home. Can’t fault him much for that.
You can’t fault him for that?
I can. Shooting through his own windshield while moving is action movie stupid.
Firing out of one moving car, at another moving car, through glass, who knows where those rounds went?
He even let go of the steering wheel to get a two handed grip on his gun, so he wasn’t under control of his vehicle.
Why not try a PIT maneuver and try and stop the other vehicle rather than shoot out it?
This was terribly dangerous and stupid.
1) This was basically an Active Shooter situation. It was on wheels and moving, but shot were being fired indiscriminately by the suspects. You go to the sound of fire and engage the subjects.
2) Shooting through the windshield from inside? IIRC it is a somewhat of a 12 degree declination. So low trajectory.
3) Pit maneuvers requires a car equipped with the proper gear up front and a LOT of space on the sides.
It was a risky approach, but if it is stupid and works, it is no longer stupid.
Fortuitous outcomes reinforce poor tactics.
Still stupid (and reckless), even though it worked…because it only worked due to luck, rather than any amount of skill, training, or good judgement.
Suppose a cop just closed his eyes and sprayed a full mag at a suspect and managed to hit him…and not hit a bystander in the process…would we say that “well, it was risky, but it worked, so it wasn’t stupid?” Of course not.
I know I’m not a cop, so this is just my armchair commando take on it, but remember that FL Trooper who chased down that hit and run you posted about?
https://gunfreezone.net/index.php/2018/06/06/hell-hath-no-fury-as-a-female-florida-state-trooper/
That’s how it’s done. The cop should have stayed on the ass end of the SUV until he got backup or could do a PIT or anything other than fire out his own windshield like a Bruce Willis action star.
It is the Las Vegas Sheriffs Department.
Any missteps will be papered over or whitewashed, and the deputy will be fine. Just ask the ghost of Eric Scott. At least this deputy did his job pursuing the suspects and didn’t hide on the 31st floor.
ABC National News has the story this evening including the video.
In what academy, on what force is this considered ok? The whole “shoot out my window at a moving car” coupled with the use of old skill revolver gun handling, I would have said somewhere in South America or the Caribbean. If it weren’t for the audio, that is. Still, I find I’m having a hard time believing this was in the U.S.
God help the officer that did this crap at the PD I work for.
I can’t fault him for not getting a smooth reload off, that had to be a damn stressful situation.
I really don’t fault him at all in shooting through the windshield. Desperate situations sometimes require desperate measures.
I don’t recall seeing him shooting at the bad guys when there were a lot of cars around.
I do think the agency he works for needs to incorporate magazine change drills on a regular basis and encourage their officers to shoot as often as they can when off duty.
PIT maneuver doesn’t require special gear, the gear just reduces possible damage to the car.
Through the windshield, out the window one-handed with lots of people around? Most agencies I’ve known of, you’d lose your ass for that.
My comment is related to Miguel’s #2 above. I recall on one of the shows on the outdoor channel (don’t recall the name, but it explored gun-related Hollywood myths), they fired through a car windshield, from both sides, and tracked the rounds. IIRC, firing into a car through the windshield causes the rounds to go low, firing out the windshield causes the rounds to go high.
Good shoot or not, aside and reload fuck up aside, that was a hell of a time to pick for a reload. I also thought he was gonna jump out of the car while it was still moving.