Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean (Border agent controvery)

[Eor]

I figure most people have heard of this, if they don't know the specific details.

I admit that I do not know much about it, but the basics of it are that those guy men were border agents, when they came upon an unarmed illegal immigrant. The immigrant ran, so the border agents fired 15 shots, then gave a false report about what happened. The two men were arrested for it and sentenced. The immigrant survived the shooting, was a drug smuggler, and was arrested shortly afterwards for drug trafficking. The main controversy is whether the guys should be in jail or not. More information elsewhere.

Personally, I think the guys should stay in jail. While the immigrant was fleeing, he was fleeing from a non-violent crime (drug trafficking). Compean said he thought the man had a gun and was going to shoot him, but the man was running as fast as he could away from his truck. They also said they didn't realize he was injured, but they shot him in the buttocks. I fail to see how two border agents could fail to see if they hit a man, especially since he was running. I think it was assault, and that they should stay in jail.

 

[lonejedi]

These cases are always interesting. I think that if they hadn't lied about what happened, they shouldn't be in jail. But because they tried to cover it up does make them sound very good in court.

I think you can't jump on these guys for shooting 15 shots at an illegal immigrant. What do you do? Chase him down, when he's already got a good head start. It was prob a knee jerk reaction, guy runs away, you try to stop him by shooting at him.

 

[Crimson King]

One shot to the knee will disable a human being. Also, this reminds me of after Katrina when this black man was surrounded by NOPD with a knife keeping them back. They fired something like 20 shots into him, killing him. Then, it turned out he was mentally ******** or something. 7 armed cops could get one disabling shot against a man with a knife? That's why I never trust the police.

 

[Jam Stunna]

A gun is not a weapon designed to disable someone. It is designed to kill. If you draw a gun on someone under any circumstances, you'd better be prepared to kill that person. Police officers, military personnel and others that handle firearms are trained to kill, and for good reason. If you want cops to disable suspects, re-train and re-arm them with Tasers.

That said, everyone involved in this case deserves to be in jail. A gun is not a toy, and they falsified the report. And obviously, the drug trafficker broke the law and was an illegal immigrant, so throw him in jail and then deport him.

 

[Crimson King]

That's bull****. You aim for the head - you are trying to kill them. You aim for the kneecap - you are trying to disable them. Guns are designed for defense as well as offense. Had the officers been honorable people, they would have simple shot him in the legs, making it impossible for him to run away.

Tasers have resulted in quite a few deaths recently, even in my small town a man was tased by police until his heart stopped.

 

[Jam Stunna]

Cops aren't trained to aim for legs. No one is. A gun is a killing instrument, plain and simple. The number of shots a cop fires is irrelevant, because when you draw a gun you should be trying to kill that person. The only pertinent question is whether or not they were justified to pull out their guns in the first place.

 

[DARKALONDITE]

Yes, they should go to prison. The fact that they fired on him when they could've given chase is beyond out of the question. Also, they only needed ONE shot to get him down. One shot from any gun should be enough to bring down a human being.

 

[Peeze]

Dont know if you've shot a gun before ck, but no matter how good a shot you are its alot easier to hit a moving(esp. a fast moving) target in a larger region of the body(back butt) than in a smaller(and moving!) part of the body legs. But they were probly rednecks and hate mexicans anyways and i doubt they were thinking disable, the fact they falsified information shows they arent trustworthy.

 

[Crimson King]

Dont know if you've shot a gun before ck, but no matter how good a shot you are its alot easier to hit a moving(esp. a fast moving) target in a larger region of the body(back butt) than in a smaller(and moving!) part of the body legs. But they were probly rednecks and hate mexicans anyways and i doubt they were thinking disable, the fact they falsified information shows they arent trustworthy.

You act like they aren't trained to shoot moving targets. In any reputable academy they have a whole test on shooting targets that move in different patterns.

 

[Peeze]

Yeah they hit the biggest part of the target, the bullseye, the center, not the smallest part of the target. Why are the target dummy's only covered in target paper from the chest up? Why do they not even have legs most times? No matter how good a shot you are nobody aims for the legs of a running target-despite what movies show.
The fact is they were trained to chase him down, not shoot an unarmed civilian.