arizona police : police cruisers are the " new " take down weapon

basic synopsis :

a suspct stole a rifle and ammo from a nearby walmart - and proceeded to pose a danger to himself and others - so the police response - ram him [ he was on foot ] with a police cruiser

source [ with vid ]

with at least 3 vehicles ` in attendance ` - i am unconvinced that all options were exhausted before running him dopwn - at considerable damage to the police unit and a property dividing wall

sometimes bouncing a person of a vehicle is the easiest thing to do - esp in a dynamic situation - but the action portrayed seems a bit pre-meditated and my first thought is - does the police force in question not have dogs or non-lethal ordinance ????

a reply to: ignorant_ape

What?? Really? The guys is armed! Sacrifice a police dog?

My take is that was a great solution. No one injured. Minimum exposure to the public to potential collateral damage. The damage to the car is likely minimal.

Great move! Well done!

a reply to: ignorant_ape

They switched to cruisers because theres been too much bad press about shootings.

Damn, discharge of a police cruiser was also caught on video.

What will they do now, use drones?

a reply to: ignorant_ape

They are already self-entitled judge, jury and executioner. Now they can do it all at the "drive thru".
Did you think the trends in LEO brutality were going to reverse on their own? LOL.

Do we know that this guy had intentions of shooting anyone?
Did anyone try maybe asking him wtf he was doing?

Today we run over people with guns. Tomorrow, people who may have guns. Next week, anyone we damn well please...

The escalation of violence is supposed to be what the police are trying to stop- yet it seems there is no doubt that it is their only interest.

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: ignorant_ape

What will they do now, use drones?

You took the words out of my gub! Any way, the guy is said have had serious injuries, was hospitalised although he is now in gaol, although maybe he should be in an institution. The policeman that hit him is from NY where he was sued for threatening to shoot a man, that man won his case. So that policeman is not exactly a local hero, more like a loose cannon, same as the man he hit.
It's not the first time a cruiser has deliberately hit someone though.

a reply to: ignorant_ape
It will eventually come down to the public shooting first, then dealing with the ramifications of shooting the Cops later.

Its a door they should have never opened, and they have no one to blame but themselves

a reply to: lordcomac

Do we know that this guy had intentions of shooting anyone?

He fired at least one shot prior to them ramming him.

a reply to: ignorant_ape

It was an excessively fast vehicle strike. Though in the heat of the moment and anticipating him swinging the gun around maybe the speed was justified. You wouldn't know unless it was you in the drivers seat.

Non lethal ordinance is advertised by slick salesmen who are going to be hundreds or thousands of miles away when it's tried in real world situations.

Here in the UK a new form of non lethal ordinance was tried out in a high profile case. It very quickly became a distressing scene in which the guilty party spent twenty minutes screaming as he died. A week later the managing director of the company supplying the weapons apparently took his own life.

Personally I wouldn't wait for a dog team to turn up.

originally posted by: nwtrucker
a reply to: ignorant_ape

What?? Really? The guys is armed! Sacrifice a police dog?

My take is that was a great solution. No one injured. Minimum exposure to the public to potential collateral damage. The damage to the car is likely minimal.

Great move! Well done!

no one was injured?
ORLY?
WHAT YOU MEAN IS "NO ONE THAT MATTERS"

a reply to: smurfy

So that policeman is not exactly a local hero, more like a loose cannon, same as the man he hit.

Any way, the guy is said have had serious injuries,

Yah, don;t hear much about just how serious. From what I saw the cop had every intent of finishing him off at such a high rate of speed.

Hit him full on as fast as he could, not a glancing blow or slower speed… but zoom…Pow! (and from behind)

time to lay off judges, don't need no stinkin' courts, "bam them or ram them" should be written on the side of LEOs squad cars...judge dredd training films are finally paying off.

a reply to: ignorant_ape

I post often in this section. Those who have seen my posts know that I believe the police in this country are OUT OF CONTROL.
However in this case I think they were justified. Once he started popping off rounds the police had to act fast. I would have driven as fast as possible to not give the dangerous man enough time to turn and get a bead on me.
He may have been only seconds away from his intended target.

VinMan

They should have let the idiot shoot himself and stopped him the first time. Why damage a police car and private property? Some of the people here on ATS seem lost in this police hate.

a reply to: ignorant_ape

Without really reading the answers I can tell you that the man made a statement that he could use the rifle when he shot the rifle in the air, after that the police proceeded to run him over.

While I agree that the police has been demonized lately and for good reason, on this case I'm pretty much sure that it was nothing else they could do, to ensure their safety and those around in the street

I am sure that you can post a link to the video and look for yourself.

If they had no plans of keeping him from killing himself, why not then let him instead of someone taking car from behind.


Doubt we lost a cancer cure.

So the police will use an armord vehicle to pull over a citizen because ' he flipped them the middle finger' but use a car to ram a ' suspect' being followed by other leos?!?

Only the naive think that this is all good law enforcement.

What all this is, ....is to instill fear in the population for the govt. Its not about enforceing laws, it not about stopping crime, it about making the population fearfull of the govt arm of the military, aka the police.

a reply to: clearmind

Sadly he was a citizen with a rifle that first was pointed at his own face and then fired into the air.

Mario Valencia was spotted by police as he was walking down the street, and pointing the rifle at his head. At one point, he fired a bullet round into the air.

Either the man was on a mission or was mentally unstable.

When I first read this story, I thought it was a slight bump...which to a standing person is pretty forceful and a great way to take a suspect down with out shooting them.

Then I saw the footage! Holy cow! That was a really hard crash!

Generally when we want cops to stop shooting people, we prefer a more human action. Like arresting them later or a non lethal weapon used first.

I'm thinking that shooting this guy would have been nicer then running him over like this. Holy cow, again!

If he had been white, outcome would have been different.

Don't believe me?

www.alternet.org...

Derek