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First Ever Real GTA Style Carjacking Spree
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| Frost_Melt |
Link http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columni...5668446-sun.php
As case of serial carjacking put residents at serious risk, top Calgary cops were left with no good choices
By MICHAEL PLATT
It's not a good feeling, to want someone shot by police.
But yesterday, in the midst of what may have been the most dangerous car chase to ever involve Calgary cops, there seemed no other way to safely stop the suspect in a frightening series of carjackings.
The suspect allegedly stole six cars, threatening drivers by holding a pistol point-blank in their faces.
There are reports one shot was fired by the carjacker, but no one hit.
When the suspect was finally stopped, after a horrifying high-speed chase through a southeast neighbourhood, he had a second person with him -- a possible hostage.
Both the suspect and victim left the crash scene in an ambulance, badly bleeding, with the suspect in serious condition.
The stolen car had smashed into a pole outside a school, after its driver lost control with police in hot pursuit.
At an intersection some distance away, two more patients were treated by paramedics.
Vehicles were allegedly rammed as the suspect fled from police, and people were apparently hurt.
Innocent people.
It's that unfortunate fact that will now haunt police, as they try to explain why a dangerous car chase through busy streets wasn't called off.
That it ended near a school will compound the criticism -- what if the car had veered into a playground instead of a pole?
Police policy, ever since Const. Richard Sonnenberg was killed by a fleeing driver in 1993, has been to avoid car chases whenever possible.
Safe pursuit of stolen cars is a key reason for the HAWCS police helicopter program -- but in rain and cloud, the choppers are grounded.
Police would normally call off a chase before it threatened civilians -- but yesterday was anything but normal.
It's likely an inquiry will be called, and until police officially explain their actions, it's all a guess.
But to be a police commander during yesterday's chase was to be damned, no matter what the decision.
A suspect waving a gun inches from people's noses is a potential killer, and it wouldn't take much for a bullet to be fired into someone's face.
A driver who refused to hand over his car to the desperate gunman would likely end up dead.
For police, there was also no way to know why the suspect was on the run, or to what lengths he might go to avoid being caught.
He seemed unwilling to hide -- police lost the suspect a few times during the cross-city hunt, and the suspect always reappeared, after stealing another car.
Was he trying to be caught, or just too frantic to lay low?
In any case, not stopping the suspect would likely result in tragedy.
The truth awaits an inquiry, but that's probably why the chase wasn't immediately called off.
Had police been given a clear opportunity to use lethal force to stop the gunman, it's likely they would have.
And no one would have blamed them -- but that chance never came.
After two hours of cross-city hunting, officers patrolling near Marlborough spotted the suspect driving with a passenger.
A chase ensued -- the suspect driving on the wrong side of the road and burning through intersections in a bid to escape.
The risk of someone being seriously hurt or killed was high -- but not as high as an innocent victim being shot and killed if the suspect wasn't stopped.
And that was the decision left to police commanders, as they listened to their officers chasing the suspect over the police radio.
You can only imagine their cringing as they allowed the chase to continue, knowing someone could end up seriously hurt or worse.
And then their immense relief as the suspect lost control, hitting the pole and ending the drama.
There will be plenty of questions in the coming days and no easy answers as to whether the police decision was the right one.
But in the end, a dangerous situation was stopped, and the potential for greater tragedy averted.
And that's the only conclusion anyone could have hoped for.
ICE COLD BABY!
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| glass |
| So he didn't kill any hooker's :( |
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| sweds00 |
Ahh good ol Alberta
Its almost like living in the states. |
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| jonze |
| quote: | Originally posted by glass
So he didn't kill any hooker's :( |
phew, if hookers start getting killed then the price of hookers will go up and hookers and blow will become even harder to come by. |
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| Project-K |
| quote: | Originally posted by jonze
phew, if hookers start getting killed then the price of hookers will go up and hookers and blow will become even harder to come by. |
Less hookers = more blow to be sold, therefore a price decrese in blow will even out a price increase in hookers. |
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| jonze |
| quote: | Originally posted by Project-K
Less hookers = more blow to be sold, therefore a price decrese in blow will even out a price increase in hookers. |
doesn't blow comes from the vaginas of hookers? :conf: |
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| Capo di tutti |
| quote: | Originally posted by sweds00
Ahh good ol Alberta
Its almost like living in the states. |
You got that right...maybe the largest redneck population outside of the US. |
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| Ivand |
| your avatar dude, your avatar |
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| sweds00 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Capo di tutti
You got that right...maybe the largest redneck population outside of the US. |
I think you hit right on the nail there |
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