No need for police to kill my sister, says Miriam Carey's family

[avaistheone1]

[Hayabusa]

1. In hindsight, there wasn't.

That said, the police didn't have the ability. For all they knew, her car was wired to blow and the slightest move from her. She had already attempted to ram entry into the White House and was headed for Capitol Hill.

[AZ Mike]

2. Bullshit.

Whether her personal story was tragic or not, ramming the WH gates is the most surefire way to get dead - and that is the correct action.

[FailureToCommunicate]

9. Really? People should get shot dead if they happen to hit the stanchions? in the video, she might

have simply turned the wrong way and panicked after being surrounded by police cars.

Personally I'd like more info before passing judgment on an death sentence.

[janlyn]

3. I keep seeing people say she got out of her car.

But I am seeing conflicting stories. The new york times says she did not get out. TheHuffington post says she did get out. I am going to reserve judgement until there are more facts.

[handmade34]

4. from New York Times reporting...

What occurred next was not clear. Ms. Carey managed to get out of the car, and was shot by several officers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/04/us/gunfire-reported-outside-the-capitol.html

[janlyn]

5. I am on a tablet so can't copy but if you google

It is a new york times article posted 3 hrs. Ago titled Miriam Carey was in car when police fired.. Whereas your link is from yesterday. So I really do think it is to early to come to a snap judgement.

[handmade34]

6. the two

not necessarily mutually exclusive... the officers fired at the car, but Miriam Carey was not dead when she stopped the car and was still able to get out and try to run... no snap judgment; just facts

[janlyn]

8. the two not mutually exclusive,

Agree. And I am sorry I did not mean to infer that you were making a snap judgement. I was just explaining why I wasn't.

[DhhD]

10. What ever happened to just shooting out the tires? They knew she was unarmed, with a child,

and could have surrounded her with their cars. I think that they are trained to use a police car to stop a fleeing car.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIT_maneuver

[GreenStormCloud]

15. Shooting out the tires only works on TV.

Real Life:

Tires on a moving car are an extremely difficult target. The bullets that miss will be a public danger.

A sudden flat on a steering tire can cause a speeding car to tumble, possibly hitting other cars or people.

A car can run on flat tires.

[AtheistCrusader]

11. Sorry, you hit a secret service officer with your car, they are going to react.

She hit multiple squad cars, a barrier protecting the white house, and took off at high speed. She also hit a SS officer.

I don't think it's reasonable for the Capitol police to assume you are harmless at that point. Sucks, and tragic, since she apparently just needed help and wasn't actually being intentionally malicious, but, those are the stakes.

If another Tim McVeigh managed to get a carload of ANFO near something important after doing all that, we'd all be pissed at the cops too, for being incompetent, and you know it.

[damnedifIknow]

14. She was out of the car and trying to flee when they shot her.

[AtheistCrusader]

16. I agree.

And this factors into how the police react to anyone that so much as injures one of them.

After Dorner and a few other instances, if you attack a cop in any way, they pretty much just kill you now.

Might be worth an investigation but I don't expect anything to come of it.

[TinkerTot55]

12. Sorry, but I can't agree.....

....with the, "They had to kill her, her car might've blown up" posts, though I understand that viewpoint.
Video clearly shows the police initially surrounding her car, and they're close enough to touch her if her windows had been down. They're also close enough to see the child in her back seat, and should have used extra caution and restraint because of that. While I don't condone the hitting of the government agent, I would doubt that it was intentional. If she HAD wanted to kill people, she could've killed many LEOs when they had her surrounded, and were on foot and within inches of her car.

We have lots of people in this country with serious mental health issues, people with PTSD and traumatic head injuries and people who are impaired in one form or another; we can't just shoot them all, if they happen to cross paths with law enforcement or behave erratically. In this day and age, we should be researching alternatives to deadly force.

[Half-Century Man]

13. Personally, I would like to see

Photos of each and every car stuck in the incident. Clearly labeled as to the circumstances resulting in the damage.
I'd like to see a full accounting of all injuries of all officers. Specifically detailing the extent and cause of the injuries. No names of course.
An incident map and time line would also be helpful.

My main concern is based on the video with the actual gun fire. Three, maybe four officers were right up on the car, at least one looked like he was leaning in the window. Babies in car accidents are rarely quiet. I suspect that some of the officers firing knew there was a child in the car.