Speeding motor cyclist killed by not-speeding cruiser

[HKcarrier]

What do you guys make of this?


http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/...-continues?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE


I hear a lot of "got what he deserved" and "one less idiot on the road" etc.... I am really surprised by the amount of cynical, calloused a$$holes out there who think it's great that this kid was killed over a speeding ticket because he went 104 mph at 4am...

I mean, yeah the kid was in teh wrong, but the cop was RIGHT BEHIND him and clearly was close enough to get his plate... why continue the chase?

I guess I just feel unless they're chasing a violent felon, they shouldn't be chasing. Too risky for everyone.

Additionally, i'm pretty sure the cruiser was probably veered or swerved into the motorcycle's path ON PURPOSE... essentially murdering him because he was running from the cops... which obviously is an extremely stupid thing to do... but I didn't realize that made it so the cops could be judge, jury, and executioner... especially over a SPEEDING TICKET. I guess I"m just weird like that.


Discuss.



Oh yeah, also, MODS, if you feel this is too far off topic, feel free to nuke or move. THANKS!

 

[quarter horseman]

Agreed one less idiot, and now more money out of our pocket to fix the car thanks idiot.

 

[scot623]

You may think different if after they "called off the chase" he plowed into a wife coming home from a late shift at work killing her. One less idiot indeed.

 

[eye95]

Yep. One less idiot.

 

[SFCRetired]

Having been a motorcycle rider for a number of years this is my view:

1. Yeah, the kid was wrong and stupid. My Dad told me many, many years ago, "Do not run from the police. You will be in far worse trouble."
2. If the police had broke off the pursuit, since they had his tag number, the kid would most probably still be alive and they could have arrested him at their convenience.
3. If, in fact, he had run into a car, the odds are, with the cars nowadays, that the most severe injury would have been to the motorcycle rider. Only if he plowed directly into the driver's or passenger's door or went through the windshield would there have been that much of a chance of injury or fatality to the car's occupants.
4. I am very disappointed in those of you who have said, "One less idiot." Would you say that had it been your son? I doubt it very seriously. Besides, idiot or not, he was a human being. Remember John Donne's quote? Look it up.

 

[eye95]

It wouldn't have been my son. He is no idiot and would not have done what the one-less-idiot did.

Having the tag number is not sufficient. At best, they can later go talk to the guy--until he walks away or tells them to get off his property.

No matter who it disappoints, I will say it again: One less idiot. Give him the Darwin Award!

 

[HKcarrier]

For all the police abuses that people bitch about on here, I am pretty surprised to see the "one less idiot" crowd....


And people who say "my kid woudln't do that" you can't know that... it was a bad decision, no doubt.... Your kid wouldn't bump his motorcycle up to 100 "just to see what it was like for a min"? Say he did that, since it was 4am and on a deserted highway... then saw the cop lights and freaked out and said "oh F, dad is going to be PISSED.... well there's no way this cop can catch me... there's no one around... *activate warp speed*...


To be honest, I don't have as much of a problem with the kid crashing and getting killed as I do that I think they DID IT ON PURPOSE. I think they crashed him on purpose.

THAT is what I have the big problem with. I"ve seen cops on "cop chase" shows trying to run into a kid on a 125 dirt bike who was running away from them. Trying to kill a 14 year old kid because HOW DARE he ride his dirt bike on the road, then make a stupid decision to try to run.

Just another example that the cops out OUT OF CONTROL and will do whatever they want, whenever they want... and people will just say "idiot deserved it".

Nice.

 

[eye95]

No, I can safely say that my son would not do that. We are all capable of doing something stupid. Doing something that incredibly stupid requires a special kind of mentality.

One less monumental idiot.

 

[sudden valley gunner]

For all the police abuses that people bitch about on here, I am pretty surprised to see the "one less idiot" crowd....


And people who say "my kid woudln't do that" you can't know that... it was a bad decision, no doubt.... Your kid wouldn't bump his motorcycle up to 100 "just to see what it was like for a min"? Say he did that, since it was 4am and on a deserted highway... then saw the cop lights and freaked out and said "oh F, dad is going to be PISSED.... well there's no way this cop can catch me... there's no one around... *activate warp speed*...


To be honest, I don't have as much of a problem with the kid crashing and getting killed as I do that I think they DID IT ON PURPOSE. I think they crashed him on purpose.

THAT is what I have the big problem with. I"ve seen cops on "cop chase" shows trying to run into a kid on a 125 dirt bike who was running away from them. Trying to kill a 14 year old kid because HOW DARE he ride his dirt bike on the road, then make a stupid decision to try to run.

Just another example that the cops out OUT OF CONTROL and will do whatever they want, whenever they want... and people will just say "idiot deserved it".

Nice.

+1

And I learned very early in my children's lives not say "my kid would never do that".

And as a kid I did many things that being older I wouldn't have done now.

 

[HKcarrier]

+1

And I learned very early in my children's lives not say "my kid would never do that".

And as a kid I did many things that being older I wouldn't have done now.

Never underestimate the power of human denial... especially in parents RE: little Johnny.

You're delusional if you think your kid could never make a bad decision. Everyone thinks their precious snowflake is the world's greatest kid.

I bet this kid's parents would have said the same line, among others... "he was such a nice boy" "he had a sparkling record" "he was a shining example of a youngman" "He's never behaved like this before" "we don't understand, this isn't like him"

Never say never.


And again, I can't believe that people think it's ok that the cops very likely crashed into this guy on purpose knowing full well what the ramifications would be.

"what if they let him go and he crashed into a night-shifter" ... or, what if they let him go and NOTHING happened?!?! OMG!!!

No, that would bruise their egos too much. That would make all the sheeple all run from the cops. That would let the sheeple out of our stranglehold of authority.


Again, kid IS an idiot. But he didn't deserve to be killed on purpose for it.

I don't care if I"m going 150mph... as I see the crusier coming down the entrance ramp, I'm going to move to the left lane.... doesn't matter if I"m going 200. The only way you wouldn't beable to react is if the guy cut you off. IE: He did it on purpose. His only reason for even entering the expressway AHEAD of the chase was TO BLOCK.

 

[eye95]

As a teacher, I always mentally (not physically) shook my head when a parent said that their child would never lie (for example). They all lie. We all do stupid things.

Big difference here, though.

We don't all do incredibly stupid things. We all know people well who just don't do incredibly stupid things. Yeah, my son will speed in his car. He has. He won't be incredibly stupid and try to outrun the police who try to stop him. He's got a pretty high IQ and is a wireless and electrical engineer. He is in his early thirties and quite mature.

So, no, he wouldn't try to elude the police at high speeds. He is just too smart for that.

So, as much as some here seem to hate reading this, I'll write it again: There is one less monumental idiot in the world.

 

[sudden valley gunner]

Ahhh but the qualifier "incredibly" stupid, is a matter of opinion.

Speeding in the middle of the night with noone around, is something that would more than likely only hurt himself. And proof to me that most "laws" we have are fairly ridiculous in nature because statist and authorities take a "no excuse" viewpoint on them which is anti-freedom liberty in my viewpoint.

I personally think smoking tobacco is incredibly stupid and causes almost 1/2 a million deaths a year (and may do incredible damage by second hand smoke). I am not going to ram my car into someone smoking on the sidewalk with in 25 feet of a door ( a crime in my state).

 

[lil_freak_66]

video i watched,i didnt see the cop swerve,just throwin that out there,i just think the biker wasnt paying attention

and i heard he got up to 140 mph.

cops should have backed off,it was 4am and obviously a guy goin out for what you could call a joy ride,at 4am even the drunks are in bed and the roads are empty,if he would have gotten in a crash on his own(rather than with a cop) it probably would have involved him and only him..practically nobody else on the road to worry about,and i feel that pursuing him led directly to his death,whereas letting him go or backing off after getting a plate,he would probably still be alive and well.

 

[Gort]

Anyone who buys a fast car 500hp or a ninja bike, knows that it is against the law to exceed the speed limit. I think even the Pope most religious, would give the acceleration of the excitement of putting the Pedal to the Metal a try, just one time , yea.
I did not know the death penalty was a decision a police officer could make on a whim, to
knowingly cause serious injury or death to a speeding motorist, just for failure to stop for a traffic violation, if not endangering others, example School zone ahead.
I can see this scenario for someone that had just molested a child, or committed armed robbery, and for this type of criminal the State Of Michigan is lenient to time served.
Now if the State Of Michigan has the death penalty, not written, why not sentence all scum bags to the Highway, Mad Max version of justice.
This kid was not a scum bag, just a kid on a fast sport bike making a bad decision.
The cop made a bad decision too.

 

[HandyHamlet]

We don't all do incredibly stupid things.

wow. Talk about denial.

At 130-140 mph there is no room for error. There is no time to think or react. Add in the fact that it was night and the adrenalin was flowing the outcome is pretty much reduced to living through the crash or not. Regardless of what the cop in front did or didn't do. Still, it's a tragedy for the family to endure.

 

[sudden valley gunner]

video i watched,i didnt see the cop swerve,just throwin that out there,i just think the biker wasnt paying attention

and i heard he got up to 140 mph.

cops should have backed off,it was 4am and obviously a guy goin out for what you could call a joy ride,at 4am even the drunks are in bed and the roads are empty,if he would have gotten in a crash on his own(rather than with a cop) it probably would have involved him and only him..practically nobody else on the road to worry about,and i feel that pursuing him led directly to his death,whereas letting him go or backing off after getting a plate,he would probably still be alive and well.

Yep my thoughts are on if it was done intentionally, if not cest la vie.

 

[Venator]

Many departments have implemented protocol for these types of chases. They are finally realizing they are risking not only the perps life, bu the general public and the officers.

My township department has a policy in place and would rather a non-violent offender go free than endanger human life. I wish more departments would do the same.

 

[Claytron]

As a teacher, I always mentally (not physically) shook my head when a parent said that their child would never lie (for example). They all lie. We all do stupid things.

Big difference here, though.

We don't all do incredibly stupid things. We all know people well who just don't do incredibly stupid things. Yeah, my son will speed in his car. He has. He won't be incredibly stupid and try to outrun the police who try to stop him. He's got a pretty high IQ and is a wireless and electrical engineer. He is in his early thirties and quite mature.

So, no, he wouldn't try to elude the police at high speeds. He is just too smart for that.

So, as much as some here seem to hate reading this, I'll write it again: There is one less monumental idiot in the world.

Many people would consider you and me monumental idiots for carrying a firearm. We will carry firearms (some of us anyway) almost everyday of our lives and statistically we are more likely of getting drawn on and shot by some idiot cop BECAUSE we were carrying than we are of using our firearm in self defense and using it to save a life.

Why si your son any different than this kid, barring the age difference? They say the guy on the bike had no reason at all to run so how do you know whether or not he was running to evade them, or running because he was scared?

He could have been your son who made a stupid decision to speed and then an even more stupid decision to run..... and you would say he deserved to die?

I never speed and always aim for a mile or two under the limit so i dont risk getting pulled over and even I can realize and admit that someone going 100+ mph on a deserted highway at 4am isnt exactly a menace to society and they certainly dont deserve to die. Dying by your own hand is different than dying by someone elses.

 

[HKcarrier]

I watched the video VERY closely, and I could not tell if the officer DID or DID NOT swerve. It was too garbled. I also could not tell if the accident happened in the #1 or #2 lane...

Just by virtue of his decision to enter the expressway in the manner he did I would conclude it was intentionally a rolling roadblock. Maybe he didn't intend on crashing the kid but he most likely swerved in front of him. If the accident occured in the 'fast' lane, most certainly he swerved.


Thanks for the points of view everyone.


"rather a non-violent offender go free than endanger human life."

Do you people REALLY think so little of human life that you think it's ok to endanger and/or KILL someone over a SPEEDING offense? Pretty sad really if we've come to that point where people think it's ok for you to die because you disobeyed THE MAN....

Time and time again you see people run from the cops and their excuse? "I freaked out" "I wasn't thinking" "I thought I could get away"

It's a misnomer that "only criminals run from the cops"... I would think YOU guys would be familiar with stuff like that... "Only criminals carry guns"...


Police have NO business endangering human life to apprehend a speeder or ANY non-violent offender for that matter.

 

[Felid`Maximus]

"Police said he had no reason to run."

No reason to run? How did he have no reason to run? I bet the implications of an arrest for going 130 mph are pretty significant reasons. He may have been subject to things such as fines, jail time, criminal records, and forfeiture of Driver's license... and he probably figured he could get away. Turns out he did escape conviction, although at a much higher cost.

If the police let him get away, the plate number may not be enough to secure a conviction. How could you prove who was riding the bike?