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all right we're back and we have a couple shooting stories to talk about
these these are really really weird shooting stories the first one is a
woman was shot dead by New Hampshire state troopers during a traffic stop
Raw Story has a report on this a New Hampshire woman was shot to death by
state troopers
during a traffic stop the state attorneys general
that the state attorney general's office released a statement the giving some
details about the fatal shooting a 45-year-old wendy lawrence
reported by the Concord Monitor she was pulled over after a state trooper said
she was speeding and driving erratically on Interstate 89
Lawrence gave the officer and I D and said she had a valid driver's license
but it turned out that she was listed as a habitual offender
with a suspended license that's when the
officer says Lawrence sped away a
pursue too high speed pursuit developed the officer says that Lawrence tried
to in trying to drive away almost struck a pedestrian at an
on-ramp to interstate 93 more troopers joined the chase
eventually troopers started shooting
at Lawrence striking her four times she was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital
one witness said
that they heard somewhere around a dozen gunshots it appears that
or is the number that actually hit miss Lawrence
lawrence's boyfriend says that some of the shots hit the car
as opposed to per person a neighbor says that she didn't hear
lawrence's car it any of the police vehicles
as an earlier reports suggested so
we've talked about situations like this and there really are two sides there is
one side but says
you have a suspended license you start running from the cops you're speeding
and you almost
run someone over at that point legally the burden for lethal force has been net
because you are a danger to yourself and to others in to the police
the other side is did this really need to turn
into a shootout orkut a spike strip popping the woman's tires
or ramming her car during a pit maneuver was there another
option here that's question number one choice well
I don't know it's hard to say I think it has to do with the area
the time of day traffic the logistics that a spike strip is not
I just the easiest thing to do i mean if if they're
channel on some sort of highway maybe but it sounds like gone
it sounds like they really had no choice this is someone completely out of
control in a vehicle that's a very dangerous thing
we don't know the details so there may well have been as lewis says
legal cause to use least lethal force here or they may not but i wanna step
back and ask a broader question
which is I can't help but think about the discrepancies
and how police are dealing with people across the country
and let's just think about the george Zimmerman case right george Zimmerman
kill someone
police show up he says hey I was just defending myself
they initially take his word for it they let him go without even checking whether
he's drunk or
or or up high on any kind of drugs he
I leaves they don't properly secure the crime scene
it rains and completely destroys a lot of the evidence that was there
and this woman is speeding away and cops decide to just chased her down and fire
between four and 12 bullets at her
I i understand it different police it's a different state every situation is
different
but when we step back and look at the incredible discrepancy that exists in
law enforcement in this country and how situations are dealt with
I don't like it one bit I
that I guess I can agree with I don't like that we talk about a lotta
we cover a lot of stories where we we are not siding
with the police on this one I'm siding with the police I i think
if I were in their situation here I probably would have done the same thing
to stop in our control driver
who could have killed any number of people
I'm driving erratically and trying to avoid arrest
by siding with the police I say that legally speaking
this this may have been justified whereas letting george Zimmerman walk
away was absolutely not
but taking a step back from this we really need to be analyzing our society
if when someone speeds away
this is what happens and it's considered this kind of the normal course that
action that I have a problem with
individually the officers may have acted legally here