San Antonio cop shoots dead boy, 13, who stole a car and hit cop car because 'they thought he might strike them again" (He'd already crashed it)

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[–]IkeConn 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (5 children)

The likelyhood a perpetrator is black goes up when their race is supressed by the local media.

[–]CreditKnifeMan 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (4 children)

Possibly.

Although it's also not difficult to argue the media would be all over this if a black thirteen year old was shot by the police.

A 13 year old boy was shot dead by police because he crashed into a police car. Are you ok with that?

[–]proc0 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (3 children)

A 13 year old boy was shot dead by police because he crashed into a police car. Are you ok with that?

I'm ok with that. Don't steal cars, mmkay.

[–]CreditKnifeMan 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

That's not the point.

Stealing cars is bad.

Shooting 13 year olds because they crashed a stolen car is far worse.

Its only going to get worse.

If the police can be child executioners, then what should we expect from the police in 20 years?

[–]proc0 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Why is a 13 year old stealing cars? Why did the 13 year old ram the car into the police car? These questions are more relevant to avoid this in the future, instead of asking how can a cop be fearless and have super-human reflexes at the same time as reflecting on their actions in a fraction of a second. I'm not really a fan of cops, I'm more neutral about it. They follow orders and enforce the law, so it's not a mystery how to predict their behavior and avoid getting on their wrong side. If the laws are good, cops will be good, if laws are bad they will enforce those too.

Regardless, it's ridiculous to expect police to have so much responsibility, as if they have full control over everything, and then have zero expectations on the people breaking the law, making bad decisions, and hurting others. These events are certainly tragedies, but even a 13 year old (and by proxy their guardian) has a hand in the making of this.

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yes, it is a tough job and we often ask too much, I agree, but I'm not sure thats the case in this situation.

The vehicle was a danger when it had enough speed to be pose a deadly threat to the offciers, and the cops would have been justified in shooting him as he attempted to ram them. However after he crashed the vehicle, he now had no speed, and no way to quickly get the vehicle up to a deadly speed to hit the officers. He was reversing and moving away from them when they shot him. He would have had to continue reversing and accelerating for several seconds, then brake to a stop, and accelerate from a dead stop for several seconds before he could possibly pose a threat again. It seems as if the officers shot him in retaliation for what he had already done (which I can certainly understand the inclination to do, but these officers are supposed to be trained in the use of deadly force), not because an immediately immenent threat to their lives was still present