Wow!
I never gave this issue much of a thought when I saw this video while it was still on youtube.
After viewing all these points, here is what I'm taking away from it.
This is in no way trashing or belittling anyone for their view point.
Do I think that criminals deserve a trial?
Yes.
If you catch them, by all means give them a trial.
Do I think that after a trial where the thief is convicted of theft that he deserves the death penalty?
No.
But, in this case it appears that the officer watched the gun being pulled and stuck in the face of the bike owner.
By doing this the criminal threatened the use of deadly force in the commission of a crime.
So, does the officer approach the criminal and ask him to stop and give up his weapon?
It's about risk.
The video isn't clear enough to say whether or not the officer told the criminal to stop.
I don't think he did.
It looks like he got out of his car and shot the thief.
Does the officer risk his life when clearly the criminal has little regard for the life of others?
What would you do, give the criminal a chance to pull his weapon and shoot you in the face?
Hmmmm.
Have you ever been shot at?
Have you heard the whizzing sound of a bullet flying past your person and the thwack sound it makes when it hits something right next to you?
Trust me when I say that it's a real wake up call.
So, if you were the officer, would you risk it?
Its a on the spot judgement call that I couldn't fault the officer over.
Remember, this wasn't in the US and different countries view legal matters slightly different.
Even here in the US, different states have different view points on that subject.
I have no idea what the laws are like in Brazil but, the murder rate is roughly 4 times higher then what it is in the US.
Other crimes are also similarly high.
Critical times do at times call for critical actions.
Apparently that officer didn't want to become another death statistic.
We have the luxury in this country of endless debates, trials with attorneys paid for by the state, with jurists of our peers.
Countries like Brazil where the average person makes about 13,000 per year don't have the resources for our style of legal justice.
As pointed out, the officer didn't give any first aid.
Some were upset by this and I understand their viewpoint.
But consider this.
The officer has a duty to protect the public and himself first.
Since the officer saw the crime take place he also saw that there was more then one criminal.
If he stops to give first aid without being in control of the crime scene he takes the risk of having one of the criminals return and potentially killing him or more innocent bystanders.
Also, we tend to think about how our officers are trained in the US.
Again this didn't take place in the US and we don't know what level of first responder training the first officer or any others that showed up had.
Perhaps he does the wrong thing and does more harm then good, then what?
Is the officer or his department in trouble?
Keeping both sides in mind think about this.
If that was your Child, Father, Brother, Sister, Mother, or your friend, being robbed at gun point and you saw it happen, how would you feel?
Your family's life being worth so little to the criminal that he would threaten them for some temporary monetary gain.
You can make some more money, but that life once extinguished, it's gone.
How would you feel?
I know how I would feel.
Again, I believe that criminals deserve a trial and certainly not a death sentence for theft.
But if in the commission of the crime if the gun wielding thief gets injured or even killed, who is really at fault?
We can blame the guy who owned the bike.
We can blame the officer.
We can blame the people responsible for the officers training.
We can blame the law makers in that country.
We can blame the gun manufacture.
We can blame the driver of the motorcycle that gave the criminal a ride.
We can even blame the motorcycle manufactures.
But, when you boil it all down and eliminate all but the relevant issues, what do you have?
A criminal got shot and died because he threatened to end a life of a innocent man in the commission of a crime.
While I don't like the outcome I can live with it.
Now can someone think of some cool thing to do to your bike and post it so I can copy it?
