One of our local highway patrolmen lost his life earlier this week. You can read the Arizona Republic's article on it here. In a nutshell...
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A DPS officer discovered a car was traveling with stolen plates. For that matter, the SUV was also stolen. A wild chase ensued, with the SUV snd cop car jumping on and off the freeway. Meanwhile a second DPS officer was laying down spike strips in order to blow out the SUV's tires. The SUV evaded them, but the (original) chasing officer was less adroit, and plowed into his fellow officer, killing him. The SUV driver was eventually caught and thrown in jail.
.
Okay. It's an especially tragic story, considering it happened right before Christmas, and the dead officer leaves a wife and four young kids. The driver of the SUV, 43-year-old Georgia Lynn Baker, has been hit with six felony counts; and I wouldn't want to be in her shoes. But I have a problem with one of the counts - murder.
.
It wasn't Baker that hit the DPS man, it was one of his fellow officers. And whether it was poor communication, poor driving skills, or poor judgment in not getting out of the way fast enough; the fact remains that Baker had nothing to do with the tragedy, other than being the pursued.
.
I have no sympathy for Baker, and my heart goes out to the fallen DPS officer's family. But we don't do him honor by slapping a "feels good" murder rap on Baker just because DPS couldn't carry out the chase and the spike strip-laying competently. There's plenty of charges to convict her on, but murder shouldn't be one of them.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
But is it Murder?
One of our local highway patrolmen lost his life earlier this week. You can read the Arizona Republic's article on it here. In a nutshell...
.
A DPS officer discovered a car was traveling with stolen plates. For that matter, the SUV was also stolen. A wild chase ensued, with the SUV snd cop car jumping on and off the freeway. Meanwhile a second DPS officer was laying down spike strips in order to blow out the SUV's tires. The SUV evaded them, but the (original) chasing officer was less adroit, and plowed into his fellow officer, killing him. The SUV driver was eventually caught and thrown in jail.
.
Okay. It's an especially tragic story, considering it happened right before Christmas, and the dead officer leaves a wife and four young kids. The driver of the SUV, 43-year-old Georgia Lynn Baker, has been hit with six felony counts; and I wouldn't want to be in her shoes. But I have a problem with one of the counts - murder.
.
It wasn't Baker that hit the DPS man, it was one of his fellow officers. And whether it was poor communication, poor driving skills, or poor judgment in not getting out of the way fast enough; the fact remains that Baker had nothing to do with the tragedy, other than being the pursued.
.
I have no sympathy for Baker, and my heart goes out to the fallen DPS officer's family. But we don't do him honor by slapping a "feels good" murder rap on Baker just because DPS couldn't carry out the chase and the spike strip-laying competently. There's plenty of charges to convict her on, but murder shouldn't be one of them.
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2 comments:
I hadn't heard of this story, but that wouldn't sit well with me, either. Last year, a police officer here was killed by another officer speeding to a different crime scene. The one who hit the first went through hell afterwards. I think he was thrown off the force and charged with manslaughter. That didn't sit right with me, and that's sort of what this reminded me of.
i wouldn't have a problem with our car-thief being charged with involuntary manslaughter. but first-degree murder? no way.
and i agree with you - charging the San Antonio cop with manslaughter is just mean. he was undoubtedly devastated by the accident. why make it worse by charging him?
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