What's up with South Carolina police departments?

[Manedwolf]

First you have that insane sheriff putting ultrasonic devices in malls and buying an M-113 with his name on it and a live .50-cal on top, and now you have this:

Dash-cam videos that appear to show South Carolina highway troopers twice using their cars as weapons to run down black suspects have sparked a federal investigation and public outrage this week.

The U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, along with the U.S. Attorney's Office in South Carolina, is investigating both cases caught on tape.

In one video from June 2007, Lance Cpl. Steven C. Garren can be seen chasing a fleeing suspect down a darkened street, using his police cruiser to knock the man to the pavement.

The man, who is black, flips over the car's hood and into high grass on the roadside.

"Yeah, I hit him. I was trying to hit him," Garren, who is white, can be heard telling another trooper later on the tape.

In another incident in April 2007, Lance Cpl. Alexander Richardson plowed across a neighborhood sidewalk with a playground mere feet away. Again the white cop used his car to bump the black man. The man stumbles when hit and then continues to run.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=4494647&page=1

Do they teach something different in police academies there or something? FORCE IS LAW?

[AmbulanceDriver]

You know, as long as they're using the same methods to stop runners regardless of their race, I don't see a *huge* problem with it.  Running from the cops is almost always guaranteed to get you in some type of pain.  And as far as I can tell, the two that the media is screaming about in this seem to be that case, where they are running from the cops.... 

[Manedwolf]

On an article elsewhere, it shows that the cruiser's data recorder shows that the cop never even touched the brakes until after he hit the suspect.

If they're still a suspect, does that justify use of deadly force, which a vehicle most certainly is? How is that different than shooting someone in the back for fleeing after a traffic-stop-and-run?

If someone were to trip and go under the wheels, they'd likely be very dead from their organs being crushed. A car is always considered "assault with a deadly weapon" if a non-cop tries to hit someone with it. Why should it be different for cops?

[Tallpine]

I dunno, my family moved on west to Kentucky around 1800

[MechAg94]

I don't know.  You have two issues here:  Tactics and racism charges. 

The tactics are something we can debate.  If someone runs from the cops, they are stupid or guilty of something worse.  Until someone invents a long range stun gun, I don't see how you are going to get away from cops using physical force of some level.

On the racism charges, not sure how to approach that.  Two lone incidents don't really prove anything.

[Manedwolf]

I'm more questioning the tactics, which I consider dangerous to not only the suspects, but to bystanders.

Yes, in one case, it appears racism was involved. Local coverage of the issues mentions one of the other cruiser cams recording the officer yelling a certain word beginning with "N" while trying to run down the suspect.

That, however, just relates to that officer. The fact that this method of running down suspects has been repeated multiple times suggests that it's a de facto accepted or promoted thing to do among police there.

[AmbulanceDriver]

I'm more questioning the tactics, which I consider dangerous to not only the suspects, but to bystanders.

Yes, in one case, it appears racism was involved. Local coverage of the issues mentions one of the other cruiser cams recording the officer yelling a certain word beginning with "N" while trying to run down the suspect.

That, however, just relates to that officer. The fact that this method of running down suspects has been repeated multiple times suggests that it's a de facto accepted or promoted thing to do among police there.

Well, in that case........   If racism is the motivation, those officers probably need to find new careers............

[roo_ster]

I am working to come up with a situation where running into folks with an auto is a reasonable technique.  The only thing I can come up with is if the suspect is actively shooting at the officer behind the wheel and there are no bystanders nearby.

Running them down with their police car and then running them over is ate up like a soup sandwich.  Put down the donut, get your gut out from behind the wheel, and chase down the suspect like a man.

[johnster999]

Immaturity + stress = unprofessionalism

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

cops have used their vehicles like that for as long as i can remember. usually prettty good at it. hence the paucity of squished suspects. some centurion probably started it with a chariot. i can tell you for a fact that the mounted police hurt you when they bump you and the scooter cops are good at it too.