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Originally Posted by rarjar  Thanks for the link Tony. It is very tragic, and my heart goes out to the families of those who perished. That said, I am somewhat puzzled as to how this could have happened. The tape recording revealed that the caller said to 911 that they had "no brakes." What's up with that? I cannot imagine a scenario that I could not either override the engine with the brakes, or turn off the engine, or better yet, put it in neutral (over-revving the engine if that's what happens) to avoid a disaster. That said, I wasn't in this off-duty state trooper's shoes, so maybe I'm over-simplifying what I would be faced with in making a split-second decision. |
It sounds like it wasn't a split-second decision... they had time to call 911.
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Originally Posted by tonyspin I don't understand it myself. Maybe he panicked? I can't imagine heading for an intersection at 120MPH with my family in the car and not having the presence of mind to turn off the key or put it in neutral, while standing on the brake. |
And this is why I own a gun. Some of the people we are paying to protect us can't think when under pressure. It's absolutely horrible that this happened, and my greatest condolences to the family, but to me it confirms that we cannot expect an officer to keep a level head or act rationally.
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Originally Posted by rarjar While I hope this is not the case, it may well be that we'll never know for certain what really happened in this tragic case. |
The 'black box' in the car should tell nearly everything. I imagine Toyota would be allowed to gain access to the data on it, but as to whether or not they will release it to the public I don't know.