4 Dead As 2 Helicopters Tracking Police Pursuit Collide

[TreasureIslandFLGal]

I will try to understand your point of view Terrell. I was merely asking a question based on hearing that charges may be brought against him, and voicing my opinion on it.

Upon hearing your passionate take on the subject, it makes me think that it would be your stance that if he had hit a police officer or civilian on the ground during the chase, then it would have been the cops' fault for chasing him. After all, they could have waited to catch him at a more convienient time, like when the guy got home and was using the bathroom or something.

News helicopters often are the best assistance the police officers have on the ground, they're the officers' eyes in the sky so, they , in a sense, put their lives on the line to help the cops get the "bad guys" so, we are all a little safer. If humans wouldn't insist on breaking the laws of the land, police officers and ALL who assist them would be a whole lot safer. Unfortunately, that's not gonna' happen.

I just feel that it was more the fleeing felons' actions that contributed to the demise of 4 human beings who were trying to make sure that the "bad guy" didn't get away. I really don't think that those guys were only in it for the news story. It was a senseless tragedy no matter how you look at it and I'm praying for the victims, their families and their co-workers.

I guess we just have different perspectives and that's okay. The world would be boring if we ALL agreed on EVERYTHING! Then we'd be too much like lemmings!! Off to the sea!!!

[Terrell]

I will try to understand your point of view Terrell. I was merely asking a question based on hearing that charges may be brought against him, and voicing my opinion on it.

Same here on voicing an opinion. I think that the charges for the deaths in the choppers are an overreach, the rest of them though are legitimate.

Upon hearing your passionate take on the subject, it makes me think that it would be your stance that if he had hit a police officer or civilian on the ground during the chase, then it would have been the cops' fault for chasing him. After all, they could have waited to catch him at a more convienient time, like when the guy got home and was using the bathroom or something.

No, you would be incorrect if it was a case of him hitting someone on the ground (or running someone on the ground into someone else). That would be his fault as it's reasonably forseeable that he might cause an accident on the roadways, or on the ground near the roadways, with his car. It's not reasonably forseeable that he would cause a tragedy in the air, because his vehicle cannot fly, nor can it interfere with aircraft in flight, and there is no evidence that he opened fire on the aircraft with a weapon.

I do think that there are some chases that are worthwhile, and others that the cops should wait until later to catch the perp, but that depends on the specifics of the situation.

News helicopters often are the best assistance the police officers have on the ground, they're the officers' eyes in the sky so, they , in a sense, put their lives on the line to help the cops get the "bad guys" so, we are all a little safer. If humans wouldn't insist on breaking the laws of the land, police officers and ALL who assist them would be a whole lot safer. Unfortunately, that's not gonna' happen.

Does the police department not have it's own helicopters that they can fly in this situation? Don't they also have radios with which to communicate with one another?

On the issue of breaking the laws of the land, that largely depends on the law in question. There are some laws that are just and necessary, and others that really, in my opinion, don't really need to be on the books. I don't necessarily think that chasing those who break the law, in this specific fashion, always makes people safer. (same with punishing every law violator, it depends on the law in question, the violation, and the circumstances involved) I perfer to look at each situation individually and decide based on the specifics of any given situation. (Thus I'm often willing to criticize the cops, executives, and the legislatures, when I think that they deserve it). In this situation I don't think that the police did anything wrong, though I do disagree with the prosecutors charging the guy that fled with the deaths of those in the choppers (though everything else that he's charged with is fine, just not this specific thing) I do think that at least 1 of the pilots of the news choppers did something wrong, otherwise they wouldn't have ran into each other. Not much a person in a car can do about that.

I just feel that it was more the fleeing felons' actions that contributed to the demise of 4 human beings who were trying to make sure that the "bad guy" didn't get away. I really don't think that those guys were only in it for the news story. It was a senseless tragedy no matter how you look at it and I'm praying for the victims, their families and their co-workers.

I think that in the case of the helicopters, that it's the pilots' responsibility to watch where they are going when they're flying their aircraft. I don't think that they should be able to blame the fleeing felon for what essentially is pilot error that the fleeing felon couldn't realistically cause regardless of how he drove his car. It's not like he ran the helicopters out of the sky. If the chopper fell out of the sky during the chase for some other reason like mechanical failure, I wouldn't blame the felon for that either. Now if cars were equipped with the means to knock an aircraft out of the sky, and said means were used, that would be different.

Now it would be different if you were saying that he ran another driver off the road, that would be his fault, same if he struck someone on the ground or caused another vehicle to strike someone on the ground. But no matter how reckless a person drives, it's not reasonably forseeable that they would cause two helicopters to crash into one another. The car is not capable of causing their flight paths to change by it's actions. The copters have the option to follow as closely or as far or from whatever angle that is clear as well as the ability to hover in place. There's nothing that the car can do that would cause the copters to crash into each other. Now if a person in the car pulled out a weapon and started shooting at the 'copter you would have a point.

I guess we just have different perspectives and that's okay. The world would be boring if we ALL agreed on EVERYTHING! Then we'd be too much like lemmings!! Off to the sea!!!

I couldn't agree with this part more. Not to mention it was humourous too.

[TreasureIslandFLGal]

Thank you for expounding on your position, it makes it much easier to comprehend. Now, I have a much better understanding of where you were coming from.

I guess I picked the term "involuntary" manslaughter without too much information as to how that charge may or may not apply to this situation. All I know is that there was talk of the perpetrator possibly being charged in connection with this accident. I am nowhere near being a lawyer myself, I just thought that if there were charges, they would go with something like that. Whether or not charges of that nature would stick would be solely up to the judicial system.

Thanks again for your response.

[Terrell]

No problem.