quote:
Originally posted by Green
Case in point about 2 yrs ago; petty thief/criminal makes a break from county jail van in downtown Hilo. Result; shot in the back of the head dead. Does the punishment fit the crime ? About a 34 yr old young guy and father shot dead by a corrections officer. I think he would have been picked again with APB put out on him. I'm not for more cops in Puna I'm a whole different way of using the cops we have.
One more example; Rohnert Park, California, wife calls police because husband is in driveway, very drunk and waving stick around and yelling, cops show up and shoot him dead, wow i guess he learned his lesson. I know the wife did, she was very distraught and stated she regretted calling the police, no drunk tank for her husband nope it's the morgue.
I can only think carefully about what you wish for !
First, Correctional laws allows officials to use deadly force during an escape. That’s the rule in just about every place of the US. Second, the person was a felon with as many as eight criminal charges including violence. Does not sound like "petty" anything to me.
Now, let’s add the next part which
Did Not Occur. Had the escape convict
not been stopped, and succeeded in the escape, and he
killed or
raped, or committed some other
horrible violent crime on an innocent person during the time he was freed, I bet you a million dollars the
public would have been calling for the
heads of that correction officer for
NOT shooting the escapee. The public would have
crucified every official connected in anyway to any policy
to NOT kill the escaping felon. And, everyone would have been saying that the corrections officer lets "locals" get away with murder. Now, tell me I'm wrong!
On the non-Hawaii/Puna example - Rohnert Park officer feared for his life when (based on
independent eye witnesses) the drunk victim (who already had a prior run in that night at a bar with other police officers) lunged at a police officer who just exited his vehicle, with a pole "level" with the ground, in a "jousting" thrust. According to those non-family witnesses, the officer had
mere seconds to realize the danger and react. That according to those
independent eye witnesses, the victim had refused all orders to drop the weapon from another police officer and the victim was the one who initiated the contact between himself and the second officer who just pulled up to the scene.