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http://www.nbc-2.com/story/17148539/201 ... =printable

The above is a 29 second dashcam from a Cape Coral, Florida police dashcam. The LEO pulled over the Caddy
for expired tags. He speaks with the 17 year old female driver, then goes around to the passenger side to get the
passenger's ID.

The passenger sticks a handgun out the window and fires 3 shots at point blank range. The LEO's vest catches 2 of the
rounds, but one hits him in the abdomen, just below the vest's bottom.

The officer is of course stunned by getting shot. He takes a long few seconds, then fires 7 rounds at the fleeing car.

This may or may not have been the right thing to do since there were innocent civilian cars in the line of fire.
Neither the suspect's car or any civilians were struck by the 7 rounds.

The suspects crashed the car a quarter mile from the shooting scene, and the 20 year old man was arrested for
attempted murder of a LEO.

SIA

Definitely not a good decision by the LEO to shoot at a vehicle already so far down the road. But I can't judge him, I don't know how I would of responded after being shot at three times point blank.

CheckonChico wrote:Definitely not a good decision by the LEO to shoot at a vehicle already so far down the road. But I can't judge him, I don't know how I would of responded after being shot at three times point blank.

I thought it was odd that he decided to open fire with them already so far down the road with other innocent motorist nearby.
Then again, it may have been a camera trick.....meaning that they might not have actually been quite as far down the road as they appeared in the video. You know how your car mirrors state "Object in mirror may be closer than they appear"? Same principle. If you have ever taken a video with your iPhone you know what I'm talking about.
Also, kudos to the officer for remaining so calm after the fact.

Too bad this bad guy couldn't have been a little more cerebral as opposed to trigger happy. He doesn't have to show ID as a passenger, (right?).
That's just nuts.

I can't blame the officer for shooting. It probably wasn't the smartest decision, but had I just been shot like that, I imagine I wouldn't be thinking about a whole lot more than just 'getting those people.'

Maybe he knew he wouldn't be able to hit the person, but thought he could tag the car making it easier for other police to identify (especially if he hit the glass).

I'm glad the officer is ok, but in my opinion, he showed awful officer safety during this stop. Flashlight should never be in gun hand, when he was approaching the passenger side, he was doing so very casually. It appeared that he was completly in condition white and was suprised at what just happened.

I hope that other officers see this and learn.

magillapd wrote:I'm glad the officer is ok, but in my opinion, he showed awful officer safety during this stop. Flashlight should never be in gun hand, when he was approaching the passenger side, he was doing so very casually. It appeared that he was completly in condition white and was suprised at what just happened.

I hope that other officers see this and learn.

The LEO had the flashlight in his right hand. If you assume that he's right-handed,
then yes, he made a mistake by having the light in his strong hand.

But about 10% of the population is left-handed, so it's possible that he had the light
in his off hand.

HIs slowness to draw and begin shooting seems to be the more definite problem here, IMHO.

SIA

No country for old men is what comes to mind with video. One officer per car is a situation for this kind of outcome. The officer should have had better training. Thank God , he is alive.
FYI, just talked with friend across the border from Brownsville. The family have been inside their house for 3 days because -- gun fire. He live in high end safe area. He plans to move back home in Trxas. At one time the gangs had rules about safe zones and their families.

That Florida video is a few blocks from my son's house. You can almost see his house in the distance in that dashcam.

surprise_i'm_armed wrote:

magillapd wrote:I'm glad the officer is ok, but in my opinion, he showed awful officer safety during this stop. Flashlight should never be in gun hand, when he was approaching the passenger side, he was doing so very casually. It appeared that he was completly in condition white and was suprised at what just happened.

I hope that other officers see this and learn.

The LEO had the flashlight in his right hand. If you assume that he's right-handed,
then yes, he made a mistake by having the light in his strong hand.

But about 10% of the population is left-handed, so it's possible that he had the light
in his off hand.

HIs slowness to draw and begin shooting seems to be the more definite problem here, IMHO.

SIA

No assumption...you can clearly see that he is holding the flashlight in his right hand, you can also clearly see that his gun is holstered on his right side. So, it's a fact that he was holding his flashlight in the same hand that he uses to draw and fire his weapon. This equals poor officer safety.

magillapad:

Yes, you are correct. If I had quickly reviewed the short dashcam, the officer's service weapon
is clearly visible on his right side. I should have seen that before commenting.

SIA