Cop shoots/kills guy stealing her personal car

[Frandy]

I'm going to follow this one. No word yet whether he had a gun or not. If not, she's gonna be in some pickle of a mess!

http://www.wral.com/news/4906724/detail.html


WRAL.com

Raleigh Police Officer Placed On Desk Duty After Deadly Shooting
SBI, Internal Affairs Conducting Investigations

POSTED: 1:17 pm EDT August 28, 2005
UPDATED: 7:23 am EDT August 29, 2005

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The State Bureau of Investigation is investigating a deadly shooting involving a Raleigh police officer.

Raleigh police said Michelle Peele was working off-duty as a security guard at the La Rosa Linda's restaurant on New Bern Avenue Sunday morning when she spotted a person stealing her personal car at about 1 a.m.

Peele confronted the suspect and fired one shot, which hit the man, police said. Police have identified the man as 42-year-old Nyles Arrington.

Police said Arrington then drove Peele's vehicle across New Bern Avenue, struck a parked vehicle, drove back across New Bern Avenue and stopped in the median.

Arrington was transported to WakeMed, where he was pronounced dead.

WRAL asked a spokesman with the Raleigh Police Department if the suspect was armed. The spokesman said the SBI, in accordance with department policy, is conducting an investigation into the incident.

The department's Internal Affairs Unit also will conduct an investigation. Police will submit a report about the shooting to the city manager within five days.

Peele, who has been with the department since June 1999, has been placed on administrative duties, which is customary in cases such as this, police said. So far, no charges have been filed.

 

[scubie02]

you know, I wouldn't have a problem with that...as long as it worked the same way for me. Once upon a time, we strung people up for stealing your horse, right?

Its funny how the mimdset has changed. A friend of mine who lives way in the sticks recently got a call from his insuarance that they were going to cancel his homeowners policy--get this--because he had "too many dogs and horses". !?! In addition to a couple of indoor dogs he keeps a pack of hunting dogs in pens (both an enclosed inner part and an outer penned area) and he has 3 or 4 horses. The insurance guy said something about what if somebody cam eonto his property, tried to ride one of his horses, and got thrown and hurt or something. Then he'd be liable, and his insurance would have to pay, and we couldn't have that. Well, how messed up have things become where somebodt coes onto YOUR property without permission, tries to ride YOUR horse, hurts themself, and its YOUR fault! The first thing I said was "once upon a time you could have strung them up for messing with your horse, now you're paying them..."

 

[El Tejon]

She should have called the police and left the job up to professionals.

 

[CentralTexas]

His hands probably were at 10 and 2

so he wasn't holding a weapon. In all these cases he attempted to murder the officer as soon as he put the car in drive. Don't you watch "COPS"???
Overall that's what a horse thief should get.
CT

 

[Preacherman]

Hmmm... if she shot him after midnight, does that mean he turned into a pumpkin?

 

[The Freeholder]

Ah, according to what I learned in my NC concealed carry class, the officer is WRONG. You can not employ deadly force in NC to stop a property crime (shame, that).

It's possible he was trying to hit her with the car, but you can't tell from the article. It seems that most/all the driving occured after the shot, from my read.

It'll be interesting to see the facts and what is made of this.

 

[Legionnaire]

Whatever else might be said, I'm impressed by this officer's marksmanship. After reading stories of officers shooting ninety rounds or somesuch and hitting the mark, what, six times (?) it sounds like this particular officer remembered her fundamentals: front sight; smooth press; clean break; follow through. No mention of the range involved (how close was the "confrontation?") or whether Arrington was already in the car or not. But one shot? That's good shooting.

 

[Geno]

Dodge City

In Michigan I can NOT use deadly force to stop someone from stealing my car...why can cops? Or can they? Or should they?

In my mind, when cops are off-duty...they're off duty. This business of the war on terror and all cops carrying at all times, and always on-duty is just an excuse for taking us to a "Police State". This country is going out-of-control. We have security guards killing people for allegedly stealing diapers; cops shooting people for allegedly stealing cars; and yet other cops standing on the sidelines and watching us get our brains stomped out onto the pavement while they do NOTHING!

For years, America has held educators under the public looking glass for alleged incompetence. Now we have higher than ever standards. Progress there is being made. I think it's high time to have national standards for police. Require at least a B.S./B.A.; a minimum GPA of 3.0 or higher; required to pass state exams. with a score of 95% or higher. Then, they should have to complete at least 6 Grad. Hrs. every 5 years and serve at least 4 years employment probation. Those were the standards for me to be an educator. Why, would we permit any less for some gun-toting "pumpkin-head" who wants to play "cow-girl" and shoot-‘em-up at the O'Kay Corral...all when she's "off duty"?

Personally, I hope she gets busted, demoted and prosecuted. I hope her "invaluable car" was worth more, even smashed up, than this poor dead man's life was of value to his family. Hope his family can somehow find a means to survive off of what they will get in a lawsuit against her and the restaurant that made the mistake of hiring her.

Doc2005

 

[kbr80]

If not, she's gonna be in some pickle of a mess!

She needs to be charged with murder, that what would happen if I did this.

 

[MudPuppy]

It's possible he was trying to hit her with the car

I PROMISE you that's what was happening.

Sidenote, the link had 15 other headlines--6 of which were shooting/gun related (at the time I looked).

 

[HankB]

Grand theft auto at 1:00 AM . . . bad guy shot dead . . . if this had happened in Texas, (most likely) no problem.

 

[XLMiguel]

Gee, Doc, while I agree in principle that we should try to get the best people possible in public service, the criteria you advocate would severly limit the candidate pool and price the remainder beyond the pale of most municipal/county budgets, probably cutting the force by 2/3 in the process. Are you willing to pay rookie patrolpersons $45-50K to start and subsidize the continuing education and monitoring program? Then again, you'd have to significantly re-engineer the job to make it attractive to folks with those kind of credentials (do you deal with the public in your line of work?).

As far as the "poor dead man", I think you've got it backwards - he isn't the victim - he's a @#^%^@#$ thief, a decidedly risky occupation (more so than even police work ) with some severe downsides when caught. We don't know all the details, so I can't really say if it was a good shoot 'legally', but from a justice standpoint, he got what thieves deserve, perhaps in abundance (but his choice to do the deed and assume the risks), and I have little sympathy for him, what makes you think his actions were somehow excusable? What part of "thou shall not steal" did you miss? And why do you think some scumbag has the 'right' to do a felony crime on someone's property and then have his family sue if he gets hurt/killed in the ptrocess?

 

[bcochran]

express an opinion

Push the appropriate rant button:

1. complaints about bgs

2. complaints about police

3. complaints about women

4. complaints about having to work

 

[Rockstar]

I'm glad Nyles is dead. Hope the cop isn't charged; if she is, I guarantee you her defense won't be that she was trying to stop the guy from stealing her car.

In my jurisdiction, a reasonable person would have to assume that anybody stealing a car must be armed, unless, of course, you could see the perp's hands at every moment during the "transaction".

 

[John Deere]

Careful there Doc, when you lean that far to the left, your skirt rides up and exposes your bleeding heart.
Here`s a revolutionary concept for you to ponder, if you don`t want to get shot, don`t steal!
Hmmm, there was no doubt that the car was being stolen, no question as to who was stealing it, and no stray rounds to endanger the public. I`d say give the officer a marksmanship medal, and a pay raise.
Regards,

 

[Godfather]

I have no problem with cops, I just hate how much protection they get compared to average Joe.

If a drunk runs from the police and hits a cop, he gets murder 1. If he hit and killed me, it'd be manslaughter.

 

[M-Rex]

And the problem is?

Good Guys 1
Dirtbags 0

Welcome to my ignore list, Doc for putting your anti-cop bigotry on parade.

 

[MechAg94]

Need to the officer a marksmanship medal and change the law to allow us to protect our property also.

 

[Rockstar]

The cop had no more authority than any other private citizen, as far as protecting her property was concerned.

 

[dustind]

In my opinion it was a good shoot, but I doubt the law or the courts will agree with me.

I really think national standards for police would be a bad thing. Police should serve the needs of the community. As a college graduate who got better than a 3.0 I think college degrees are over rated

and the restaurant that made the mistake of hiring her.

You would go so far as to suggest suing the restaurant!? Even if she did do something wrong I do not see how it could be their fault, especially considering that her dealings with the car thief had nothing to do with her job watching the restaurant.

 

[Alex45ACP]

Good, another leech removed from society. The officer should get a promotion.

 

[MikeIsaj]

Police said Arrington then drove Peele's vehicle across New Bern Avenue, struck a parked vehicle, drove back across New Bern Avenue and stopped in the median.

A little common sense would lead a person to suppose from this quote that the thief was already in the car and probably trying to run her down. It does not make sense to think that a person would be fatally shot and then get into a car, start it up and drive away, unless your intent is to find a reason to call cops stupid.

 

[R.H. Lee]

AFAIK, it's entirely legitimate for a LEO to shoot a fleeing felon. What's the problem?

 

[Coltdriver]

Having once lived in NC I can assure you that a citizen would have been arrested on the spot for this, period.

The DA would then charge the citizen with murder.

The investigation would then lead to trial.

The DA would let the court decide.

This cop got it all wrong. To approach a thief in the act of stealing a mere car is not grounds for killing them. If the thief tried to run her over a mere citizen would be charged with aggravating the situation and would still be charged with murder.

Even in Colorado you could not get away with this one. The cop escalated a car theft into murder. Bad call.

I am not defending the thief. NC law generally sucks and it defends the crooks. The cop did not help her cause by her actions. If she were not a cop, she would already be in jail.

 

[buzz_knox]

AFAIK, it's entirely legitimate for a LEO to shoot a fleeing felon. What's the problem?

Because you can only use deadly force to effect an arrest when it is likely that the felon will pose an imminent danger to others. The Supreme Court decided that in Garner v. TN.

A little common sense would lead a person to suppose from this quote that the thief was already in the car and probably trying to run her down. It does not make sense to think that a person would be fatally shot and then get into a car, start it up and drive away, unless your intent is to find a reason to call cops stupid.

He might have tried to run her over.
She might have shot him through the side window when he posed no danger to her.

There's a 50-50 chance that under the facts that what she did was illegal. But there's a far greater chance that no matter what the facts demonstrate, he will have been "found" to have been attempting to run her over.