Tulsa LEO takes out shooter in highway traffic

[blues]

Yeah he stopped the threat. Fucking hero. Till he tags one of your relatives pulling shit like that.

We're not in Iraq.

Might as well have been. How many more casualties would have been acceptable?

Sometimes I think you argue just for the sake of it. The officer did what needed doing and he did it as well, or better, than anyone could have expected under the circumstances.

[blues]

double tap

[John Hearne]

You guys go ahead and clap for him. I'm not that impressed in his decisions.

The suspect was actively shooting at innocents. Had he not fired, the suspect would have continued shooting at innocents. Had he not engaged, the suspect could have killed someone’s loved one.

We’ve got to stop the MMQB based on utopian solutions. To quote Thomas Sowell - There are no solutions, only trade offs.

This is a great/horrible example of contemporary law enforcement. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

[Trooper224]

Certified badass right there. As someone in the UOF thread pointed out, Tulsa PD’s Officers tend to be squared away.

They need to be. Tulsa's a shit hole.

[Lester Polfus]

At my agency, we placed a premium on not endangering bystanders with our own gunfire. This was a thread that ran through all our static and con-sim training.

One discussion we had from time to time was that this was not a black and white decision, particularly when it came to active shooters who were engaged in mowing down the public. In some place like a crowded shopping mall, you aren't ever really going to have a "safe backdrop" and are going to constantly have to assess your ability to put a bullet through a narrow window in space and time.

I think that's exactly what this guy did. One thing to keep in mind is that the body camera only provides a portion of what the officer was able to see and assess.

If my wife and kid are ever stuck on a freeway with an active shooter, I hope somebody like that officer shows up.

[HCM]

I went back and watched it again. 6:34...what in the actual fuck is he doing shooting across an entire six lane road damn near at vehicle level with traffic flowing in both directions?

If the guy in the pickup approaching from the left hadn't stopped I bet he would have gotten tagged by a bullet.

You guys go ahead and clap for him. I'm not that impressed in his decisions.

He made a judgement call based on his knowledge, skills and abilities and it turned out right.

I have plenty of co-workers who could not make that shot. That doesn’t mean the ones who can should never do so in similar circumstances.

The real world is not black and white. It is gray. I would expect a former naval officer to comprehend that.

[Alpha Sierra]

Nope, we're not in Iraq, and LEOs have to make shoot/no-shoot decisions all the time when there's other persons in the area. Unfortunately this is a reality of domestic policing, as police are frequently required to discharge their weapons in an environment with other persons around, especially in active shooter situations. Many times, it's simply unavoidable. We simply can't wish away the threat, and at the same time we simply can't wish ourselves away onto a square range devoid of distractions and no-shoots.

As it turns out, he didn't fire when it was unsafe to do so. He fired when it was safe to do so, in a very demanding situation.

Another officer may have not been prepared for that particular shooting situation; but he was and he made the right call.

I don't disagree with any of that. And I understand all of it. I think there's a difference between having to shoot around bystanders and right through them.

I hope this is a case of the camera showing a distorted angle of what the eyes see.

[HCM]

On another note, this officer’s performance is a great example of “emotional control” during action.

[Lester Polfus]

On another note, this officer’s performance is a great example of “emotional control” during action.

I agree, and that is a big factor that led to me concluding that he probably assessed the risk, determined he had a window and took the shot, as opposed to somebody who got tunnel vision, shot across a freeway and got lucky.

[psalms144.1]

My only nitpick is drive the car when you're driving the car. Everything else was at or near perfection.

Note how traffic acted. He was in more danger from the inattentive idiot motorists than the gunman for most of that encounter. That's an important thing to remember when tunnel vision and auditory exclusion has kicked in.

+1 on both points. I hate to see a driver do anything but drive until driving ia=s not an option. But, that guy has HUGE balls to run out into traffic like that...

I can only pray I'd be half as competent and professional as this officer after a "hold my coffee" comment...