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    ArnheimChris Thompson
    11/04/15 8:48pm

    It’ll take a serious (and thorough) review of the case to determine whether shooting at the vehicle of a fleeing suspect was warranted in this case, but—for fuck’s sake. If I had a child with me, and were being served a warrant, the one thing I would NOT do is think, “Fuck it, let’s run, kid.”

    The father risked his child’s life—not by anticipating that he would be shot—but by choosing to drive at high speed, in a reckless fashion, to avoid facing a warrant.

    The shooting absolutely should be reviewed, and if the officers in question acted outside of established policy, they should be fired, charged, and imprisoned.

    But fuck that father—twice—for deciding that his personal freedom mattered more than the physical safety of his son.

    -Everyone- comes out looking like a sack of shit here, apart from the child.

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      ClemKevinArnheim
      11/04/15 9:38pm

      Or the police should reconsider shooting at a car with a child in it, let alone any kind of ‘hostage’

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      whatever is convenientArnheim
      11/04/15 9:39pm

      Yes, one adult was irresponsible so that gave all adults a chance to be irresponsible. The child was essentially a hostage and the police murdered him. They should all get one of those North Korean firing squads where they use an anti-aircraft gun.

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    The Ghost of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ AKA BabyStepsChris Thompson
    11/04/15 8:53pm

    Let me preface this by saying that it is an absolute tragedy that this child is dead by no fault of his own AND I sincerely wish that he wasn’t but are we to ignore that his father was “backing into the marshals when they fired.”?

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      MazbrakinThe Ghost of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ AKA BabySteps
      11/04/15 9:00pm

      Shoot the tires. Ram his truck with the police cars. Get out of the way. All better solutions than shooting the cab.

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      whomhoundThe Ghost of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ AKA BabySteps
      11/04/15 9:07pm

      are we to ignore that his father was “backing into the marshals when they fired.”

      Depends. Is that what the cops claim was happening, as justification for their actions? Because we sure as shit can’t interrogate the other two witnesses who were present. How convenient?

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    cepalgChris Thompson
    11/04/15 8:45pm

    Look, we weren’t there, we can’t understand. Sometimes a police officer just has to murder a six-year-old to prove a point. It’s a hard job out there, and who among us hasn’t at one point or another had to execute a kindergartener to blow off stress when we feel disrespected.

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      the-federalecepalg
      11/04/15 8:49pm

      Just gonna act like his father wasn’t involved here are we? Rather just blame cops, even though the father was backing into them?

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      Jackie Browncepalg
      11/04/15 8:50pm

      The police have a right to go home to their families in one piece.

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    puncha yo bunsChris Thompson
    11/04/15 8:43pm

    and the Worst Father of the Fucking Century award goes to...

    seriously. fleeing a warrant. before cops even opened fire, driving like you had nothing to live for...with your six-year old in the passenger seat. And you live, and your child dies?

    Fuck you Chris Few, and fuck this world if you make it out of critical condition. This Earth doesn’t need you anymore.

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      1999puncha yo buns
      11/04/15 9:10pm

      what about the guys who shot the child multiple times? oh wait, you probably take the cops’ word for it that the dad was trying to run them over. ima wait for the dash cam video before believing their story.

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      puncha yo buns1999
      11/04/15 9:15pm

      Uhhh, fuck yeah I’m mad about the cops shooting/killing a child. But no, I don’t believe the cops intentionally shot into the car knowing that a 6 year old was in the front seat. If/when information does come out that the driver was not intentionally fleeing/rushing the cops and they did know the boy was in the car, I will happily rescind my comment.

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    EL34Chris Thompson
    11/04/15 8:56pm

    The fact that they’re being very coy concerning what the warrant was for, I’ll bet the story is only going to get more infuriating.

    And straight to hell with the people who are giving knee-jerk support to the cops. They knew his address, his license number, his car. They could’ve got the guy without creating another muderous clusterfuck.

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      WideStanceEL34
      11/04/15 9:07pm

      The AP article linked to says that the city marshals have so far not released that information, which means it probably IS awful. Marshals for the city courts usually serve FTA traffic warrants and serve foreclosure notices, not hunt down murderers.

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      EL34WideStance
      11/04/15 9:11pm

      Yep... I suspect this is gonna be one gut-punch after another. That kid’s picture is going to haunt my dreams tonight for sure.

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    Andrew MochulskyChris Thompson
    11/04/15 9:46pm

    Something about “he was backing into the marshals such that they had to shoot him” and “the kid they shot to death was in the line of fire while sitting on the passenger side as the marshals were firing into the driver side” rings a little bit needs-some-tangible-evidence-supporting-this-prima-facie-inconsistent-rendition-of-events-y.

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      GREYPRIDEAndrew Mochulsky
      11/04/15 10:35pm

      How doesn’t it make sense? The guy hit a dead end. Marshals get out of their cars, some go to the side of the vehicle to try and aphrehend him, others stay behind it near their cars to provide cover. He starts backing into those marshals. The marshals on the side fire to stop him.

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      Andrew MochulskyGREYPRIDE
      11/04/15 10:41pm

      So the marshals that were allegedly being backed into didn’t do the shooting, and the marshals that weren’t being backed into did? You don’t see how this hypothetical situation changes the prevailing pro-marshal narrative in a substantial way?

      Man, copsuckers will come up with the darndest things.

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    SteveInWIChris Thompson
    11/04/15 9:52pm

    I’m not absolving the father here, but when are police going to be held accountable for escalating situations? So many of these shootings start with a relatively minor crime. No one - not the suspect, not innocent bystanders, not the police themselves - should ever die as a result, period.

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      GREYPRIDESteveInWI
      11/04/15 10:42pm

      How did they cause him to try and run them over? Are you really so daft that you would just let anyone get away? Or are you just so smart you know what they should have done other than serve a warrant?

      Please, go join law enforcement then so as to fix it.

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      SteveInWIGREYPRIDE
      11/05/15 10:40am

      Well, first of all, you’re taking the statement of police at face value. That’s a separate issue entirely.

      Even if you assume that their account is totally accurate, yes, I still blame them for escalating the situation. Surely not even you can blame the 6-year-old kid for his father’s offense, right? And now he’s dead because of shots fired by the police. (Let’s put it a different way. Say it wasn’t the suspect’s son but yours, sitting in your own home, killed by a shot that police fired into your window while trying to hit someone who’d driven up next to your house for whatever reason. You still going to shrug and say “well, it’s all the criminal’s fault” then?)

      What they should do if a suspect runs from a warrant for a minor, nonviolent offense is add a charge of evading police and catch him later. Absolutely.

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    tjwChris Thompson
    11/04/15 9:42pm

    The Third Law of Gun Safety: Always be sure of your target and what is behind it.

    Sounds like somebody should have failed gun training school.

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      GREYPRIDEtjw
      11/04/15 10:43pm

      Except he was trying to run them over. Its not their fault he involved his kid in his attempt at murder.

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      DonKnots-Landingtjw
      11/04/15 11:18pm

      The gun is palpably the wrong tool for this job. Not having a go at cops: it’s entirely possible they were scared for their lives blah blah blah and given the choice between shooting at something and letting it kill you I guess the shooting option is at least defensible.

      But guns are not good at stopping cars - or at least nothing like as good at stopping cars as they are at, say, killing people who happen to be in the area of the car the gun user is trying to stop. If your job is chasing down and capturing people on the run from the law, you’d think you’d be equipped for the job properly rather than just assuming a single tool will do whatever happens to be required.

      As ever: when all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a nail.

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    curiousChris Thompson
    11/04/15 9:14pm

    Shouldn’t the question here be did LEO know there was a kid in the car? If they didn’t, the kid was “collateral damage” (harsh term, I know). If they did know, well....their actions become a lot more questionable, I think.

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      Chris Thompsoncurious
      11/04/15 9:20pm

      Well, to me (and I’m no expert), this sort of makes the argument for restraint with the use of deadly force. The report says the guy was backing into the officers, which no doubt would place them in mortal danger. On the other hand, the report says they likely shot through the driver’s side window, which suggests there’s no way the car was headed into them when they opened fire.

      At any rate, it’s just a really shitty, horrible thing.

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      curiousChris Thompson
      11/04/15 9:28pm

      Agreed. Just saying the cops can make a strong case for lethal force if they thought the guy was alone in the car. If they knew he had his kid (or anybody else) in the car, that’s a completely different scenario that should be questioned.

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    Jaw1loveChris Thompson
    11/04/15 8:44pm

    Jesus Christ that’s fucked up. How long until people start blaming the kid or his dad for this. “Had he grown up with a more responsible father... blah blah blah” Just fucking shoot everybody and maybe ask questions, but probably not, later.

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      henwyJaw1love
      11/04/15 8:47pm

      Wait, we’re not supposed to blame the father for this?

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      BIlllingtonJaw1love
      11/04/15 8:51pm

      Yeah... the dad attempted to flee the police with his kid in the car. Fuck the cops, but fuck the dad too.

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