[brooder]

Guilty!!! Guilty!!!

All the innocent people? What happened to a presumption of innocent until PROVEN guilty? Yes, he was convicted. But at the time, based on the Constitution, he was still presumed innocent of any crime he may have commited. Please stop using the word "innocent" when describing his actions in regards to other people on the roads.

And there are a lot of 'ifs' in everyone's arguments. If he had hit someone, yes, I would think he needs to go to jail for vehicular assault. Would he need to be run over by a police officer? No. That in itself is vehicular assault. Running a car off the road is one thing. Running a motorcycle off is another. Get his tags. Arrest him (or the owner if it's not him until he's given up) at a later time. High speed pursuits are dangerous to the *suspect*, the police, and the general public. I'm sure it was on here that we had this same debate when a county sherrif was killed attempting to chase someone down on a Busa. And yes, the officer whose car is in the video was involved in a high speed pursuit, regardless of whether he was crawling out or doing 100+ behind the motorcycle. He was involved.

[MikeBetz42]

Kind of an odd punishment.....

"Donkey punch is a slang term for a sex move performed during doggy style vaginal or anal sex. The move involves the penetrating partner punching the penetrated partner in the back of the head or neck."

Kind of an odd punishment.....

[MikeBetz42]

Guilty!!! Guilty!!!

All the innocent people? What happened to a presumption of innocent until PROVEN guilty? Yes, he was convicted. But at the time, based on the Constitution, he was still presumed innocent of any crime he may have commited. Please stop using the word "innocent" when describing his actions in regards to other people on the roads.

And there are a lot of 'ifs' in everyone's arguments. If he had hit someone, yes, I would think he needs to go to jail for vehicular assault. Would he need to be run over by a police officer? No. That in itself is vehicular assault. Running a car off the road is one thing. Running a motorcycle off is another. Get his tags. Arrest him (or the owner if it's not him until he's given up) at a later time. High speed pursuits are dangerous to the *suspect*, the police, and the general public. I'm sure it was on here that we had this same debate when a county sherrif was killed attempting to chase someone down on a Busa. And yes, the officer whose car is in the video was involved in a high speed pursuit, regardless of whether he was crawling out or doing 100+ behind the motorcycle. He was involved.

Why run if your NOT Guilty. No licence, no insurance.... So everyone should just go free untill proven guilty. We'll just wait for them to all turn themselves in. We'll save a fortune on the CHP and Sheriff budgets!

[brooder]

Why run if your NOT Guilty. No licence, no insurance.... So everyone should just go free untill proven guilty. We'll just wait for them to all turn themselves in. We'll save a fortune on the CHP and Sheriff budgets!

That's not what I said. I'm merely trying to draw the line between being proven guilt and under suspicion of guilt. Only a jury can declare someone guilty. And a defendant himself through a plea.

[Hudson]

Cop went overboard. way overboard. It doesnt say anything about the guy speeding, sounds like he just wasn't stopping.

I'm sorry, but this is crap, yes the guy was being reckless, but to intentionaly hit the guy is deadly force. I doubt deadly force was authorized, thats why they use road blocks, to try and stop them without deadly force. This cop decided (on his own) to change that to deadly force without being orderd to by his higher ups, and in result, he almost killed somebody.

furthermore, the guy acts like a complete dick, whining about his car, he doesn't even once check on the on the perp who he just piled with his car, and he runs motorists away and somebody /else/ has to call the ambulance?

Thats a lawsuit just waiting to blow. Just because it involved two vehicles doesn't mean its NOT police brutality and exessive use of force.

To quote, 'holy crap, its king on wheels!' :P

[BobKat2002]

Re: Kind of an odd punishment.....

"Donkey punch is a slang term for a sex move performed during doggy style vaginal or anal sex. The move involves the penetrating partner punching the penetrated partner in the back of the head or neck."

Kind of an odd punishment.....

IT HAS A NAME?

I always called it, "Enthusiasm".

[tzortn]

Cop went overboard. way overboard. It doesnt say anything about the guy speeding, sounds like he just wasn't stopping.

I'm sorry, but this is crap, yes the guy was being reckless, but to intentionaly hit the guy is deadly force. I doubt deadly force was authorized, thats why they use road blocks, to try and stop them without deadly force. This cop decided (on his own) to change that to deadly force without being orderd to by his higher ups, and in result, he almost killed somebody.

furthermore, the guy acts like a complete dick, whining about his car, he doesn't even once check on the on the perp who he just piled with his car, and he runs motorists away and somebody /else/ has to call the ambulance?

Thats a lawsuit just waiting to blow. Just because it involved two vehicles doesn't mean its NOT police brutality and exessive use of force.

To quote, 'holy crap, its king on wheels!' :P

To me it looks like the motorcycle hit the car. It looks like the officer was pulling out either to block the bike or to join in the pursuit. If the rider was not speeding/evading he could have avoided the car. Even the news reporter said that the police officer's vehicle "inches forward from a pullout". You do not slowly rollout on to a road if you are trying to hit a high speed object. Actually it looks like the police car was already all the way across the road as if was part of a road block. The bike tried to get around it and was not able to.

[efozie]

They could have waited and put out an APB on that bike, called ahead for a road block, but blatently hitting a HUMAN being regardless of his violation, then the audacity to worry about his vehicle and NOT call an ambulance until 12 minutes later, is totally uncalled for...IMHO

[MikeBetz42]

They could have waited and put out an APB on that bike, called ahead for a road block, but blatently hitting a HUMAN being regardless of his violation, then the audacity to worry about his vehicle and NOT call an ambulance until 12 minutes later, is totally uncalled for...IMHO

The Ambulance arrived 12 mins after they called for it..... not the other way around.

It ALL could of been avoided if he just would of pulled over and gotten a simple ticket. Sure maybe the bike impounded, but maybe he learned a lesson.

[efozie]

Hindsight is 20/20

They could have waited and put out an APB on that bike, called ahead for a road block, but blatently hitting a HUMAN being regardless of his violation, then the audacity to worry about his vehicle and NOT call an ambulance until 12 minutes later, is totally uncalled for...IMHO

The Ambulance arrived 12 mins after they called for it..... not the other way around.

It ALL could of been avoided if he just would of pulled over and gotten a simple ticket. Sure maybe the bike impounded, but maybe he learned a lesson.

I bet he wishes he had just pulled over and received the ticket...

[Viper817]

Lets just say this...Until you do the job, don't monday morning quarterback it. Right or Wrong. He got the job done, and probably saved an innocent motorist. The suspect was wrong to run. The officer was wrong to chase. But like I have said Dont start nothin, wont be nothin....

[DreKat]

both of them were stupid

[The CyberPoet]

Let's see, the rider got convicted of:
(A) Eluding police.
(B) Reckless Driving.
(C) Driving without a motorcycle license.

Given that he was sentenced to 5 years (reduced to 9 months effective), that tells me that either he:
1. Had a piss-poor legal representation, OR
2. Had a prior conviction list that was quite long (OR BOTH).

Unfortunately, we have no clue what prompted the beginning of the chase, why the rider crossed state lines, or why the police didn't understand that a network of cars with full gas tanks will always beat a the fuel-limited range of a sport-bike (and that a fleeing motorcyclist is far less of a risk to the public than a high-speed pursuit with cruisers). What I did note from the video was that:
(A) During the chase segments, I couldn't see the motorcycle at all (was that canned footage or the actual chase?) and
(B) That the biker, as is always the case, should have simply stopped the instant he knew he was popped by the cops for whatever reason (I don't believe in fleeing), and
(C) The police officer was wrong in striking the motorcycle no matter how you slice it.

Was the cop in the wrong? IMHO, yes.
Was the rider in the wrong? IMHO, yes.
But as they taught us in kindergarden, two wrongs don't make a right (or as I learned later from the blonde in my driver's ed class, it takes three "lefts" to make a "right").

Do I think the officer should be fired? Not sure on that one. I do think that he should be permanently assigned to something other than road duty, traffic enforcement and positions involving interacting with the public based on his actions and subsequent statements. Given what he said on the tape, I would believe that any competent lawyer would be able to get ANY future arrest the officer makes solo dismissed, having already shown a propensity for lying in the face of factual evidence.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[tzortn]

...
(C) The police officer was wrong in striking the motorcycle no matter how you slice it.
...

But the officer did not hit the bike. The bike hit the car. The car had been parked on the road as part of a road block. The rider tried to ride around the car but miss judged. I know the exact road they were on I drive it at least three times a week. The bike was able to see the police car in the road. He could have stopped if he wanted to avoid the chase.

[ErikY.]

See below for my signature line.
Erik