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The first thing that crossed my mind of course, was that officer is one lucky lawman. Still conscious, still aware, and I even chuckled a little hearing him mumble "goddamit" as if he had stubbed his toe on the coffee table. One tough SOB, I'll give him that. Two of the shots hit his vest, but the third slipped up under and ripped open his abdomen. The suspect was later found hiding where he belongs, in a trashcan, butt naked for some odd reason.
Pretty open and shut there. I hope the gunman never sees the light of day again. But there is something else that catches my attention.
The cop gets back up, to his knees, and fires at the fleeing car. All well and good for the movies, but not such a responsible act for a police officer in the real world to go shooting into traffic on the freeway. It wasn't like there were no other cars around either. In fact, another passer-by seemed to be so clearly within the field of fire that he pulled off. Now don't get me wrong, if I had just taken 3 slugs in the chest I would be pretty pissed, and anxious to put some hot lead downrange. But what would have happened if one of those shots had popped through a car window and into a little girl's heart or something?
Well, they probably would have just gone ahead and charged the scumbag with her murder, but the truth of the matter would be that the cop had killed her. Firing like that was totally irresponsible and indicative of the belligerent mentality we see all too often among police officers. The notion that the world revolves around them and that they can do whatever comes to mind at any given moment, without penalty, regardless of the consequences.
All in all though, no one else was in fact hurt in this case. So now that the officer is healed and back on the job, I can only hope that in his reflection on the events of that night, he has thought to include this consideration for the safety of civilians. I offer congratulations on his recovery and still hope that perp never gets to ride in a car ever again.
This story has been posted to Hudson Valley Forums for discussion.
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