Shooting into cars should be banned

Ideally, police and sheriff’s departments througout the state would have policies restricting officers from shooting into cars except in rare and dire situations. But if agencies fail to address this dangerous practice by adopting specific rules for officers, a state law banning officers from shooting at vehicles would be appropriate.

State Rep. Todd Rutherford, D-Columbia, plans to introduce a bill in the upcoming legislative year that would restrict officers from shooting into vehicles except in extreme situations where the officers’ lives are in danger and they have exhausted all means of getting out of the way of moving cars. Rutherford, who is House minority leader, said he also would prefer agencies to adopt their own policies, but he is frustrated that most have not done so.

Experts on police use of force present a strong case that shooting into cars is ineffective, unnecessary, excessive and a danger to the public. Stray bullets are likely to hit occupants of the car other than the driver, to ricochet off the car or to miss the target altogether and hit bystanders.

And if the officer does manage to incapacitate the driver, the car could run into pedestrians or other cars.

Experts say that in nearly all cases where drivers attempt to leave the scene, they are simply trying to get away, not run over the officer. And, experts note, if an officer has time to aim and fire his gun, he has time to step out of the way.

Ironically, most sheriff’s and police departments have policies limiting high-speed chases, which pose a similar problem. Pursuing officers don’t want to endanger the public, especially when the infraction might be nothing more than a minor traffic offense or an expired license plate.

The same logic should apply to shooting into cars. Officers shouldn’t pull their guns unless they or the public is in immediate danger.

And that doesn’t include the situations in which officers put themselves in harm’s way, such as standing in front of a moving car, and then using that as an excuse to shoot.

An officer’s first responsibility is to protect the public. Firing, often blindly, into a car doesn’t fit that criteria.

Shooting into cars should be banned. We would hope state law enforcement agencies would do that themselves through department policy.

But if they don’t, we hope Rutherford makes headway with his bill.

This story was originally published July 26, 2016 at 6:17 PM with the headline "Shooting into cars should be banned."