Kid Shot Playing Grand Theft Auto? Blame The Cops
News item from L.A. Times: "The Los Angeles City Council approved $9.25 million in city liability payments Wednesday, including $1.5 million in the controversial 2005 shooting death of a 13-year-old suspected of stealing a car. The settlement with the family of Devin Brown caps a case that had stirred racial and political tensions across South Los Angeles last spring after Los Angeles Police Department officers chased and killed a boy who was driving a stolen Toyota Camry."
Posted by Walter Moore @ 6/08/2006 07:30:00 PM
20 Comments:
Wacko, Devin's mom got cheapskated off of more money she could have earned by suing LAPD. She deserves a hell of a lot more from a departmente that condoned officers shooting a 13 year old boy who used his 2mph backing car as a "weapon."
Next up, another deserved settlement for the murder of Suzie Marie Pena.
And just how many of these cases have you tried, anonymous?
P.S. That's "MISTER Wacko" to you, Buster!
P.P.S. How fast, exactly, in miles per hour, must police let a car thief go at night before it's okay to shoot? Eighty? Sixty? Forty? Thirty? Or does the thief get to kill one cop "for free" before deadly force is authorized?
This was a tragedy all around. The officer a young man, joined the department to protect children, not to kill them. Think of the weight he and his family will carry. His life will always be defined by: "he's the officer who shot the 13 yr old boy".
The officer was following, and trusting the training on when to shoot.
The parent (s) are responsible for their kids. they have a giant share of the blame, they also bear the giant share of the loss.
Tragedy all around, except for the lawyers.
The lawyer probably got 1/2 of the settlement for his "fees and expenses", and of course for his beautiful mind.
To the guy who called walter wacko, lighten up, he's a lawyer too.
Deep pockets, and other peoples money.
I blame the car.
To anon at 8:36 p.m.:
LOL.
True story:
Back in the 1980's, before airbags were in every car, a guy filed a lawsuit I'll never forget. He got drunk one night and, knowing he was drunk, wanted to make sure the police wouldn't spot him on his drive home. So he did what any right-thinking person would do: turned off his lights before driving home.
He crashed; couldn't see where he was going, reflexes impaired by alcohol, and, naturally, wasn't wearing his seatbelt, because he didn't like the way they felt.
Did he accept responsibility for his own conduct? Heck no. He instead filed a lawsuit against the car manufacturer. His theory? The manufacturer should have forseen that people would do what he did, and, accordingly, should have adopted airbags earlier. (In fact, airbags weren't quite reliable yet; they kept incinerating the crash test dummies.)
So, as funny as your "it was the car's fault" comment was, there are actually people who think that way. More precisely, their lawyers concoct theories to assign blame based on the depth of one's pockets.
Anyway, now we have cars with airbags, and headlights that come on automatically. Give it five or 10 years, and maybe there will be some kind of age-checking technology to keep children from operating cars.
Who knows? Maybe eventually humans won't be allowed to operate cars at all; you'll tell your GPS where you want to go, and it will do all the driving whether you want to or not.
8:36 PM--
This is why he is Wacko at best. The whole incident is hilarious to him.
Wacko, a vehicle backing up at 2mph (snails pace) would not kill an officer. In any event, a car backing up so slowly would give an officer the opportunity to reach for the driver and subdue him. LAPD policy at the time prohibited the officer from doing that. You're telling me the policy was correct?
How about the policy that states that a parent needs to make sure that their 13 year old child is not outside late at night stealing cars? How about the policy that states that the parents need to take care of their kids, commonly referred to as the "you make them, you raise them" policy?
It is sad for both the cop who fired the shots and Brown's family for their loss. But these officers don't know what one would do when put under that situation because every case is unique.
Now the City Council has give justification to every parent out there who doesn't keep a close eye on where their kids are at night. They have just told those parents that the City will take responsibility when they are not able to properly raise their children and keep an eye on what they do at night, when they could have used a condom but didn't because it made it "feel fake".
This just shows what a bunch of morons we have on city council. This 13 yr old was smoking marijuana. His mother didn't know where the hell he was at 4am. It was dark and with LAPD being shot at in South LA and this thug backing up the car I side with the officer. WE have a racist running the police commission and who was with the black radicals just last year who threatened to burn the city. Yup folks these are the morons we have making decisions in our city.
To anon at 11:48 p.m.:
If you're going to pass that exit exam, you're going to have to read a tad more carefully. What I found funny was the comment, by anon at 8:36, "I blame the car."
You may also want to review a bit of physics. A car moving towards you at two miles an hour can accelerate as fast as the driver can press down the accelerator. Don't believe me? Set up an experiment with a frend, where he tries to run you down, and let him get a two mph head start.
Officer Ripatti will never walk again and this is the news on Devin Brown that is being reported. LA Times is a piece of shit newspaper. I say boycott it. Thanks city council for sending the message that LA rewards bad behavior. I'm glad Mayor Sam has a voice of reason like Walter Moore.
All car thieves should be shot.
Wacko & Co. (other idiot posters):
You people are living in the fifties. Why don't you try to put stipulations on your house deeds stating that the house can never be sold to negroes?
The city has changed, you missed the last great wave of white flight to Arizona and Neveda, but it's not to late. Do us all a fucking favor and leave, you racist fucks.
instead of second guessing the officers who have very little info at the time the shit hits the fan, lets second guess the mom. How hard is it to take care of that "poor" little innocent yard bird. As an incompetent mom, she bares some of the burden for his saftey. And for those that would argue, its impossible to care for a kid like that, then perhaps the actions of the officers are justified.
Yes, it is "racist" to think police should defend themselves. Mmm-hmm. That follows, logically.
Gift idea for yourself: a dictionary.
Touche Walter!!!
Wacko, you fool no one. It's easy to read between you. Your hatred of people of color is evident.
Please, anyone, tell me why the mother should get any money?
For what?
Because she lost a car thief. There are actuarial tables that are used to determine the value of the lost income over the deceased's lifetime.
Who says crime doesn't pay.
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