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Driver charged with attempted murder in road rage shooting

FallonJeeper

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2011
Messages
576
Location
Fallon, NV
Mistake #1: Chasing the hit-and-run vehicle longer than necessary to call 911, give a tag number, description of vehicle, and what had occurred.

Mistake #2: Trying to block the hit-and-run vehicle in.

Mistake #3: Unless he honestly felt his life was in imminent danger, he had no reason to fire.

I'll grant that a vehicle is a deadly weapon. But if you are not in the direct path of it and the driver is not steering at you, you do not have self-defense as a legal option. Steering at your car and you are not in it is not justification for the use of deadly force.

As for HPCSD, I agree that it is bad strategy, but circumstances sometimes dictate it as a necessary tactic. If you are forced into using that tactic, you had better have your ducks in a row and have access to some large sums of money because you are going to be dragged through the legal system. Just as Mr. Eakens is about to find out.

I tend to agree with CSINEV. The shooter most likely saw the police on TV shooting at a vehicle under similar circumstances.

Regardless of #1 and #2, neither of which is a crime, only a poor decision, if he can prove #3, he's a free man.
 

We-the-People

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2009
Messages
2,221
Location
White City, Oregon, USA
Mistake #3: Unless he honestly felt his life was in imminent danger, he had no reason to fire.

I'll grant that a vehicle is a deadly weapon. But if you are not in the direct path of it and the driver is not steering at you, you do not have self-defense as a legal option.

How many videos, more than one, have we seen in which officers open fire on a suspect in a vehicle that is NOT moving towards them? I have seen too many to count. The car is PAST the officer(s) and the hail of bullets continues......

If it is legal for them, then the jury must let citizens without badges do the same!
 

HankT

State Researcher
Joined
Feb 20, 2007
Messages
6,215
Location
Invisible Mode
Could this be a case of LEO's being MORE EQUAL than the rest of us?

Oh, yeah, definitely. LEOs apply a double standard to this sort of thing. Just the way it is.


As for HPCSD, I agree that it is bad strategy, but circumstances sometimes dictate it as a necessary tactic. If you are forced into using that tactic, you had better have your ducks in a row and have access to some large sums of money because you are going to be dragged through the legal system. Just as Mr. Eakens is about to find out.

Absolutely correct.
The key is to establish some basic rules for engagement prior to the event. Eakens obviously did not do that. He just made it up as he went along.

He could have made all three mistakes cited and the post-event situation would still have been very manageable. But he shot the kid--so now he has a major life event to deal with. All negative. Even if he gets off the criminal charge.

I bet he regrets now that he fired the ole pistola.

I try to learn from others. Eakens, who is probably a good guy, reminds of how things get out of hand--in just a few seconds of time.
 

Merlin

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2008
Messages
487
Location
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Being in possession of a firearm means you have to be more responsible/measured/coolheaded than the average person.

How many of you have de-escalated a situation where someone really needed a..ahem .... Tune-up ? I know I have walked away from such situations, because I knew I had the winning hand, but would ultimately lose in the big picture.

Carrying a firearm requires that extra level of awareness and responsibility for sure.
Sent from my SGH-i667 using Board Express
 

SFCRetired

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2008
Messages
1,764
Location
Montgomery, Alabama, USA
Being in possession of a firearm means you have to be more responsible/measured/coolheaded than the average person.

How many of you have de-escalated a situation where someone really needed a..ahem .... Tune-up ? I know I have walked away from such situations, because I knew I had the winning hand, but would ultimately lose in the big picture.

Carrying a firearm requires that extra level of awareness and responsibility for sure.
Sent from my SGH-i667 using Board Express

Right there is wisdom. My Dad was probably the least violent man I have ever known. What he taught me many years ago was this, "Talk your way out of a fight if you possibly can. Walk away from a fight if they'll let you. Do not run from any man and, if you are forced into a fight, fight to win."

This is one of the things far too many people do not realize; carrying a firearm and being in a position where you have other people's lives in your hands is one of the heaviest responsibilities a man or woman can assume. It is not a responsibility to be taken lightly.
 
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