So what do you think about the Mario Valencia case out in Arizona?
The guy stole a rifle and walked in the street brandishing it and then shot it in the air. So a police vehicle accelerated and hit him from behind, disarming him but not harming him much.
I think that here the cop was totally justified and acted in a commendable way.
Stores that have rifles lying about in a way that makes it easy to steal them, though, weird me out.
Was this a personal rifle of the store owner or just a random rifle for sale? Because if it’s the latter, why the hell was he able to steal a rifle and then load it within minutes?
Oh wait: Walmart is stupid and has more security for DVDs than guns and ammo
Thankfully nobody else was on the sidewalk or in the police officer’s way, it could have easily been much worse.
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I’m an Arizona resident, and I have mixed feelings on this situation, based on the incomplete video currently available online. Since you asked what I “think,” as opposed in an objective analysis, here goes:
On the one hand, the cop did a good job of taking the deranged criminal down quickly without seriously hurting him , when he could have legally shot him (failure to drop a weapon when ordered, endangering civilians by shooting into the air, etc.).
On the other hand, the cop wasn’t acting in coordination with the other officers on the scene (who repeatedly and frantically told him to show caution), and ramming his car into a wall at high speed, apparently accidentally, was foolhardy. The cop could have been seriously injured, or worse.
So the the manner in which this was accomplished was questionable, but the final outcome was good. All’s well that ends well, right?
TRUE RELATED STORY: Back in the 1990’s, an Arizona policeman was successfully sued by a criminal because the cop subdued the armed suspect by striking him with the side of his gun (not allowed) instead of shooting him with it (proper procedure).
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“Back in the 1990’s, an Arizona policeman was successfully sued by a criminal because the cop subdued the armed suspect by striking him with the side of his gun (not allowed) instead of shooting him with it (proper procedure).”
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“Stores that have rifles lying about in a way that makes it easy to steal them, though, weird me out.”
The news reports don’t say how the criminal stole the weapon. I’ve never seen a store in Arizona — or any other state — where visible for-sale weapons weren’t securely locked down. A customer would have to smash through glass or cut through metal to get to them.
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