Cop carnage in the wake of new limits on police use of force

When Chicago's police superintendent, Eddie Johnson, announced new regulations on the use of deadly force May 17, it was widely applauded as a step forward for a department under siege.  The New York Times reported:

Chicago officials, and even some longtime skeptics of the department, hailed the new regulations as a sign that the police here are improving even though federal scrutiny of the department has eased since President Trump was inaugurated.

But one aspect was not well received among the rank-and-filers who blog at Second City Cop.  The Chicago Sun-Times explains:

Supt. Eddie Johnson touched on the possibility of an officer being injured by a vehicle.

"If a vehicle is coming at an officer and that's the only threat of force, the officer can get out of the way of it," Johnson said. "If someone is firing a handgun out of a vehicle, then the officer is authorized to use deadly force."

So officers are prevented from firing their guns at a vehicle attempting to run them down.  It is not always possible to get out of the way, obviously.  And the perps know it.  Thus, as Second City Cop reports:

So on 21 May, we had this:

  • A Chicago police officer was run down by the driver of a stolen SUV. 

    It happened just before midnight at Odgen and Trumbull. The officer was approaching the vehicle on foot when the driver hit the gas and knocked him down.

The very next day:

  • A Chicago police officer was injured after being struck by a car speeding away from an attempted traffic stop Tuesday evening, police said.

    Officers attempted to perform a traffic stop in the 100 block of East 75th Street in the city's Park Manor neighborhood about 5:02 p.m., police said. The vehicle officers were pulling over struck an officer as it fled the area, police said, and a person is in custody.

And the day after that - yesterday:

  • A person was shot by Chicago Police after an officer was pinned by a vehicle Wednesday morning in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side.

    The incident happened at 11:15 a.m. in the 1600 block of North Leclaire Avenue.

The damage to the pinned Officer's leg is said to be "severe."

It cannot be a good thing that Chicago's street cops are being mown down by perps who know they can't be stopped by gunfire.  Yes, Chicago has had bad problems, according to the Lynch Justice Department.  But the only rational response of cops is to back off from situations where the suspects are armed with cars.  And that immunity will escalate crime, inevitably.

Hat tip: Peter von Buol

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