Quote:
Originally Posted by Turbo Ghost
Ok, I just read that latest report. I can definitely see how the first incident happened. Scared cops protecting a potential target; it's dark, a dark pickup rolls up right in front with its' lights off. I can see it.
|
I can see it. I can understand it. I can't excuse it. This is not Fallujah*, this is Torrance, CA. You
do not fire until you are clearly threatened. There are any number of steps the officers could have taken besides riddling the vehicle of innocent civilians with bullets (not to mention the innocent civilians themselves). They could have had the potential target take sufficient cover. They could have shined lights on the incoming truck. The list goes on.
I realize my criticism smacks of arm-chair quarter-backing, but I don't care. It's one thing to accidentally harm civilians while actively engaging a perpetrator. It's a completely different thing to gun down civilians while
trying to engage a perpetrator who
isn't even present. I have a very hard time believing that those women, had they been confronted as law enforcement officers are
supposed to do, would have done anything but comply with the officers' instructions.
*Shit, we've sent our own troops in Iraq to jail for less than this.