There has been significant discussion about whether or not the Police were right to shoot the occupants of a stolen vehicle in Kings Cross on Saturday morning. Many people have criticised the Police for shooting the occupants of the car – believing the Police should have shot the tyres of the vehicle out rather than shoot the occupants.
In my opinion this is an utterly moronic assertion. From the moment the vehicle mounted the footpath and ran over a pedestrian, the Police had a duty to stop the vehicle as quickly as possible to stop further injuries. Shooting out the tyres of the vehicle would not have guaranteed that it would have stopped. Shooting the driver did.
The biggest fool in all this would have to be girlfriend of the oldest occupant of the vehicle (Matthew Dalton) who told the Sydney Morning Herald that she was shocked, angry and scared by the Police’s actions and said ”If they wanted to stop the car they could have at least shot the tyres, not shoot at little kids.”
What Dalton’s girlfriend forgets is that these “little kids” were driving a stolen vehicle along the footpath where they ran over a woman. They didn’t stop after hitting the woman – they continued driving along with her pinned beneath the vehicle. Perhaps these idiots should have thought about the repercussions of their actions when they stole the car, when they tried to flee from Police and when they drove along a footpath and hit a pedestrian. How many members of the public should have been placed in harm’s way because of the action of a group of morons?
What I don’t agree with is the actions of Police after the incident, where one was seen punching Troy Taylor on the ground after he was shot in the neck. That was completely inappropriate and the officer involved deserves to be dealt with in the most serious manner. At that point in time there was very little risk posed by the offender.
The final concern arising from the incident is the belief that it somehow has something to do with race because the passengers in the vehicle were aboriginal. Anyone with any sense would see that the Police’s actions had nothing to do with the fact that the offenders were aboriginal and everything to do with them being in a stolen vehicle and placing other people’s lives at risk. Anyone who sees it differently is a fool.