AZ Teenager (14) Shot By Police Following Bulldozer Chase

[ConfuZed]

June 3, 2005 9:54 a.m. EST

Jasen K Lee - All Headline News Staff Reporter

Tucson, AZ (AHN) – A 15-year old boy -- who led police on a 15-mile chase in a bulldozer -- is hospitalized in critical condition after being shot by officers.

Authorities say officers fired as the suspect drove the vehicle toward them in a residential neighborhood.

Tucson Assistant Police Chief Kermit Miller says the boy allegedly stole the Caterpillar tractor from a construction site.

Officials say the theft apparently occurred late Thursday evening when authorities became aware of local power outages. Tucson authorities say the suspect knocked down utility poles as he drove through eastside neighborhoods, reaching speeds of up to 30 mile an...<More>

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/2235613764

[indy_azcat]

1. video clip

from the daily star:
http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/dailystar/78134.php

That's no bulldozer - that thing's friggin huuuge!

:wow:

[pocket]

2. They should have called in an A-10

from nearby Davis-Monthan :)

[indy_azcat]

3. or one of these

Google maps are nifty... and scary too...

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=32.166864,-110.855001&spn=0.005761,0.007832&t=k&hl=en

[Voltaire99]

4. Why shoot him?

From CNN, on why the cops fired:

"We're assuming he was going to go over the vehicles in the roadway with the officers in them," Miller said.

Maybe sitting in the cars at the barricade wasn't such a bright idea.

Why not drive alongside it, jump aboard, and pull him off? The bloody thing tops out at 30 mph.

The answer, of course, is that property reigns supreme in the land of the balance sheet. And once this deranged boy had done sufficient damage to holy property, his life was forfeit.

Such is frontier justice.

[jayfish]

5. My Thoughts Exactly. -NT-

Jay

[Massacure]

6. Jumping off something moving at 30 mph doesn't seem too smart to me.

Besides, assuming you matched speeds, what if you slipped and fell? That officer would be in trouble.

I'd probably try to get a 50 caliber gun and shoot at the engine to stop it. The boy doesn't deserve to be shot, but officers shouldn't be trying to jump between things moving at 30 mph.

[CarinKaryn]

7. Sure,just shooting the boy is a better idea

[Massacure]

9. Do you not read beyond my fricken title?

[ucmike]

8. the answer is because they're cops and this is real life

not macgyver. why risk a cop being crushed to death beneath tons of construction equipment. maybe shooting him was heavy handed, but that machine is no joke and the possibility of some innocent person being killed is very real.

the kid was armed with tons of diesel powered weaponry, same as if he was waving a gun at people.

and it was arizona. shooting is always an option.

on edit: why defend a maniac who took a bulldozer and began destroying a neighborhood? should the police just follow him around at a safe distance as he trashes neighborhoods and threatens lives? it would only take a few seconds to destroy a row of houses with a bulldozer, and the people inside could have died knowing that at least the police didn't shoot anybody.

in my world, when you climb into stolen construction equipment and start tearing up your town with the police in hot pursuit you have pretty much sealed your own fate.

[MisterP]

10. authoritarianism on A's part does not indicate deservment on B's