Some points for consideration:
Don't know who fired first. If the robber started firing, then of course anyone in the area who is armed should be shooting back, immediately.
However, if he "merely" displayed the gun, had "the drop" on everyone, and told everyone to hand over their wallets, then why didn't everyone, including the cops, do so, instead of using the bystanders as backstops? After all, seems to be a common refrain from many police departments that the money/property is not worth shooting someone over? To grab a similar (in spirit) quote from another thread on this forum about a carjacking:
To make this point clearer, perhaps, insert me into the police officers' positon: I shoot 12 times, miss slightly over half the shots, and hit three innocent bystanders. Is the police chief going to hail me as a hero for saving lives? Or, courtesy of the police and the DA, am I going to be looking at this:Money quote from police officer: Quote:
"Make the situation safe for you. You know you have to get away from that person. Just try to give the car up."
http://www.11alive.com/news/article_new ... yid=106124
I do not see the justification being different for the cops than for me. Deadly force is used to prevent imminent threat to life or serious injury. (yes there is an exception for certain night time property thefts, and I think for cops a bit about fleeing felons, but these are very narrow exceptions).PC §9.05. RECKLESS INJURY OF INNOCENT THIRD PERSON.
Even though an actor is justified under this chapter in threatening or
using force or deadly force against another, if in doing so he also recklessly
injures or kills an innocent third person, the justification afforded
by this chapter is unavailable in a prosecution for the reckless injury or
killing of the innocent third person.
Yes cops are supposed to enforce the law and apprehend bad guys, but they have a lot of discretion on how to do so. Could they have (just like a citizen) forked over their $$, and (like any good citizen) taken very good note of the robber's appearance; then waited until he was out the door before calling for reinforcements and chasing after him?
And yes there may be details of which we are unaware -- perhaps the cops recognized this guy as a particularly notorious and lethal thug; perhaps they thought he would recognize them and start shooting -- may be the thug did start shooting first -- etc.
All in all, I am glad the cops bagged the guy, and I am sorry the bystanders got shot. There were probably not any good, clear answers on how to solve the problem when the robber came in. I hope the cops go with their careers (and practice one helluva lot more). I just have some doubt that I would get such instantaneous absolution from the local authorities if it were me "saving lives," but I don't see how the situation would be logically different.
elb