Welcome back warriors, today’s blog I would like to go over a video from one of my favorite cop movies. Even though this is a movie we can still learn a lot from this, with the help of me explaining a few things that is.
I pulled this scene because it is a good shoot or don’t shoot scenario. We start with the hero cop chasing the villainous criminal down an embankment into a canal. A few things to point out he has no communication with back up, thus making this foot pursuit that much more dangerous. Also the criminal he is chasing committed a murder of an off duty police officer while committing a bank robbery. So we know this is a very dangerous suspect. So as our hero cop comes to the canal wall which is about 7′ to 8′ feet high roughly, he jumps off it re-injuring his knee. And thus effectively ending his foot chase. Now if I had a pre exciting knee injury instead of going straight off the canal wall I would try a hanging drop. Yes, it will cost you a precious second or two but you would still be in the chase. So at this point, he is out of the chase so he draws his weapon and takes aim at the suspect. So I ask you at this point is deadly force authorized? Well, I am going to agree at this point with our hero cop who chose not to shoot the suspect. And here is why. To start with at this point the suspect appears to be unarmed. That’s a big one in a shoot or don’t shoot situation. Also, he is running away from you not towards you where he can cause you bodily harm. So if you did shoot him, you would end up shooting him in the back. That’s another tough one to explain. So in my opinion, our hero made the correct choice there.
So let’s talk about weapon handling. So our hero cop is very upset that he has let the villain get away. So upset that in a fit of rage he unloads his magazine into the air. Yikes! This is bad. And allow me to tell you why. So let’s talk about this tactically. You are immobilized due to your knee injury and just wasted what could be all your ammunition. Like really wasted it for no reason. So if the suspect or one of his friends happen upon you, it could turn into a very bad situation. So that was one example of why you just don’t waste your bullets. My other example of why it is bad to just randomly fire rounds into the air has to do with the laws of motion. Those bullets left that gun at a very high rate of speed! Guess what? Those same bullets are also going to return to the earth at a very high rate of speed as well. That means some poor kid or mother or any other innocent person has a chance of having a very bad day. Just because you cant practice basic gun safety. But luckily this was just a movie and no kids were accidentally shot by stray bullets from our hero’s gun.
Well, this will wrap up today’s blog, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please feel free to comment or ask questions. And as always stay safe out there.
