L.A. Police Vehicle Shootings Prompt Debate

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-shoot29feb29,1,1403823.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Los Angeles police officers have opened fire on motorists more than 100 times since 1985, killing 25 people and injuring at least 30 others, despite a policy that strongly discourages such shootings, according to a Los Angeles Times analysis.

The practice came under scrutiny last week after a dramatic police pursuit captured on live television ended when three officers fatally shot a robbery suspect as his car rolled slowly toward them in reverse.

In the wake of the shooting, which remains under investigation, Chief William J. Bratton said that he was already considering a ban on shooting at moving vehicles. In recent years, police departments in Boston, Cincinnati, Detroit and other cities have adopted such restrictions, in some cases following high-profile incidents in which officers shot and killed motorists.

"Clearly we have issues that need to be addressed," Bratton said in an interview last week.

Experts on the use of force said that, instead of shooting at an oncoming car, officers should try to get out of the way. Wounding or killing the driver, they said, may only cause the vehicle to veer down the road, creating an even greater threat. And, missing the target, they said, puts innocent bystanders in jeopardy.

[slackmaster]

1. California law prohibits shooting at or from a moving vehicle

Of course the law applies only to plebes like you and me.

[Young Socialist]

2. sounds like its

time to ban cars then if they pose such a threat to police officers lives. it's time these "cop killer cars" were taken off the streets. turn them in mr and mrs america, every last one of them.

[Hrumph]

3. Never happen.

Cars are responsible for too much revenue to the state. There's the sales tax on the vehicle, the yearly inspection fees, registration fees... And lets not forget all the money the state takes for traffic violations.

Nothing that brings the state so much money would ever be banned. Look at cigarettes.