Fort Worth Motorcycle Riders

I can't get their video player to show the embed code. Anyway, here's the story and the dashcam footage:

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/04/watch-c ... -his-bike/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What an asshole, he was getting off the bike, why kick him

Call me the un-popular one on this one.

If I was dictator of the U.S. I'd make a new law. If you break the law then try to run, they have the right to gun you down.

I guess we can agree on thing, he should not have run

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj0mtxXEGE8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Shooting the guy and then kicking him is a bit excessive. The cop should have been fired. The guy ran a stop sign. It's not like he killed someone or shot at the cop.

dufremle wrote:Shooting the guy and then kicking him is a bit excessive. The cop should have been fired. The guy ran a stop sign. It's not like he killed someone or shot at the cop.

He ran a stop sign - then he ran from the cop.

Doesn't mean he should be killed for it.

I don' have sympathy for the runners. Nor those who run stop signs. You get lucky until you suddenly don't, then someone innocent is dead. Now, having said that, I'll watch the video.

Both of these people were in the wrong. The biker for running and the cop for not being professional. The biker should've stopped and taken his ticket. The cop should've followed his training doctrine on how to deal with the situation. I will say though that the cop should've gotten a more severe punishment than what he got. The biker paid plenty for his mistake.

I think it elicited a great discussion on FB. I agree nitzer, I think they both were wrong. Normally I don't sit on fences but this is one of those times I can't take one side over the other. One thing I did wonder about is if it ever occurred to either of them that they both put innocent people's lives at risk.

Poor judgment exercised by both parties, and my guess is neither will do what they did again. Luckily no one died.

I really don't have a problem with the kick, but more with shooting at him while he's riding. It was a better choice than shooting him again at least. Who knows what all or whom you're going to hit in that situation. The rider is endangering himself more than anything, and if nothing else, he's going to eventually run out of gas. As Thelma 'Sister' Husband once said: Harry, we're alcoholics, we're generally satisfied to hurt ourselves. I think it applies to motorcycle riders also.

I don't know if that was a grazing wound or what, but damn that dude was either tough, or on something.

I think shooting out of a car while driving is a bit excessive for running a stop sign, kicking him wasn't exactly the right move either, a basic tackle, or grab and throw/pull him to the ground would be acceptable.

So in conclusion, a bit excessive...yes. Does the runner have any right to complain...no.

dufremle wrote:Doesn't mean he should be killed for it.

++

A ridiculous number of the black men being shot by cops are doing nothing more than running away. If a suspect runs, you chase him. You call for backup. You don't shoot him to get him to stop if he's not endangering anybody.

My $0.02, ultimately I'm with Fixxer on the laws and crimes, running from the cops is all too often and is more of a game than a life & death situation. Most people who run from the cops obviously are not thinking about the safety of others, including the officer they are running from. I agree, all bets are off when you run from the police.

That being said, giving free reign to police with the rights to kill citizens for running away, no matter the reason, opens the door to vague ambiguity and opens the door wide open to an oppressive and controlling police state (more so than we already have). Look at today, a cop shooting a citizen is open to intepretation. The cop thought he had a gun, was reaching in his back pocket, etc. And while there is a lot of media coverage in high-profile cases, most cases don't get reported at all, or never even reach a courtroom because a grand jury throws it out. In most locales, a police officer is authorized to use his sidearm if someone is deemed to be an immediate dangerous threat to the officer or to the public, which itself is already pretty damned vague. I could eat some blueberry muffins and my ass gas could be considered a dangerous threat to the public.

Now, fast-forward to a future where gunning down an unarmed citizen is acceptible because the officer thought they were trying to run. At what point is deadly force authorized? What about a 15 year old kid that just shoplifted a candy bar, got scared when he saw a cop and took off running? Ok to use deadly force? The cop can't tell from a distance if he is 15 years old or 18 years old. Gun him down? Or is it only in a car? Most police officers I've known are a decent shot, but that doesn't mean they are even remotely paying attention to what is behind their target, especially in the heat of the moment when they feel it is necessary to use their sidearm. Cop shoots at some guy for running, his stray bullet hits a child sitting on the front porch of a house, is that ok because he was shooting at the guy that was running away from him?

Now one final thought. What about police impersonations? You have the right, especially at night, to not immediately pull over but continue on and call 911 to confirm it is a legit officer making a traffic stop, and waiting for a public, well-lit place. I have used this before, I have continued on for 2-3 miles on a back road to a lit gas station before pulling over. Cop didn't say anything about it, didn't even write me a ticket that night. So, put that into perspective now... is not pulling over running? Under circumstances most of you have described, that would be taken as running...

Moving this to the politics forum, this is a great discussion but properly belongs there.

Firewa11 wrote:Now, fast-forward to a future where gunning down an unarmed citizen is acceptible because the officer thought they were trying to run.

Can you say Judge Dredd?

I want that gun from Judge Dredd...

[youtubell]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvJiYrRcfQo[/youtubell]

I think the problem with shooting a fleeing felon is that we are only allowed to shoot center mass. If we could just shoot em in the leg there would be less dead people. Stupid suing for everything crap.

Seriously though if you run from me I will not shoot you as long as your not a real threat to others but once I catch you Ill probably do more than kick ya. I DONT LIKE TO RUN!

Its actually simple.... don't run from the cops. I have had this kind of talk many times with other friends. Plenty of people want to say its all about how racist the cops are or whatever but a cop don't see your race when your in the car. He simply sees a car speeding or whatever. If you pull over and are polite then you just might get away with a warning. So many situations could have been avoided by simply doing the right thing. That said we have a bunch of idiots that are cops so don't get it twisted. They are people and some have a very hard time being professional.

Amen

There you go. There are good people and bad people. The bad ones are the reasons for things like stereotypes and lump sum assumptions. It makes think of something my son asked me the other day. His class missed out on recess because one kiddo was acting up and the teacher had enough. He didn't understand why, when he and the other kiddos did nothing wrong, did everything the teacher asked and were well behaved, that they had to miss out on something because of someone else. "Why, momma? It's not fair!!" All I could do was look at him and say, "I know baby. You're right, it's not fair and I'm sorry. Sometimes in life you unfairly pay the price for someone else's mistake. I don't know why that is. All I do know is that no matter what you should always make good choices, do the right thing as best you can, and be yourself." He looked at me and asked, "Why? If I am going to be punished for something someone else did anyway?" He got me there. Not wanting his little eyes to glaze over with my usual philosophical drivel I just told him because he is better than that. That in the end all that matters is if he feels good about his choices and no one else's. He looked at me, nodded and skipped off to play Minecraft.

Show him the barracks seen from that classic Stanley Kubrick ' Vietnam War movie.

Then he'll learn why you don't do anything to get everyone else punished.....

LOL Jeff, maybe when he's a little bit older