Wild chase on Pike ends with rammed cruisers, arrest
FRAMINGHAM — A driver enraged at a request that he turn down his music reportedly tried to run down a man and his grandson in the South End yesterday and then led State Police on a harrowing 20-mile chase on the Massachusetts Turnpike that ended when the suspect rammed police cruisers, spun out of control, and attempted to flee on foot, police said.
“Several cruisers had the suspect’s vehicle boxed in,’’ said State Police spokesman David Procopio. “He barreled through those cruisers, struck several of them, at least three of them, and ultimately spun out.’’
This was all over the morning news this morning, complete with a news helicopter's video of the end of the chase. The suspects car doesn't really *ram* the police cars, just kind of bumps there - but that's a semantic difference; it's still assault with a deadly weapon. We are treated to a wonderful sight of a braindead imbecile getting what's coming to him for not paying attention - as four or five MA State Police cruisers, all with lights ablaze and sirens blaring, run alongside the suspects car, some nitwit in a Buick cruises on past - *just* as they pull the pit maneuver and the Buick winds up part of the wreck. Sorry, thanks for playing, trying explaining THAT one to your insurance company: "Well, see, I was completely oblivious to the high speed chase that happened right next to me"...
The video does show something disturbing towards the end of the chase. There's video at the local news site here - you can see the first officer to make contact just starts swinging. Now, I'm not familiar with the MSP procedures involving taking down someone in this situation, but I find it hard to believe that the first line of action is to start throwing haymakers. That said, if there were anyone on the friggin' planet that deserved a full and complete beatdown, this POS was it. He tried to run over a guy and his grandson for asking him to turn down his stereo and then ran from the cops - because he is an illegal alien and was high on meth at the time...
But because we don't like the actions of a criminal doesn't give the cops the right to administer beatings, no matter how much they deserve it. The law applies to us all, or it applies to none of us. If police officers are justified in beating the hell out of some scumbag who deserves it, who determines exactly how much one has to do to become a "scumbag who deserves it"? To the Paul Helmkes and Roger Eberts of the world, I probably deserve a beating from the cops because I carry a firearm. To the Democrats, anyone at a Tea Party event may be worthy of the full Rodney. I don't want to give the police the power to assault folks based on "someone" arbitrarily "deserving" it.
Look. You throw a punch at a cop, you deserve a full and honest beat-down. You resist the cuffs, expect to be treated as a combatant and have full force used against you. Now, the guy in the video is *not* complying with the officer's demands to get on the ground, that's a point right there. But that cop is just waling on the guy, fists flying, with no apparent attempt to bring him under control, just punishment. He's not trying to get the guy cuffed. He's not taking hits himself; I just don't see how the situation warrants actual punches. If the guy had taken the most feeble of swings I'd be the first one saying "play stupid games, win stupid prizes" - but on the other hand, he kinda did take the first swing by hitting the cruisers.
I'm not comfortable letting the cops off scot-free on this one, but by the same token, that POS really deserved every single hit he took. I don't think the cops should have carte blanche to assault suspects no matter how big of an ass the suspect might be; on the other hand, you try to run someone over with your car, then run from the cops, hitting cruisers along the way and just in general putting folks in jeopardy, you take your lumps. Being an asshole isn't reason enough to justify police brutality; however actions have consequences, and trying to run a cop off the road is going to piss him off - expect a few lumps.
I guess, in the end, it really does come down to "play stupid games, win stupid prizes" after all...
That is all.
4 comments:
I fall in the same boat as you on this one, but really, Chris Rock said it best:
"If you make the police come to get you, they're bringing an ass-whippin' with them."
Wouldn't the stupid prizes of multiple felony convictions be sufficient after a fair trial by jury rather than handed out on the street by some cop? Would that cop have arrested me if I had pounded the shithead like that if the chase ended in my yard?
I'm all for people being banged around during a struggle until they comply, but individuals don't get to administer beatings on their own. Not that the little dink didn't deserve it.
Beating the shit out of the guy for resisting or fighting the cops is fine.
But once he STOPS fighting, so must the beating.
I have NO problem with disproportionate force -- after all, "'Fair' is a description of weather, or a place you ride ponies and eat cotton candy, it has NO relationship to combat." (SFC Allen, Senior Drill Sergeant, 2/D/9/2 IN BDE, Fort Benning Georgia, 1987. . . and yes, when I got my own funny looking hat, I stole his line.)
HOWEVER, once the fighting is over, any continuing ass-beating has just changed to "retributive punishment and vengeance", and cops aren't supposed to be in the vengeance business on the clock.
That doesn't mean that they need to be especially snugglie while hooking your dumb ass up and chucking you into the back of the cruiser. (You run a man's heartrate up like that, and he's gonna lose some fine motor control, so cuffs will be a little tighter, extra vigor in tossing you into the dog cage in back may result in sliding across to the opposite window, head first, etc.)
Stuff like this is why you're on my blogroll...I'm conflicted as well.
I've been on the wrong end of police brutality, and it took me a long while to stop seeing everyone in uniform as a pig. To this day, I still harbor mild suspicion during any police contact until the officer proves him/herself to be cool.
But when you're a proven antisocial scumbag, I find it very hard to muster any sympathy if you 'fall down' a bunch of times whilst being arrested.
I guess if all the answers were easy, it'd take all the fun out of life.
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