Raising The Boom


A stolen crane and a slow speed police chase left over 200 people without power late Wednesday/early Thursday in a California town. The damage was due to the suspect raising the boom on the crane during the chase. Interestingly police do not believe drugs or alcohol were involved.
     Posted By: Alex - Fri Apr 06, 2012
     Category:





Comments
No drugs or alcohol?? I wonder what his motivation was. I am sure it will come out during the trial.
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 04/06/12 at 09:44 PM
Stupidity needs no drugs.
Posted by Baughbe on 04/06/12 at 10:00 PM
20MPH "chase", really!?! What an oxymoron!

So, no bullets in their guns? Why do hundreds of people need to be put out (lose food, etc) because the cops won't control the situation?
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 04/06/12 at 10:47 PM
So, no bullets in their guns? eah, shoot the SOB for stealing a vehicle. Serves him right, we were without power for a whole 6 hours.
Posted by Willy on 04/07/12 at 02:52 AM
1) the dude stole a major chuck of valuable vehicle
2) he did not pull over when told to do so
3) he tied up police (and probably emergency & fire) resources
4) he destroyed property
5) he caused the destruction of personal property (food, etc)
6) he was a deadly menace to others
7) 10 to 1 he'll need a public defender (tax payers' dime again)
8) now he's going to cost the tax payers $40k a year for incarceration

Anything I missed?
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 04/07/12 at 04:20 AM
No, you seem to have gotten it all. Man doesn´t deserve to be shot in the back of the head like the Chinese do. I know, we can sting him up from one of the power poles they had to replace. That way we can all watch, kinda like the Nazis used to do when they owned Greece.
Posted by Willy on 04/07/12 at 08:11 AM
Well, I'm glad I got them all. As far as public executions go, I'm all for those too. The death penalty not being a deterrent is a load of crap.

As far as the Nazi crack goes,
a) I'm not Greek
b) I wasn't even born yet
c) I don't believe our (US) cops should be painted with that brush
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 04/07/12 at 08:54 AM
No you´re just a redneck that doesn´t live in the States anymore but still feels he has to tell everyone "back home" how they should do things.
Posted by Willy on 04/07/12 at 09:02 AM
Yup, you got it! Kind'a makes me want to tell kids that they shouldn't be able to have a toy with their happy meal.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 04/07/12 at 09:07 AM
Expat protected our freedoms by serving in the US Navy, what have you done besides defending the rights of criminals in an inappropriate forum. Take that crap to Huffington Post or MSNBC's websites where it belongs Willy.
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 04/07/12 at 11:29 AM
U S Navy, 3 years, 11 months, 2 days. Pearl Harbor.
Posted by Willy on 04/07/12 at 12:15 PM
USS Shangri La CVA38
3 Med Cruises
15 years supporting our troops on this end of the pond.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 04/07/12 at 12:17 PM
FOCCPAC
Posted by Willy on 04/07/12 at 12:44 PM
In fairness to the cops, they can't gun a guy down for ripping off a crane and lumbering down the highway with it, no matter how ticked people might be; there was no indication in the story that he was an immediate threat to people's safety, so there is no justification for taking lethal action. There is no easy safe way to quickly stop a crane. Dude probably has mental health issues, but that isn't grounds to execute him.
Posted by Harvey on 04/07/12 at 04:32 PM
As much as I hate to get in the middle of a flame war, the police cannot be faulted for not firing on the driver.

1. Even at close distances and at speeds of 20 mph, it's difficult for anyone in a moving vehicle to hit a driver of another moving vehicle. In a firing stance under ideal conditions, police (and everyone outside an action movie) have a hard time hitting a human target (check statistics of police shootings if you doubt it). Even a single stray bullet could do more damage than having to replace a few dozen pot roasts.

2. Firing on a driver who has made no overtly dangerous moves to others will change his mindset from thinking he's a regular hoot into becoming a deadly threat. He didn't seem to be a careful driver as it was but opening fire would make him willing to roll over a bus full of nuns holding babies to get away.

3. Under normal situations, even an idiot like this driver wouldn't use the crane as a weapon against police. Start shooting and if he's cornered, he's liable to give it a try. Again nobody likes spoiled food but it's better than dead cops.

4. Finally what would happen if they did shoot and kill the driver? The crane doesn't operate from the driver's life force--it wouldn't just turn off when he died. If the dead driver slumped forward, the crane could roll through a hospital before police could stop it. Better an idiot than no driver at all.

Police don't refrain from using lethal force because they're lazy or cowardly. It's sad that 200 people had to reset their alarm clocks and throw out spoiled cheese but, unless there's more to this situation, the police did the best possible job they could and should not be insulted for their efforts.
Posted by Mark on 04/07/12 at 07:43 PM
So, what you're saying is that our cops need more fire power 'cause what they've got can't do the job.

One of these would help:
http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/9105/minigun2bb3.jpg

Or this would be better yet! Blue lights already installed.
http://www.gmcpedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/gatlinggun-sml.jpg

But, for the ultimate, we need to wait a bit.
http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Ss/0093870/Robocop_PUB05.jpg

Happy Easter, y'all.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 04/08/12 at 12:57 AM
Happy Easter to you, too, ExPat!
Posted by TheCannyScot in Atlanta, GA on 04/08/12 at 01:11 AM
Thanks but not yet, Scotty. It's Palm Sunday around here. You heathens are using the wrong calendar.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 04/08/12 at 01:16 AM
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