by kjmclark » Fri 22 May 2009, 23:25:33
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TreeFarmer', 'H')e almost ran over a policeman and could have killed an innocent bystander with his driving.
Actually, the BBC story says he hit the police officer and it sure looks that way from the video. So from the perspective of the officers in the lead two cars, this guy has also injured or killed an officer. They didn't have time to see what happened to the other officer, they just saw the officer's car, saw him, saw the minivan head toward him, saw the officer going down, and followed the minivan.
Honestly, I can't decide how badly the police dealt with the situation. It clearly would have been better if they hadn't beaten the guy, but if you put me on a jury with a case against the officers, you might be surprised at what they get away with. There's no excuse for threatening or particularly running down a police officer. That's a serious mitigating circumstance in my book.
So Micki, if I somehow take down a police officer on my bike in a way that looks like I could have killed him, and then run a red light, I won't be surprised if the cop that stops me is a fairly harsh. But I don't run reds on my bike (I bike to work every day), and I sure as heck would never consider doing anything that could injure a cop, and would stop dead in my tracks if I thought I had.