The Useful Duck!

Contribute to my Vacation, please...

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Tank chase in San Diego

On May 18, 1995, Shawn Nelson was gunned, execution-style down by police officer, Richard Priner, after Nelson stole an M60 tank from the local National Guard Armory and took it joyriding on San Diego streets.
Previous to stealing the tank Nelson had become obsessed with digging holes in his backyard, to the point that he lost his plumbing business. And there was also something about meth.
(What do you think of my choice of words to make the cops look bad and Nelson look like a poor sucker)
The policeman says when they popped open the hatch and started yelling at the guy, he just looked up at them with a blank expression on his face and kept rocking the tank to get if off the median. So the cop shot him. It was for the best. The guy really shot himself because HE made the choice to escalate the level of threat. Plus, somewhere in San Diego there were children. Children probably in direct line with that tank, if it would have kept going straight for 5 miles. AND, a school bus, or a mini-van full of daycare kids could have been on the other freeway lane.
So, yes it was the best thing to shoot the guy. I'm very relieve that first they shouted obscenities at him first cause that ALWAYS makes people give up.
This is sort of off subject but since most cops are dedicated church people how do they deal with the whole shouting obscenity thing. Obviously people won't surrender if you ask them nicely and you have to yell "M.....-F.....!" but Christians are not supposed to say bad words. Do you yell "Drop the gun poopie butt?" Or "I command you in the name of Jesus to drop that gun?" I think that would be more scripturally sound.
And what about lying? After they tell the guy whatever it takes to get the confession do they have to apologize for lying?
I understand the killing. It was explained to me how the "perp"escalates the level of force needed to subdue the threat, so you really have to smack someone if they didn't take their insulin or how it is a good idea to shoot suicidal people, but I wonder about the swearing...

CLICK HERE for more info on the unemployed plumber. I wonder if, in context of the digging holes in his backyard, if he at any point in the rampage yelled out, "I am the underminer, I am beneath you and nothing is beneath me!" Probably not since that movie was not out in 1995....



I enjoyed watching the video of the sheer damage and destruction done by the tank. Mostly because nothing I owned was in the way of the tank...
And the cops...
They had almost as many cop cars after that tank as the Blues Brothers. The video I saw had interviews with the cops which were pretty funny.
Now, I do understand it is pretty hard to stop a tank. But it become pretty apparent that the cops are only trained to stop force with greater force. It is also obvious that many emergency responders are in it for the rush and when that siren sounds they get to go crazy and do stuff that civilians would get arrested for.
I just keep thinking back to the time I saw the Amity Police officer pounding on the roof of his car to get his partner to go faster.
And the time they blew up their police car in front of our house and the guy they were chasing went back to help them. (he didn't know they were chasing him because they were letting the folks with burned out license plate lights get a long head start so they could drive the cop car faster-I am not kidding!)

Here is a video of a police department in action. I'm sure it is real because I've gotten many hours of entertainment from farming near our local speed trap. (Ok, I do realize it is obviously not real and it is from the same person that did the Smokey video)

8 comments:

  1. I'm sort of glad we have cops, otherwise we'd all die those boring natural deaths from disease and old age.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I will not comment on that statement. See ya at the re-education camp...

      Delete
  2. your blog is so much better than regular news. i'm totally gonna work this into my lexicon:
    "I command you in the name of Jesus to drop that gun!"

    it is a fact that i swear like a drunken sailor. so i guess i'd make a great police officer. and i could use the above statement and that would be awesome.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think using the name of Jesus only works if you are a pentecostal or souther baptist. It would probably have the opposite effect if you were not sincere.
      There was a news story about a guy who tried to rob a woman's prayer meeting in Florida and they used that phrase and it worked. Can't find the news story now.

      Delete
  3. I think I recall seeing this on "Wildest Police Chases" or some such show. I wonder why they didn't recruit "kill dozer guy" (from your previous posting) to do battle with the tank?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Killdozer vs tank would have been a good one. Killdozer guy shot himself. I think he would have had quite a following if he hadn't.

      Delete
  4. Amity cops would never consider calling for a Cobra attack helicopter to stop a tank would they? In any case, call me if you ever see a tank in the neighborhood. (They have one at Evergreen, that they used to play with near my brother's house, if you or anyone you know ever decide to go crazy)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'd like to have a tank. There was a time you could buy them Army Surplus. I like the tank they have at Antique powerland. I'd rather have a Weasel. Those look pretty cool as well.
    You would need something like the tank killer that shows up at antique powerland if you wanted to shoot the gun. Black powder cannons are less illegal somehow.
    I'd settle for a remote control tank that fires airsoft pellets. I think it would be fun to chase the cat or dog or small children.

    ReplyDelete

Tell me what you think

Please leave comments! It is really easy!

You just type your comment in the text box below the post. You can be anyone you want.
And...Would the joker who keeps clicking "offensive" please leave an explanation ?!