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Swatting out of hand?


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Source? I may well be wrong about this.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/nyregion/unarmed-man-is-charged-with-wounding-bystanders-shot-by-police-near-times-square.html?_r=0

 

The law is tricky business. As I said before, I've found no case law regarding cases like these, so I have no idea how the judge and juries will rule regarding the charges. It's quite possible the charges could be dropped, or the defendant's found not guilty of the charges. It may very well set the precedent for future cases like this, if the precedent isn't set already. They must have presented a very compelling case to the Grand Jury to return an indictment, I think any good defense attorney could argue incompetence on part of the police officers' actions, and may very well be right.

Edited by Policefreak55
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I'm seeing a lot of misguided statements regarding this law. This may vary by state but in my (former) state if you commit a crime anything that happens during the commission of that crime is your responsibility regardless of your role or intent while committing the crime. A popular one used as an example is a guy goes into convience store and robs the owner and in the commission of the robbery the gunman shoots and kills the clerk the getaway driver who was sitting outside waiting will also be charged with murder even if he had no idea the clerk would be shot, he willingly participated in the crime so he is charged as well.

 

If this were a true story (I'm pretty sure everyone knows its fake by now) then the kid could be charged with anything that happened during that raid, including the father being shot by police because he caused that raid to happen. It doesn't matter if he didn't intend for anyone to get hurt or if he was just doing it as a prank he is responsible for anything that happens. I see someone has posted the article about the Orlando man who is being charged with the murder of a woman after a stray police bullet hit the lady who was a bystander. This is a perfect example of this law, he was committing a crime and in the process the police accidentally shot and killed a woman. This would not have happened if the suspect had not been committing the crime therefor he is liable for anything that happens while he is committing the crime. This is pretty much identical to the case law that says if a suspect injures or kills someone during a police pursuit the police are not liable for those injuries/deaths, the suspect is because if the suspect had not fled the police in the first place none of that would have happened.

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There have been a few cases of swatting here in Connecticut and the police response was massive. The resources that are tied up on a prank are ridiculous, I think the person behind it when caught should have to pay back the cost of assembling the swat teams . Because they are on call so many of them could have been off-duty when the call went out and may have to be paid overtime. Plus I believe they should get a strict punishment , not sure how many years maybe 5-10 years.

Edited by gatekeeper
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