Today I saw that CBS News ran this story in which on June 28 Houston police tracked down a burglary suspect in an open grassy area and supposedly an officer jumped from a police helicopter for the takedown. What the newsreader did not mention (although it was plainly visible in the video clip shown) was that before the takedown, an officer in a marked patrol unit (number K73) came at the suspect with the vehicle and sideswiped him with it.
What the CBS News video did not show (but this clip of raw feed does) is that seconds before the suspect was run down with a patrol unit, the police helicopter — the whole helicopter, not just an officer from inside it — was chasing him around the clearing at low altitude (like, a few-feet-off-the-ground low).
Now, I am not in law enforcement and I haven’t seen the entire encounter but nevertheless I am compelled to ask, is this particular employment of police assets and use of lethal force necessary to protect Houston from a burglary suspect? Is it a proportional response to risk crushing a suspect or julienning him with a tail rotor?
I guess when you consider that police officer is not the most dangerous job in the US (it’s not even in the top ten!), you can look at this video and get some idea why; the risk is easily transferred to the suspect. On top of everything else, notice that after the bald cop finally gets up his courage to get out of “Christine” there, he begins his assistance to the helmeted officer with his right foot?
Just what were we supposed to get from this story, CBS News? That the cop from the chopper is some kind of action-movie hero? You edited out the part where the suspect, then slowed down to a jog, comes within about 25 feet from the stopped SUV that had just struck him sixteen seconds before as the SUV driver’s door briefly opens and closes.