The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Police officers in Los Angeles have shot at motorists more than 100 times since 1985, killing 25 people and injuring at least 30, despite a department policy that discourages firing on drivers, a newspaper reported Sunday.
The department’s policy manual states that firing at moving vehicles “is generally prohibited” because it is “rarely effective and is extremely hazardous to innocent persons.”
But the practice has continued at a steady rate, with officers firing at motorists an average of six times a year, according to police records analyzed by the Los Angeles Times.
In 90 percent of the more than 100 cases reviewed by the newspaper, officers were reprimanded or ordered to undergo retraining for errors that led to the shootings. In about 60 percent of the cases, police officials concluded the shootings were justified.
Such shootings have come under renewed scrutiny after three police officers killed a suspected burglar at the end of a chase last week when his car moved slowly toward them. The confrontation was broadcast live on television.
Police Chief William J. Bratton said later that he has been considering a ban on shooting at moving vehicles. “Clearly we have issues that need to be addressed,” he said.
Police departments in Boston, Cincinnati, Detroit and other cities have adopted similar restrictions in recent years.
Law enforcement experts said wounding or killing a driver may cause the vehicle to swerve, and missing the target could threaten innocent bystanders.
“Except as the last resort, shootings at vehicles should be banned,” said Geoffrey Alpert, a professor at the University of South Carolina, who has helped police agencies develop policies on the use of deadly force. “It has to be a pretty extreme situation to shoot at a car.”