Another Murder by Police

image from Miriam Carey's Facebook page
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Carey, who has a history of mental instability,  was driving her Lexus in a threatening way, hitting a barrier at one point. But Capitol Hill  is set up to protect the people who work there. There are blockades everywhere, which prevent a car from doing any damage. The Secret service reported that she'd only gone near an "outer perimeter," suggesting that she hadn't really endangered people on Capitol Hill. 

The woman did not fire any shots. She wasn't carrying a weapon. Yet she was shot dead. 

There's no doubt she was out of control. She hit a Capitol police officer at one point, then hurt another officer when she hit a car he was driving. Was that enough reason to kill her?

I haven't seen any of the mainstream media asking whether this was the right thing to do. 

I haven't heard anyone asking who gave the orders to shoot to kill. 

I haven't heard anyone ask what efforts were made to determine whether there were any other passengers, let alone a one year old child, in the car. 

Today we live in a police state, where the police, every day, get away with crimes, get away with killing people, usually poor, often black. 

What would have happened  if instead of shooting Ms. Carey, if a few more police cars were used to block and stop her. It might have cost a few thousand, maybe ten or twenty thousand dollars in repair costs. Instead of shooting her, they could have shot out her tires. 

Perhaps it WAS necessary to shoot her to stop her. I don't know. But I am asking these questions because they need to be asked. Killing a suspect should be the police's last resort. 

A daughter would still have her mother. 

Every officer who shot at that woman should be taken off the job and investigated. If an officer gave the order allowing shooting, that officer should be investigated. Marks should be permanently put on these people's records so they are held back from jobs that require life-or-death decisions. 

This kind of killing raises the risk of more of the same-- killings by police and killings by people who carry guns.