I just watched the Virginia cops OC the Army LT video and I want to know what other law enforcement officers would have done. I a 160 pound officer in a very small town. I only have 2 years of experience and I feel that is a drop in the bucket compared to a lot of big CA city cops that have done my entire law enforcement activity in probably a month. Sometimes I am the only officer on in the entire country, which is the second largest county in the entire state (I learned very quickly to pick my battles, in reference to traffic stops, when I'm alone at night). I watched the video and wonder what I would do. The guy failed to yield 1.5 miles with the officers behind with him lights and sirens. They do a felony traffic stop, I would have done that too. By the time I finally got backup (a reserve waking up and coming to my location or a trooper coming from a neighboring county) and we approach the car and the driver won't get out but he has his hands out. This is where I don't know what I would do.
I have seen so many videos where officers get shot while wrestling to get a guy out of a car. So my thought is I want him to get out of the car by himself. So I can keep my gun on him in case he pops out with a gun. I feel it would be best for me to use OC as well, until it gets to the point he wants to get out of the car. I don't think I would have tazed him. Maybe a backup officer could have broken the passenger window and tazed him while I kept my gun on him? Do you think the officer in the video got fired for deploying the excessive amount of OC?
Thanks in advance for letting me pick your brains.
I have seen so many videos where officers get shot while wrestling to get a guy out of a car. So my thought is I want him to get out of the car by himself. So I can keep my gun on him in case he pops out with a gun. I feel it would be best for me to use OC as well, until it gets to the point he wants to get out of the car. I don't think I would have tazed him. Maybe a backup officer could have broken the passenger window and tazed him while I kept my gun on him? Do you think the officer in the video got fired for deploying the excessive amount of OC?
Thanks in advance for letting me pick your brains.
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