Chler Shoots at Truck That Runs over Woman

[SC1903A3]

In today's Dallas Morning News:

Driver runs over woman at night club

03:30 PM CDT on Monday, August 20, 2007

From Staff Reports

A woman was in serious condition after being struck by a pickup near a night club Monday morning, Fort Worth police said.

The incident took place at Cowboy Palace in the 100 block of West Rosedale Street.

A witness told police that a man in a maroon pickup purposely struck down the woman and then fled the scene.

The witness, who has a license to carry a handgun, fired a shot at the driver, police said.

Police found an unoccupied maroon pickup that appeared to have crashed into a concrete wall at the intersection of South Main and Rosedale streets.

Police were questioning three people in connection with the incident, but no charges have been filed.

The woman was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital.

Question: Would any of you have shot at this guy as he was leaving?

[txinvestigator]

Question: Would any of you have shot at this guy as he was leaving?

Since the Penal Code does not allow deadly force to be used against another unless it is immediately necessery to PREVENT a use of or attempted use of unlawful deadly force, or unless it is to prevent the immnent commission of aggravated kidnapping, murder, sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, robbery, or aggravated robbery, then NO!.

Besides, a truck barreling down the road/parking lot with a dead driver is a bad idea.

[Charles L. Cotton]

Not me.
Chas.

[BShook]

No, firing a shot at a vehicle which is driving away from a crime scene is not going to help anything. It's foolish.

Plus, what are the odds of actually hitting the guy with one shot in a way that would actually make it impossible for him to drive away?

[SC1903A3]

Yep, observe and report would have been the best thing to do.

[ScubaSigGuy]

Nope. Not a very smart decision at all. Of course, we don't have all of the details. It could be that the driver tried to run the witness down as well. We'll probably never know.

[gregthehand]

We don't know the entire details and the shooter may have fealt the the man was still a threat for some reason. He might have been heading towards another person, a busy road where the shooter had a reasonable reason to believe he could have caused a potentially deadly accident. Remember how many of us say that cars kill more people ever year than guns. I have seen people aquited for shooting at cars that where driving away. Generally speaking I believe that shooting at any vehicle is a bad idea, but sometimes it has to be done.

[JasonH]

Yikes. Tot that I can know the actual details, but were I to go from only what that article suggests then I'd think the person who fired on that truck didn't pay very good attention in their CHL class.

[zx9rt1]

Negative! Bad shoot.

[flintknapper]

Question: Would any of you have shot at this guy as he was leaving?

Since the Penal Code does not allow deadly force to be used against another unless it is immediately necessery to PREVENT a use of or attempted use of unlawful deadly force, or unless it is to prevent the immnent commission of aggravated kidnapping, murder, sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, robbery, or aggravated robbery, then NO!.

Besides, a truck barreling down the road/parking lot with a dead driver is a bad idea.

Thats a pretty good point.

[KD5NRH]

A witness told police that a man in a maroon pickup purposely struck down the woman and then fled the scene.

Sounds like there's more to the story right here; either the witness knew the people involved, or there ws some action on the driver's part that made it obviously intentional.

The witness, who has a license to carry a handgun, fired a shot at the driver, police said.

Note that it doesn't say when he fired; he may have seen whatever actions led up to the assault, prepared himself, and fired before the woman was actually struck, or he may have seen the driver trying to back up and "finish the job" or go after another target.

There's definitely a lot of information missing here.

[austin]

There is no news in the truth and no truth in the news.

Until we know more, no comment is possible.

[phddan]

The above two posts say it all.

Dan

[nitrogen]

Only if doing so could have saved people. In most ways I think of, no, but I'll never say never.

[KBCraig]

This is a good lesson in how to read news articles.

If you read the report and immediately pictured somebody blasting away at a truck fleeing the scene, then you drew from the article exactly what the writer/editor intended.

If you read the report and wondered when the shots were fired, if the shooter was also in danger of being run over, how the parking lot was laid out and what were the positions of the particpants, etc., etc., then congratulations! You've learned how to read news articles with an objective eye!

You should never, ever, read a news article and feel you've got more answers than questions. Especially when it involves a political hot topic.

Kevin