Friday, July 27, 2007

This goes too far, even for the likes of Sheriff Joe and Hang 'em High Thomas!

There is talk of charging the car-jacking suspect with the deaths of the 4 killed when their respective news helicopters collided while covering the chase:
From AZCENTRAL.COM:
The suspect who led police on a vehicle chase could face murder charges after two television news helicopters filming the pursuit collided in midair, killing four people aboard.
Now this goes too damned far. There is some precedent for charging fleeing suspects when innocent civilians or law enforcement officers are killed due to the pursuit. This, however, is very different. These were not innocent civilians who just happened to be on the road when a hot pursuit crossed their path. This is not a case of a police helicopter following the suspect and crashed.

No, this was a case of news organizations competing with each other to get the best angle of what they hoped would be something spectacular like a big crash, shootout or an arrest they could show live. They were not innocent bystanders who happened to be caught in the pursuit, they were actively pursuing the action because that is what the public seems to crave. Look how often such chases are broadcast live on TV, interrupting programming even if the chase is in a different state.

It could very well be that one or both of the pilots made errors that led to the crash or mechanical failure is partially to blame.

Clearly, the man on the run is not to blame for this crash, we are.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I completely agree. I think people just want someone to blame and they are too afraid to blame the pilots.