Detective Gooden

I didn't know that officers are allowed to shoot fleeing felons! Oh yeah, they aren't supposed to - lil' Supreme Court case called Tennessee v. Garner. WHOOPS! ops:

There may be more to the story as to why she chose to fire off a couple rounds at the bank robber. Unless you know somehting that the rest of the orld doesnt know, how about give her the benefit of doubt.

I will add this.....having seen her on the firing range, I am not surprised she didnt hit him. :wink:

I think you better check your case law...and statute...and policy...

Deadly force is justified against fleeing FORCABLE felons, which in this case armed robbery qualifies. Especially if he was headed towards Target and a potential hostage situation was right inside those doors.

I can almost guarantee that she won't get into any trouble despite the fact that she shot at, admittidly enough a FORCEABLE Felon, and TOTALLY missed. Her incompetence knows no bounds. However, she is a black female; that got where she is not based on the merits of her abilities but the color of her skin and her sex. That is exactly where she will stay for the same reason. Least we forget she was also involved in the Spring St. Law office shooting, where neither she nor King SWAT himself, MCvicker couldn't hit the broadside of a barn and were shooting down range of another officer trapped in her car all while saying that they were aiming for the SUV tires. There will be absolutly no fallout from Tarlanda's F-Up that time or any other time, she has the get out of jail free card for the life of her career. You can bet on it.

bottom line....she did the right thing.

Hmm so as the suspect runs away and big mike chases him, gooden starts firing rounds from behind mike at the fleeing suspect. In the mall parking lot area full of civilians and other officers. Friendly fire? You figure once she almost shot Officer Barbosa she would have been hesitant to fire so close to another officer...guess not.

So this is what the PPD has come too, second guessing each other?? Next you will be lying on each other just to make yourself look good. Oh wait, that already happens too. Well I guess the admin is still the problem!! Man Im glad I left when I did......

My criticisms, while meant to spur discussion and debate, were not made out of malice and without forethought. I send my husband out the door never knowing if he will return to me. It is bad enough when you think that it might be a criminal that does not think about his actions and how they might affect an entire family, but when a fellow officer, not once but twice, throws caution (and bullets) to the wind someone should speak up. I am not saying that she is a bad person. I am saying that I don’t think that she should be in the position that she is in if she cannot handle it, and she has proven time and time again that she cannot. Her blasé reasoning behind firing at a suspect was that he was running right towards the other detective. Well that means that she saw the suspect, saw the other officer in the immediate area (as well as others, this is the mall area for God’s sake) and rationalized a decision to fire her weapon anyway. I am not so arrogant as to purport to know the solution to the problem; But I do know this, she now has a history of firing downrange of other officers and if the administration continues to ignore this problem and she his another officer there will be a huge lawsuit to the city and the department will have provided the plaintiff with plenty to go to court with. And as we all know nothing spurs the department into action more than the though of someone hitting them in the pocketbook. What is the most troubling side note of this episode is that the thought of loosing an officer won’t make the administration take a hard look at an officer dangerous and deadly behavior on the street (especially if they happen to be the right color or sex) but that when their money is threatened they will.

As stated earlier, the ultimate blame does not fall on Gooden. It is the admins fault that she received poor training at the range and that her range scores may have been "altered"(like that does not happen). Goodens ability to make a decesions under duress is questionable at best but who is to blame in the long run?? Her or the people who supervise and train her?? We all know an agency is only as good as the leaders who run it.

The gangsta style shooting out the car window was crazy. I guess since she shoots so terrible it was a better bet then aiming.