- Joined
- Jul 14, 2019
That is a perfectly legitimate point of view.I don't believe that there's any way to reach that probable cause in this scenario. There was no immediate threat to the officer once the suspect was fleeing, and no significant threat to anyone else other than the purely speculative idea that he's driving recklessly and might get into a wreck (which is insufficient; cops cannot just generally shoot someone for driving recklessly: they have to be able to state some imminent significant threat, not a general speculative one).
Shooting into the car when the suspect initially set it in motion and while the cop was within the vehicle's potential range of harm: probably justified. Shooting at him as he was speeding away, I say not.
I once again simple state there is a sound legal argument against it. You can make a reasonable argument that the cop tried to make a felony stop on a suspect that evaded him before. The act of dragging the cop elevated it to a deadly threat and a danger to officers and public at large.
The only acts that are material are:
The lawful commands to step out of the vehicle.
The act of fleeing.
The danger the officer was in.
The danger the officer perceived.
The distance and direction of the vehicle are not as important as these factors. There is an argument for the use of deadly force even from a fleeing suspect if the officer can prove the requirements.
You have a poorly executed felony stop which gave a legal command. You can argue whether or not it is a justified felony stop or not. Then you have a suspected criminal fleeing a lawful command. The officer perceives himself in mortal danger while being dragged. When the officer has the ability to shoot, the suspect is driving with the door open still. You can say that when he is driving away those shots are not protected, but the argument for the first shots are the same for the last shots. It will be, "a danger to the officer and public in general."

First shot takes place when the officer could easily get hit still and after he just got dragged a few feet. This is why the argument for felon fleeing protection would be a compelling legal theory. You can also take this still frame and argue how reasonable the officer's actions are. The shooting when it starts is also very hard to say the ending shots are unjustified. That is because the officers often will often claim, "They were neutralizing a threat."
I personally think he's fucked, but to deny he has legal standing is not right. We as armchair lawyer monkies can throw shit theories around all day and nobody cares. Branca calling other lolyers out for doing the same is funny as hell.
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