Cop driving stupidly kills 2 teens

[The_Blur]

The cop should have had flashing lights and a reason to go that fast. If the cop had a reason, then the cop should have had flashing lights on anyway. Government officials have many rights that ordinary citizens do not in enforcing the peace including the right to legitimately use force and otherwise compel civilians to obey them by using force that would otherwise lead to a reportable instance of assault.

In this case, one officer abused the authority to drive at a rate of speed for no evident reason. We don't have to know what the reason was because a cop with a reason to drive fast also has the same reason to use the flashing lights on top of the car. If those lights are not on, then the cop is probably violating internal procedure.

If you're going to violate procedure, make it safe. This officer had the resources to drive quickly and make other vehicles get out of the way. Instead of using this resource, the officer foolishly decided to drive like a street racer on public streets.

The cop deserves a street racing charge, a speeding ticket, and 2 counts of manslaughter as a plea bargain. The initial charges should be much more severe. If you wear a badge, you should be held to a higher standard, and this cop dishonored the department and ended lives rather than protecting them. There are cases when this is done by accident in high-stress situations. This is not one of those cases. Instead, an officer of the peace drove recklessly through an intersection at an unreasonable velocity without sound reason. It's a disgrace.

[TAG UR IT]

Originally Posted by freemaSSon

STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES!

I have an accident reconstruction certification from A&M and I am recognized as an expert witness for accident reconstruction. I have been to court to testify when accidents with police have cost the lives of civilians in our community. It is never a pretty sight to witness these tragedies. I came to know an officer who was responding to an officer involved foot chase with a violent suspect. In the course of this officer’s response he collided with a vehicle occupied by a 17 year old pregnant girl, who was tragically killed. This officer’s torment and suffering was beyond my ability to convey. Not only did the world lose a precious young girl and her unborn child but a short couple years later we lost our colleague to a self inflicted gun shot wound. DON’T ANY OF YOU THINK FOR A SECOND that this officer is not already paying his DUE PUNSIHMENT. His self inflicted regret, remorse and internal depression will HAUNT HIM FOR LIFE! We have already tragically lost a precious pair and I pray for their souls, their family and I too pray for this poor officer because he needs it beyond anyone left alive after this tragedy. As for reconstructing this accident it is obvious that the officers speed is the greatest contributing factor yet it is not the only contributing factor. Those are the words and approach that this prosecution will take.

I have been badge toting for 20 years and I have seen it done good ways and bad ways. I can say without hesitation I have done it both ways but with a clear conscience I have made it my highest priority to do unto others as I would have an officer do unto my Grandmother.

It has worked pretty damn well for me.

As for the salary stuff, I have lived comfortably within my means. THAT IS THE KEY!

Well put.

I've had to defend officers (in general) in the past before on the site for various reasons...and in other situations, I am more than happy to flame them as well. I saw this article and immediately thought, "oh sh!t." Not for any single person...but for everyone involved. Why? Completely because of your post above. for BOTH parties. This is just too sad.

FYI, we have speed monitoring systems here to keep all the officers in check. Why? Because we lost two officers last November....one was driving 90 something mph through an accident scene and hit his fellow officer...killed the officer and seriously injured himself. DA is going for full charges against the SA officer for killing his friend. Why? No one knows why he was driving that fast...but apparantly it won't be good. Sure he'll be doing some time for his actions.

[Banshee]

Originally Posted by lnsjr1

I just googled Detroit cop salary, they have it listed at 48K, Thats a ton of OT to hit 100k. Thats a Chief salary in my area.

$56k is top salary

I am at 658 hours of OT so far.

Originally Posted by Hylton

Looks like we found our yearly meet and greet beer supplier!

I already committed to 15 cases for next year...You were too busy comparing IOM bumpers.

[vdevine]

Manslaughter minimum for the officer. No emergency and going 54 miles an hour over the speed limit. If the teens were drunk, I assure you it would have been in the article. Imagine you see a car way off in the distance with it's headlights so you begin your turn. You cannot tell that the vehicle is approaching you going that fast. You believe you have plenty of time to make the turn and so you do. Those teens had no reason to believe someone was coming down the 40 mph road going 94. As a retired officer. I would prosecute that policeman to the hilt. Totally irresponsible behavior regardless of the amount of money he was paid and he will be held responsible for his bad decisions like anyone else. Because of his personal actions, two teens lives are gone forever, their families and friends are devastated. Why because of an irresponsible moron.

[Supermans]

Originally Posted by PQ

According to the article, the camera would have never caught anything had the second car not turned his light bar on. It goes back 60 seconds before the lights are turned on and captures the footage.

It seemed as if the officer waited a bit to turn them on. If you'll notice, a third patrol car comes into the picture. I thought for a minute that the officer with the camera was trying to delay the film activation till he saw there was another officer coming. But that's just my untrusting nature.

Trajic.

Love how the lawyers are allready trying to put the kids at an intoxicated state. With pot found in the car and possibly leaving a party where there was arrests allready made.

I have a few friends who are cops, one patrols my neighborhood. I know they speed quite a bit without worry because 99.9% of them let each other go if they pull out their badge when they get pulled over. I know accidents happen however many can be avoided. If the cop in the video delayed his camera and or tried to pin the teens as drug addicts, that is a shame. Ultimately the "God" complex seems to creep in to many cops, and unfortunately it has with my "anonymous" friends. I've seen them change after only a few years on the force. That attitude that you can get away with a lot of things that all of us have a fear of getting caught and losing our license or paying a heavy fine is part of the problem with "cover ups", "character assassination to cover a cops bad behavior", and other issues.

I know cops are as underpaid as teachers are, however that is no excuse for these types of behaviors. I know there are good cops out there that obey the law and are truthful the majority of the time, however it is acts like these that simply tarnish those good cops that do exist. I would call my friends good cops who on occasion bend the law, however one day it could catch up to them and they find themselves in this type of a situation. I just pray for their safety and they know I will help them if they need it, however I will not look the other way and help them cover something up.. That is simply not me..

Originally Posted by coolman

I'm sorry but I don't see how this is the officers fault. I watched the video many times and the car turned right in front of him. I agree that what he was doing was very dumb, but why didn't these kids see him on a well lit street with his head lights on. I'm sure his speed made the wreck a lot worse , but it wouldn't have happened if they wouldn't have turned into his path.

The kids had no reason to suspect after seeing the lights at the distance they were when they looked to think the car was traveling 90- 100mph. You would have turned 90% of the time in the same scenario.

[Hylton]

Originally Posted by Supermans

I know cops are as underpaid as teachers are....

I don't disagree with you but teachers do okay here as well considering that they work 9 months a year. They retire with 80% of their salary (look at max table):

[coolman]

The kids had no reason to suspect after seeing the lights at the distance they were when they looked to think the car was traveling 90- 100mph. You would have turned 90% of the time in the same scenario.[/QUOTE]

Your suppose to drive defensively and not anticipate what the other guy is doing
It doesn't look like in the video they even tried to slow to turn. It's almost like they weren't looking at all. I'm not trying to judge because I wasn't there ,but I'm going off of what I see in the video and that's all any of us have to go off of.
The cop clearly has blame also ,but I think not most of it.
From what I read on this forum I think if it would have been some joe in a camaro on not a cop, a lot more people on here would have put the blame on the kids for turning in front of him.

[2ndgenz28]

Cops instinctively cover up for other cops. Thinking that if folks know it will tarnish it for them all. When the cover up tarnishes them even more.

The day when a cop upholds the laws regardless of who they are is when the public will applaud them, but sadly that doesn’t happen. They all go right for the how do we protect our own first. Public perception 2nd.


We had 2 Toledo cops get picked up fur DUI here recentaly and 1 was on duty, so drunk he couldn’t walk on duty, and they did their best to hide it from the public, which in the ends makes them all look crocked. Even though atleast 2 officers did try to do their duty and get them off the street the rest made sure it got swept under to rug to try and let it fall through the cracks.

Then the police union prez goes on TV and says it no big deal as in these tough time lots of folks turn to alcohol and its no big deal.

Though what happens to a regular person who gets picked up for DUI in these same tough times, do the cops try and cover it up for them too???????

[BBQTriAngle]

Sad, but not surprising

[IROCanSS]

seems this thread is a lot of placing blame on the cops, defending the cops and talk about how much the cops make.

Lets face it everyone... the cops were street racing. Cop A left first. Read the article. Cop B left and was screwing around chasing cop A, blew by cop A and tragically ended the life of two teenagers. Kids that will never have a future bucasue of two dip shits screwing around. So they have a badge, big whoop. They got burned, and shoud pay the piper like an "civilian" would. Suspended "with pay"... give me a break. It is their fault 100%. The kids did turn infront of two headlight. Whatever, the cops were more than DOUBLE the limit with no lights and sirens. BS to blame the kids at all.

Its so unfortunate but this has to make me chuckle a little. Mainly becasue all the holier then thou talk on here and how defensive everyone gets if you say one thing about our boys and girls in blue. They are screw ups just like you and I. They speed. In this case they took advantage of the power of the cruiser (and i dont mean the horsepower).

Sad.

[Supermans]

Originally Posted by coolman

The kids had no reason to suspect after seeing the lights at the distance they were when they looked to think the car was traveling 90- 100mph. You would have turned 90% of the time in the same scenario.

Your suppose to drive defensively and not anticipate what the other guy is doing
It doesn't look like in the video they even tried to slow to turn. It's almost like they weren't looking at all. I'm not trying to judge because I wasn't there ,but I'm going off of what I see in the video and that's all any of us have to go off of.
The cop clearly has blame also ,but I think not most of it.
From what I read on this forum I think if it would have been some joe in a camaro on not a cop, a lot more people on here would have put the blame on the kids for turning in front of him.

You say the cop clearly has the blame, but not most of it? I don't get the "clearly" and then the "but not most of it" part of that sentence... Please explain how any part of this involves the two teenagers doing anything wrong? Cop A breaking the speed limit by over 20mph...Cop B flies by presumably breaking the speed limit by 40mph or more and hits the teenagers. Both cops lost the "right of way" the moment the speed limit was broken with no sirens or emergency call.

[IROCanSS]

Originally Posted by Supermans

You say the cop clearly has the blame, but not most of it? I don't get the "clearly" and then the "But not most of it" part of that sentence... Please explain how any part of this involves the two teenagers doing anything wrong? Cop A breaking the speed limit by over 20mph...Cop B flies by presumably breaking the speed limit by 40mph or more and hits the teenagers. Both cops lost the "right of way" the moment the speed limit was broken.

and I fixed it for you. Someone had an extra "quote" in there and it was confusing who said what!

[coolman]

Originally Posted by Supermans

Your suppose to drive defensively and not anticipate what the other guy is doing
It doesn't look like in the video they even tried to slow to turn. It's almost like they weren't looking at all. I'm not trying to judge because I wasn't there ,but I'm going off of what I see in the video and that's all any of us have to go off of.
The cop clearly has blame also ,but I think not most of it.
From what I read on this forum I think if it would have been some joe in a camaro on not a cop, a lot more people on here would have put the blame on the kids for turning in front of him.

You say the cop clearly has the blame, but not most of it? I don't get the "clearly" and then the "But not most of it" part of that sentence... Please explain how any part of this involves the two teenagers doing anything wrong? Cop A breaking the speed limit by over 20mph...Cop B flies by presumably breaking the speed limit by 40mph or more and hits the teenagers. Both cops lost the "right of way" the moment the speed limit was broken.[/QUOTE]

I guess I didn't chose my words correctly. To me it's no different then if someone stepped off the curb and got hit. No matter how fast the car that hits them is going you don't step in front of one. you look both ways and when it's clear then you cross the street. I in way am defending what the cops where doing. I'm greatly against street racing as I have had friends get killed while racing. But, I believe from the way the video looks to me, the kids in the car were not looking when then turn or they thought they could beat the car that was coming. I don't know how you couldn't see a car racing down the road on a well lit street with it's head lights on with other cars coming also and not at least slow down to make sure nothing was coming before you turn.

[Supermans]

Originally Posted by coolman

You say the cop clearly has the blame, but not most of it? I don't get the "clearly" and then the "But not most of it" part of that sentence... Please explain how any part of this involves the two teenagers doing anything wrong? Cop A breaking the speed limit by over 20mph...Cop B flies by presumably breaking the speed limit by 40mph or more and hits the teenagers. Both cops lost the "right of way" the moment the speed limit was broken.

I guess I didn't chose my words correctly. To me it's no different then if someone stepped off the curb and got hit. No matter how fast the car that hits them is going you don't step in front of one. you look both ways and when it's clear then you cross the street. I in way am defending what the cops where doing. I'm greatly against street racing as I have had friends get killed while racing. But, I believe from the way the video looks to me, the kids in the car were not looking when then turn or they thought they could beat the car that was coming. I don't know how you couldn't see a car racing down the road on a well lit street with it's head lights on with other cars coming also and not at least slow down to make sure nothing was coming before you turn.

Someone stepping in front of a car that isn't speeding and just driving the speed limit without looking is an accidental death with no blame going towards the driver. If the driver is breaking the law and kills the same person stepping in front of the car without looking, the driver is fully to blame and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. If you don't understand the difference between these two scenario's, I can't help you..