NEWS: Suit: Video Game 'Grand Theft Auto" Sparked Police Shootings

A suit has been filed against the maker of the video game "Grand Theft Auto" claiming that the violence depicted in the game cause a a teenager to shoot two police officers and a dispatcher in 2003. Devin Thompson, now 18, had played the game numerous times according to his attorney. Thompson committed the murders after he grabbed an officers gun following his arrest in 2003 for driving a stolen car. Also named in the suit are Wal Mart stores, and Sony Computer Entertainment.



At what point do we start taking responsibility for our actions? Should he have been sold the game? Maybe not, but where were is parents when he was playing such a violent game? Funny how they show up when there is buck to be made here. The amount of suits in this country is simply extreme and it has to stop at some point. I fully endorse Bush's call for medical liability reform and say its time to look at the entire system.

[edit on 2/15/05 by FredT]

[edit on 15-2-2005 by Banshee]

This kid, and his parents, need to get a life. Fine, I play GTA, so when I go out and kill the guy who flies his freaking airplane a treetop levels at 9o'colck in the morning. Well, not that they would know, could take it out with a .22 rifle when it flies over.

Anyways, take responsability for yourself.

Oh ffs, is there no end to the money grabbing of this world? The boy is 18 years old now, let him act like a man and take responsiblity for his actions. With people suing instead of dealing with their actions its no wonder the world is in such a sorry state. Next your gonna have rookie baseball players suing game companies for making them think they have to hit homers and causing them to use steroids to improve their game so they can hit like Xyz player in Blah Blah 200x game with all the cheat codes. Grow the hell up world, its getting really freakin old!

This is getting absolutely ridiculous.

If he didn't want to get in trouble, he shouldn't have shot someone. And to shoot police, and think you will get away with it...... I don't think so.

I'm curious, in the US when frivolous lawsuits like this come up, do you have any sort of law that would allow the judge to impose fines or charges for wasting the valuable time of the justice system?

Hey my 18 year old son played the game and he has not been around shooting police and stealing cars and he had the games since it came out.

This people need to get a life.

here we go again.. blaming gamers and tarnishing thier hobby. It used to be that people admited thier guilt in order to redeem themselves, now in this bedroom society it is everyone elses fault but your own. And ieven IF your proven guilty you still don't admit you did anythign wrong.

I can't help but get a giggle that this is coming out of Tuscaloosa. When I was attending the U of A , Tuscaloosa there wasn't diddly squat to do other than drink, play video games (back in the days of the original Nintendo), and hang at the sorority house.

This is a lame law suit. Any judge with half a brain would dismiss it. I have cousins that live there, one of which is a Judge and I know he would laugh this out of his court room.

Parents need to be parents, not finger-pointers. If they are hell-bent and determined to file a suit, maybe they should sue themselves for allowing their son to play it while he was a minor or for not paying him enough attention. Geeze Louise. WHAT is this world coming to?

Jemison

when i get ranked slower than my peers this year at work, i am going to sue microsoft and nvidia becasue i play freelancer (a video game) too much.

Man....That's not even 3 stars in GTA Vice City - He got "Busted".....Someone pass me the controller....

As I said in another thread (Do videos games destroy social development?):

In order for someone to become corrupt, there first must be a seed planted in the mind of the victim's mind....Allowing yourself to become so involved in any video game to the point where it physically and mentally implants this seed and thus corrupts you, suggests to me that there are far worse problems going on at home or in that child's head that should be addressed....

[edit on 2/15/2005 by EnronOutrunHomerun]

Originally posted by FredT

At what point do we start taking responsibility for our actions?

You are so right FredT. Law suits stemming from anything from fast food resturants to sueing someone for shooting you for breaking into their house is getting pathetic, now this. I've been playing first person shooter games for close to 10 years now, everything from Delta Force, Soldier of Fortune 2, to Half Life 2 and I've yet to shoot someone. Though nothing beats the feeling of sneaking up on someone is SOF2 and knifing them, in the end it's just a game. In real life you don't respawn after 12 seconds after taking one up the side of your head. I hope this is laughed out of court.