Originally Posted By x Pirate_Princess x During a police foot chase, a police office will AIM to shoot the runner in the leg or somewhere else non-life-threatening. Killing a SUSPECT is just dumb. If someone's armed, then yes, shoot to kill. If they're just being stupid, you don't kill them. he still should have shouted his intentions. HE had the gun.
Originally Posted By barboy "Better to injure than to kill." As to the the amount of potential jury awards(or settlements) I wouldn't necessarily bet on that at all--- we're talking about purely accidental incidents and if surgeries and long term/life long hospitalization and nursing costs factor in... look out! -- the number could be well past 10 million, even 25 million or more.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss <<During a police foot chase, a police office will AIM to shoot the runner in the leg or somewhere else non-life-threatening.>> The police don't draw a gun if they don't mean to kill. As I said, shooting at someone is much more difficult that you imagine; aiming for a leg or somewhere else is not practical. From what I know, aim-to-injure is a myth. But if you have evidence to the contrary, I'd like to see it.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss “There’s no such thing as shooting to wound,†McCarthy said. Hillsboro Police Capt. David Roarick said, “We shoot to stop the threat. We’re not trained to shoot to injure people. <a href="http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070515/NEWS01/70515006/0/homepage" target="_blank">http://www.nashuatelegraph.com /apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070515/NEWS01/70515006/0/homepage</a>
Originally Posted By CrouchingTigger The army is, or at least was at one time, trained to shoot to wound, if possible. The reason being that if you can wound an enemy, then you've taken him out as well as the other soldiers that will need to treat him. But guns are the tac-nuke of basic law enforcement. If you're going to shoot someone, you'd better be prepared for them to die. If you don't want to kill them, then don't pull the trigger, regardless of what part of their body it's pointed at.
Originally Posted By hightp The police do not 'shoot to wound', at least in the US. One of the 1st things an officer is taught in firearms training is that you do not point your weapon at someone you do not intend to kill. You do not fire your weapon unless you are under a threat of serious physical threat, or you can stop someone from injuring another party. Police do not fire warning shots in the air, either. The article here is very incomplete, but if it is all the facts, there was some serious breeches of police practice. The least of which is that there does not appear to have been a threat, before he started shooting.
Originally Posted By retlawfan <<The article here is very incomplete, but if it is all the facts, there was some serious breeches of police practice.>> Remember, this guy was not acting as a police officer when this incident occurred. He was acting as a father and husband protecting his family. So, everyone just stop for a moment ask ask what YOU would do in the same situation? Someone had entered your house in the middle of the night,possibly armed him/herself, your family is sleeping in their beds. What do you do? Do you try to get everyone out? If so, how? What if your only path would bring you face to face with the intruder? Do you lock your doors and call the police? What if you don't have a phone in the room you're now locked in? What if the police are on another emergency call and cannot be there with a few minutes? (By the way, in most areas, even if the police come right away, it could be a while before they arrive. Some remote areas, it could be 20-30 minutes. And, your front door may be locked, which slows the police response down even more). So, what would YOU do?
Originally Posted By debtee It said in the article that the police officer has not been charged. Is this correct? You cannot shoot someone, even if it is a member of your own family, in our country and not be charged. Is it because he is a police officer?
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<So, what would YOU do?>> To elaborate further... If I heard someone in my basement I would get up to check it out. I would turn on lights and make noise so that the intruder would know I was at home and awake. Ninety-nine percent of the time an intruder will leave when they find someone at home. About the only time they don't is during home invasions when they are looking for big money and/or drugs. Since I don't live in that type of area I'm not real worried about it. I don't own a gun. Even if I did, why would I use it? If the intruder is unarmed, I possibly injure or kill a person needlessly. If he is armed, chances are he is a whole lot better with his gun than I am with mine. If we get in a shootout, he'll probably win.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom <<If I heard someone in my basement I would get up to check it out. I would turn on lights and make noise so that the intruder would know I was at home and awake. Ninety-nine percent of the time an intruder will leave when they find someone at home.>> Exactly
