Byron Quick
Moderator In Memoriam
I started this thread to avoid thread hijack here:http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35461
The referenced thread involves discussion of LEO tactics vs. a man who allegedly admitted killing a cop and then barricaded himself into his home.
Several folk stated that a good guy would NEVER barricade himself in his home and trade fire with police. Doing that AUTOMATICALLY makes you a bad guy.
Well, I'll post an event that happened many years ago. Enlighten me on exactly how the murder victim could have defended himself.
One April day, my next door neighbor Herman Delaigle had words with two local policemen. No one knows what was said except for one living ex-policeman (The other policeman died of cancer after he got out of prison). For some reason, Herman got into his pickup and ran. This was strange, because Herman had had prior dealings with the two policemen and beaten them both together on several occasions. Herman was crippled, by the way. One knee was fused after his knee was blown out in Korea. For whatever reason, Herman ran. He tried to get home. He was driving through the field behind our houses when he was cut off by the police cruisers. He was getting out of his pickup backwards(due to his fused, unbendable leg this was the only way he could exit) when one of the policemen shot him six times in the back of his head, neck, and shoulders. All of the wounds were accompanied by powder burns. I did not see this happen but I remember hearing the shots. The shots were consistent with pulling the trigger of a revolver as fast as possible.
The policemen, at their trial for premeditated murder, claimed they thought his cane was a rifle. This was actually laughable as they had seen the cane many times before and had never previously had trouble identifying its true nature. Their defense failed. They were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. They were never placed in the general prison population and their wives had 24/7 visitation privileges. They were also paroled on their very first parole date.
So here's my question. The obvious reason that Herman was running when he had never run from them before is that he was in fear of his life. So how could he have successfully defended himself? Suppose he had made it to his house where he had firearms and had shot in self defense. According to some here, this would automatically make him a bad guy...he shot at the police.
This is true in most cases. Surrender and be arrested. Herman Delaigle's problem was that the police were coming to kill him...not arrest him. What then?
The referenced thread involves discussion of LEO tactics vs. a man who allegedly admitted killing a cop and then barricaded himself into his home.
Several folk stated that a good guy would NEVER barricade himself in his home and trade fire with police. Doing that AUTOMATICALLY makes you a bad guy.
Well, I'll post an event that happened many years ago. Enlighten me on exactly how the murder victim could have defended himself.
One April day, my next door neighbor Herman Delaigle had words with two local policemen. No one knows what was said except for one living ex-policeman (The other policeman died of cancer after he got out of prison). For some reason, Herman got into his pickup and ran. This was strange, because Herman had had prior dealings with the two policemen and beaten them both together on several occasions. Herman was crippled, by the way. One knee was fused after his knee was blown out in Korea. For whatever reason, Herman ran. He tried to get home. He was driving through the field behind our houses when he was cut off by the police cruisers. He was getting out of his pickup backwards(due to his fused, unbendable leg this was the only way he could exit) when one of the policemen shot him six times in the back of his head, neck, and shoulders. All of the wounds were accompanied by powder burns. I did not see this happen but I remember hearing the shots. The shots were consistent with pulling the trigger of a revolver as fast as possible.
The policemen, at their trial for premeditated murder, claimed they thought his cane was a rifle. This was actually laughable as they had seen the cane many times before and had never previously had trouble identifying its true nature. Their defense failed. They were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. They were never placed in the general prison population and their wives had 24/7 visitation privileges. They were also paroled on their very first parole date.
So here's my question. The obvious reason that Herman was running when he had never run from them before is that he was in fear of his life. So how could he have successfully defended himself? Suppose he had made it to his house where he had firearms and had shot in self defense. According to some here, this would automatically make him a bad guy...he shot at the police.
This is true in most cases. Surrender and be arrested. Herman Delaigle's problem was that the police were coming to kill him...not arrest him. What then?
