Best Reason Yet for Driving a Bulky SUV: You Might Stand a Better Chance of Surviving if the Cops Open Fire on You for No Reason

February 8th, 2009

Via: Californian:

Police opened fire on an unarmed couple during a routine traffic stop late Tuesday night because one officer “thought he was shot,” a high-ranking Salinas Police Department official said Thursday.

“He saw what he perceived as a threat and thought he was shot, and based on that both officers discharged their firearms,” said Dino Bardoni, commander of investigations.

No one was hurt in the 11:24 p.m. incident at North Sanborn Road and Freedom Parkway, but the couple’s SUV was riddled with bullet holes and its rear window was shattered.

Police are releasing few details about the incident or case and have characterized it as a “priority investigation,” Bardoni said.

It’s the fourth officer-involved shooting in the city in the past seven months, two of which were fatal.

Interim Police Chief Daniel Ortega refused to discuss the most recent case, referring all questions to Bardoni.

Bardoni said the incident began when one officer stopped the vehicle because one of its license plate lights was not working. He was joined shortly thereafter by a second officer.

Bardoni said the primary officer was in the midst of contacting the vehicle’s occupants, a driver and passenger, when the problem began.

“He was walking up to them, nothing out of the ordinary,” Bardoni said, when there was the perception of a threat and the officer thought he’d been shot.

Police later determined that the couple was unarmed.

Neither of the vehicle’s occupants was arrested or cited.

The couple, Adrianna Velasquez and Julio Fernandez, could not be reached for comment.

2 Responses to “Best Reason Yet for Driving a Bulky SUV: You Might Stand a Better Chance of Surviving if the Cops Open Fire on You for No Reason”

  1. Larry Glick says:

    We’re going to be seeing a lot more of this sort of thing as thousands of military personnel return from Iraq and Afghanistan and seek employment in law enforcement. Our cops are trigger-happy to being with in this country. When you start filling their ranks with battle-hardened ex-GI’s who have had to develop a “them vs. us” mentality just to survice, well, you can see my point. More and more routine traffic stops are going to be turned into opportunities for cops to fire their semi-auto pistols with high capacity magazines at anyone that they might perceive as a threat or uncooperative.

  2. tm says:

    “We’re going to be seeing a lot more of this sort of thing as thousands of military personnel return from Iraq and Afghanistan and seek employment in law enforcement.”

    And I predict there are going to be a lot more cops getting shot by an increasingly armed public if they do…

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