Car chase outrage as police order driver roadblock

Originally posted by LondonerBLV
Massive overreaction again from you guys.
Did you even see the diagram? The car struck another at 30KMH - I can run that fast...

Wow, one of the dumbest statements I've seen posted on ATS for a longtime!

No one could know what speed this fleeing driver may have hit those cars at...it could just have easily been 90 or 130km's per hour! I'd say that you're just a kid, and don't have children of your own, as any GOOD parent would never knowingly put their children at risk like this.

Our New Zealand our police are trained to call off high-speed chases, if it's deemed that there's ANY significant risk to the public at large. I guess that Australian police are just more stupid than the average, They're certainly had a long record of being CORRUPT, so no real surprises here.

It looks to me like they were trying to clear a lane so that the car wouldn't have to weave between traffic. Line 2.

Whatever happened to people being public spirited. All people do is complain.

It may be a different scenario, but on the UK TV I have seen the police slowing traffic down to create a jam, which in turn brings a dangerous car chase to an end.

Regards

Originally posted by DarthMuerte
ETA:If this had happened in the US, I would be pushing for charges against all of the officers.

edit on 16-5-2012 by DarthMuerte because: (no reason given)

Thankfully its illegal here in the US courtesy of the US Supreme Court.

An avenue of retreat must be present so as not to "force" a more deadly encounter. Its also the same reason used when it comes to officers who put themseleves into the path of an oncoming vehicle in order to stop it.

Hopefully the law down under will change. Using civilians in a police action that exposes them to danger / personal property destruction is just stupid.

There will always be a situation that is the exception to the rule. The goal is to keep it the exception though.

Very interesting read Zorgon, what first and foremost came to my mind almost immediately was "is this a plan to make everyone happy about armed drones in the sky?"

I can see them saying if we had an armed drone above we would have just blown the sucker to bits for stealing a car.

No danger to to public yadda yadda yadda.
We need drones to prevent this in the future.

Great Thread and S&F for bringing this to the table here.
Regards, Iwinder

Originally posted by yourmaker
so if you don't comply, and drive off from the roadblock front line, would a completely new police chase begin?

interesting...like they expect us to be willing obedient subjects to the state for anything, anytime.

Your comment brought a question to mind -
Was this a "test" of sorts to see if citizens would comply with a ridiculous police order?
That's about the only reason that makes any sense at all to me.

reply to post by becomingaware


This is absolute BS! I hope that whoever ordered these civilians to do this is fired and charged with reckless endangerment. All for a stupid stolen car?!?!?!? I could understand...maybe...if some madman was headed downtown with a nuclear weapon strapped to the hood of his car. Police in the US rarely even call out a chopper for a stolen car. What a power hungry and stupid officer. I would risk arrest and even being shot in order to keep my kids from being plowed into by a car thief. I am a proud Gulf War Era Marine, and I'm used to taking orders that I wouldn't necessarily agree with...but putting my own kids in the line of fire is an UNLAWFUL ORDER! I'll be first first one to bet that the officer who ordered this wouldn't even do this himself.

Police these days are just STUPID!!!!!!
Nuff said!

the most curious aspect of this event is this: It seems the police stopped chasing when the speed got out of hand - presumably because it was too dangerous. Good thinking. Then, inexplicably, they told several people to sit in their cars in order to stop the man.

These police determined, through logic and reason, that it was safer to put people on a collision course with the car then to chase it. For the most part, we all use a similar logic system, but our conclusions can be varied. I can't for the life of me figure out how "protecting the public safety" was involved in the thinking that put the public directly in harms way - in fact made an effort to do so.

Picking on the events is easy, dumb ass cops, but what kind of logic brought them to this conclusion?

Originally posted by 1plusXisto7billion
Was this Australia? I can't see this happening in America. What a dumb ass parent. I would definately risk getting a ticket or even jail before I risked my kid's life. Stupid move by the cops, criminal, and parents. No real winners in this story...

P.S. These cops better be held on child endangerment, abuse of power and second degree (or whatever dumb degree it is) attempted vehicular manslaughter charges.

I myself didn't understand that the driver had no idea what the reason for getting in that lane was for...he was just doing what a police officer told him to do. However...if I was that driver and once I realized what was going on...I would have gotten my kids out of that car and ran....then, after all was said and done, I would have gone right to that officer and punched him in the face and kicked him in the nuts...I'd be willing to go to jail for that, no doubt.

reply to post by Kryties


These were Victorian Cops. I don't think they're the sharpest tools in the shed.

Normally they just shoot suspects. Maybe they were under instruction to "work more closely with the general public"?

Crazy! I am as upset with the individual who failed to refuse to comply with the police, knowing that he had children in his vehicle, as I am with the police for doing this. Not trying to talk tough or brave, because I am the type to comply with any reasonable police demand, but I'll be danged if I would even comply with a demand that would put my children's life in jeopardy.

This is an example of why I realised, that it was time to leave Victoria. (The state Melbourne is in, where this happened)

Police for the most part, at an institutional level, can no longer be relied on to serve the public interest. We can primarily hold the War on Terror responsible for that. Most countries have had laws passed which allow contemporary police to literally emulate the behaviour of Judge Dredd, and so that is exactly what they do.

I will not hate the police. At the same time, however, I urge all of my fellow civilians to avoid contact with police whenever possible, for your own safety. They are not concerned with your interests, but with perpetuating their own authority.

reply to post by zorgon

This is friggin ridiculousness.
your meant to get people out of harms way, not force them into it.

And another thing. the police say that speeding is dangerous and can cause deaths.
so on that note, they intentionality tried to have all occupants of the cars KILLED.

they should have followed the stolen car to its destination using unmarked cars and used the helicopters at intervals.

Whateva

"Not my problem, man"

reply to post by zorgon


Yeh, it's a once off. I'm sure everyone will be compensated and the officer severely reprimanded or even (preferably) fired (behind closed doors).

This type of stuff doesn't usually happen and it sounds more like a cowboy cop than any standard form of Australian police action.

And for the record, I would have $%^&ed him up after I realised what he tricked me into doing.

i would of said f off now you got two speed chases

Say what you want about US Cops, I'm not aware of any situation where cops in the US have forced civilians to form a roadblock with their cars to stop a high speed chase.

Hopefully US cops won't get so bad they start acting like the idiotic Oz cops, IMO.

Originally posted by Kryties
To those accusing the civilians of being stupid for allowing the police to do this, read the article again. The drivers had no idea that they were being used as human shields until the speeding car was in their rear vision mirror and it was too late to move.

Oh, and Aussie cops are quickly becoming every bit as corrupt and bad as their US counterparts.

reply to post by zorgon


40 ton semis are supposed to be used as road blocks... not flimsy light plastic hondas with children inside.

Are the police going to compensate my $90,000 BMW if I do something like that? I don't think so, not gonna happen sonny.