Interesting enough though watching the video, what probable cause did the cops have to shoot the car once the cops were clear of the car? TN v Garner is the case law.
Probably due to the danger that a high-speed chase through a populated area presents. Stopping the car before it becomes a missile is smart.
Back in April, we had a high speed chase in my neighborhood. I heard sirens from my living room and looked out the window just in time to see an SUV racing through the stop sign at my corner and down my street with the cops in hot pursuit. The entire neighborhood came out to see just what in the hell was going on. We could hear the police sirens as this dumbass raced wildly through the area. I was standing on my corner when a few cruisers came up the street that runs beside my house. About 50 yards short of my corner, they blocked the street just as homeboy whipped the corner a couple of blocks back and was now headed straight toward the roadblock.
The officer exited his cruiser, drew his weapon, and pointed it my way. I realized what was about to happen and ducked behind a tree just as the SUV rolled past my house toward the roadblock. As the driver approached the officer, he opened fire, discharging nine (9) rounds into a populated area. My son, who was watching the chase from my back yard, heard the rounds hitting the brush and trees just feet from where he was standing.
The SUV jumped the curb, whipped around the blockade and raced on. He was stopped a minute or so later when he hit the railroad tracks at high speed and went airborne. He lost control of his vehicle and wrecked in the front yard of one of my English students.
After all that, we heard that no one was hurt, including the idiot being chased after he ran from a police license check.
We were lucky. Not all high speed
chases end so happily (that last one happened today just 40 minutes from me in Goldsboro).
