[sanjuro]

http://austriantimes.at/?id=19009&print=1-newentry

Policeman who killed suspect acquitted

By William Green

A policeman who shot and killed a suspected motorcycle thief walked free from court today (Fri) after he was acquitted of charges of grievous bodily harm resulting in death.

A court in Korneuburg, Lower Austria, had heard how the officer had followed suspect Wolfgang H. along Kellergasse in Wetzelsdorf in Lower Austria’s Mistelbach district on 8 August before firing a warning shot and then the shot that killed him.

Judge Berta Perger said the 46-year-old suspect - a father-of-two - had been a dangerous man who had eluded several police checks and that the policeman had fired at the tyre of the stolen motorcycle as the suspect drove it down an embankment but had hit him instead.

"It was a split-second decision," the judge said.

The judge ruled the policeman had not premeditatedly tried to harm the suspect.

The ruling comes after public outcry after two police officers shot and killed a 14-year-old boy and wounded a 17-year old in a supermarket.

Florian P. died from his injuries, while Roland T. was severely injured after they were shot in the dark by officers responding to a call out at a supermarket on the night of 4/5 August in Krems, Lower Austria.

The officers are now back at work but investigators have said they could face manslaughter charges.

That's BS that he was aiming to damage the bike...

 

[rockofullr]

You don't believe that cops have bad aim?

The "warning shot" was probably aimed at the bike too.

 

[Pesqueeb]

WTF did he think was going to happen even if he hit the tire? Its a fvcking motorcycle, not a car your gonna keep driving with a flat.

 

[rockofullr]

WTF did he think was going to happen even if he hit the tire? Its a fvcking motorcycle, not a car your gonna keep driving with a flat.

I agree, I don't think police officers should be firing there weapons unless they are sure it is necessary to save lives.

 

[4xBoy]

One less thief, not that I like the idea of them trying to shoot a tire of a motorcycle, but I hate thieves.

 

[eaterofdog]

Must be a slow news day if we're worried about law enforcement in Austria?

 

[dante]

I'm finding it hard to get upset about this.... Man steals motorcycle. Man evades police. Man avoids two prior police checkpoints. If man keeps going, it'll put more and more people at risk with the high-speed pursuit. In that light, I'm ok with the police using deadly force.

I personally think that they should bring the dead guy up on charges so that a court of law can prove that he *actually* stole the motorcycle. Then newspapers can stop printing "alleged" or "suspected" and call him what he is, a motorcycle thief.

 

[ohio]

I'm with Dante on this one.

A motor vehicle is a deadly weapon, and in the absence of an ability to create a roadblock, I don't think the use of force was unreasonable.

This is news in Austria not because a motorcycle thief got shot while evading police, but because of the recent event with the teenagers.

 

[valve bouncer]

Wolfgang "H" indeed....you're not fooling us Nazi swine. Justifiable shoot.

 

[Westy]

Meh, just another dead Nazi.

 

[johnbryanpeters]

What's the wrong part of this?

 

[sanjuro]

Aiming at the bike instead of at the thief's head. At least it turned out ok for the bike.

 

[MikeD]

Yeah, I'm cool with the rule of don't fire unless you're planning to kill someone. I don't agree with the judge's thoughts about "shooting at the tire," but I do think the motorcycle and rider could reasonably represent a danger of death or serious bodily harm to the public at large, depending on the facts.

That said, if speeding away from cops on a motorcycle was inherently a deadly-force-level threat, I know Metal, at least, would be dead on a CA interstate by now.