by Bob Walsh
Interim police chief Carmen Best announced that Officers Kenneth Martin and Tabitha Sexton have been fired for acting recklessly for firing "a barrage of shots" at a fleeing stolen car, wounding both the driver and a passenger.
Martin had been with the department for about three years, Sexton about eight years.
Officer Martin deliberately moved in front of the car in an attempt to block it.
The Office of Police Accountability (Internal Affairs) made no determine as to whether or not the officer's actions was illegal. It did determine that the cops action made the situation worse rather than de-escalating it. (I didn't know that was the job. Silly me.)
The two officers fired a total of 27 rounds at the car on October 8 of last year. Officer Martin had moved from the path of the car before he opened fire. The chief and OPA found the officer's actions to be unreasonable.
8 comments:
There is no duty to retreat.
There are a couple of problems here. First you have a dumb cop who positions himself in front of a car. That's equivalent to a cop trying to wave down an oncoming train while standing on the tracks. Stupid is as stupid does.
Then there is the problem of crooks attempting to flee in a car. Almost always, they do not want to run down a cop, they just want to get away. And cops should know better than to ever stand in front of a car with a suspect in the driver's seat. Officer survival 101.
The car is a weapon. If the officer positions himself in front of a vehicle in an attempt to arrest criminals and the criminals accelerate instead of giving up then they have utilized the car as a weapon. How does BGB know that they don't want to run down a cop? Comparing it to trying to stop a train is apples and oranges.
Why don't police just wave them through?
Trey, don't try to be a dick head. Positioning oneself in front of a car? Stupid is as stupid does!
In the Seattle case, one cop moved out of the way, his partner could have done the same, which he did, but only after he started firing. Then he fired another volley after the car got past him. That's why they got fired.
From The Seattle Times:
Rather than taking cover behind a vehicle and giving the people in the car orders to get out — creating time, distance and shielding — Martin ran in front of the car and increased his exposure, according to the Office of Police Accountability.
By the time Martin fired, he had moved to the driver’s side of the car, out of its path, as it pulled away from him, the OPA found.
Police Chief Carmen Best, calling Martin’s initial 12 shots unreasonable, noted in her report that when Martin fired, no weapons were visible in the hands of the vehicle’s occupants, nor was the car headed towards him or others.
Sexton’s initial shots were arguably justified because, from her perceptions, she believed Martin was in danger, according to the OPA and Best’s report.
But the OPA and Best found no justification on her part or Martin’s for the second volley, concluding the car no longer posed a threat as it sped away from them.
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In almost every case of this type, the driver is not a cop killer, but just some jerk trying to keep from being arrested.
There have only been a handful of cases where a driver deliberately intended to kill a cop with his car.
A saying goes something like this: If it's right, you don't need to defend it. If it's wrong, you can't!
Our prosecution of criminals has become weak. Criminals try the cops by driving toward them with their cars whether they are trying to kill them or just trying to get away. Why wasn't the driver charged with attempted capital murder? The cop stood his ground with command presence to try and stop fleeing felons. He broke no laws. He did his job.
These chickenshit Chief's are all for de-escalating by arm chair quarterbacking with the city manager and fielding phone calls on Monday morning. They are political hacks that lean with the political wind of the city. How could anyone see if these two criminals had weapons? Was the door open? It sounds like the Chief wanted his officers to let the criminals go in an effort to de-escalate. De-escalation. What a load of crap! What about the crime victim? That's not law enforcement. That's policing through political correctness. Shame on that Chief!
Las Vegas PD just had a running pursuit gunfight in their vehicle by shooting through the patrol car's windshield at the fleeing vehicle which was firing on them. The crooks were caught and one was killed while trying to enter the door of an elementary school. These officers are recommended for a commendation because their Sheriff has a set cajonies!
De-escalation tactics will get more cops killed.
https://youtu.be/7gzsq3-wsEE
Howie, Your name calling did nothing to benefit your opinion. In fact, it was uncalled for.
Trey, apparently you slept through Officer Survival 101 which calls for officers to always take cover if possible when confronting a suspect.
Your long defense does not change the fact that the officers did not need to position themselves in front of that car. Again, stupid is as stupid does.
Victim: Hey I heard you guys recovered my car.
Cop: Yes and no. We had it but we let it go to de-escalate the situation.
Victim: What? Did you at least arrest the crooks.
Cops: No. We let them drive away in your car. De-escalation, you know.
No need to de-escalate at all, Trey. Just smile, wave, and drive on to your next call. Confronting bad people might get you hurt. Or fired.
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