Quote:
Originally Posted by copeab
I can't blame the cops for this one. It's not like part of their training should have been on how to disable a tank.
Now, I'm sure men from the National Guard could have known how to do this, but there are legal issues in using them.
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There are a lot of stories floating around the NG about various NG officers/NCOs calling the CHiPs and telling them how to disable the tank by doing just that. Wouldn't have required the NG to physically do it, just tell a cop what to do...and don't forget the cops knew enough to use a hammer to pop the loader's vison block hatch and reach in to open the hatch...they listened to at least some of what they were told...
Don't get me wrong,
IF the police were convinced that he posed harm, then they had every right to do so....but this was a NG tank that means no ammunition, no crew-served weapons, no firing pin for the main gun, it was also straddling a highway barricade...the tank wasn't going anywhere else that day. IIRC they had to use two cranes to get the tank off of the barriers, it wasn't going to do it on its own.
As for the cops not having tear gas available....look at the news footage, there were at least three officers running around with tear gas launchers.
And there is this to consider as well, the tank driver has been accused of being mentally incomptent...my own opinion is that if he was not responsible for his own actions, then empting a 9mm into him was excessive.