‘Shoot Him!’ Citizens Yell At Officers to Shoot Out of Control SUV Driver

Officers risked their lives to attempt to capture an out of control SUV driver on a New York street.

Ida Siegal and Ray Villeda with NBC New York Report:

Police said the chase began in the area of Broadway and 173rd Street in Washington Heights, when officers tried to stop a 2003 Land Rover after it made an illegal right turn onto Wadsworth. The SUV fled, heading into Inwood and going the wrong way down Henshaw Street, which is a one-way street.

Video shows the SUV pausing briefly after crashing into the NYPD patrol car, and officers run to the vehicle and begin smashing the windows. They pull their guns out, demanding the driver stop and get out.

But the driver takes off again, crashing into a taxi. The SUV reverses wildly down the street, taking out parts of several parked cars along the way. The driver then takes off again, speeding up the street and smashing more cars along the way.

Bystanders on the street scream “Shoot him!” to the officers, the video shows.

The suspect was indeed endangering lives in the area and the officers would have been legally justified in shooting the suspect. This is just one example of officers not using deadly force when they are legally justified to do so. Officers have to use their judgement in these rapidly evolving situations, and officers rarely use deadly force just because it’s legally justified.

The involved officers used their on-the-spot judgement to decide they thought that saving the life of the suspect was worth the personal risk to their own lives.

The 35 year-old suspect was later captured and charged with reckless endangerment, aggravated unlicensed operation, leaving the scene of an accident, resisting arrest and criminal possession of a controlled substance.

The bystander who took the video is expected to escape charges for failing to turn his phone 90 degrees, as it’s not yet a crime in New York.