According to the Keene Sentinel:
A man was shot by police and killed after a pursuit in Keene late Tuesday night, authorities said.
The incident began at Diversified Computers at 255 West St. in Keene, where police were called for a burglary complaint, according to a news release from the N.H. Attorney General’s Office.
When officers got there, they saw at least one suspect on the roof of the building. Two people fleeing the area were arrested after a short pursuit, authorities said.
The third person left the scene in a car and was pursued by officers to Marlboro Street, where he parked near the corner of Marlboro and Prescott streets and left the vehicle, authorities said. After an officer briefly pursued the man on foot, he got back in his car and attempted to escape, and two officers fired at the vehicle, killing the man, authorities said.
The car crashed head-on into a telephone pole and one neighbor on Marlboro Street said he heard five gunshots.
Too bad the Bear Cat wasn’t here to protect Keene from this situation.
Ok, bad joke considering a man lost his life and for what?
Let’s do something the Keene Sentinel didn’t do and look at this from a logical stand point. Sure robbery, and/or stealing, is wrong but is the punishment death? I don’t believe so and suspect most people would refrain from killing those who steal from them (unless threatened with their lives in the process, as in armed robbery). I say this because people would be unable to recoup losses if the thief was dead. Plus, most business have cameras (I suspect this one does considering it’s near a bank attached) meaning it wouldn’t be hard to identify a person without the (government) police. Once you had proof via video – or witness/evidence – you could try to recoup losses or share the information publicly and let others know that peson X has stolen from you. I know I wouldn’t do business with a known thief and I bet others would do the same. Regardless, there are several ways to hold someone accountable before taking their life.
Heck, without the government’s monopoly on protection this business could have had it’s own Officer Short (Keene Police officer) on duty – deterring theft in the first place. So you have to ask the question.
Why did the Keene police feel the need to chase a man through Keene in their cars and then on foot? The police commonly pull people over for speeding, rolling stop signs and other traffic violations, citing these actions as dangerous to other drivers on the road. Yet, when unable to prevent crime, as is commonly perceived, or catch a criminal in the act, what do the police do? They increase the danger by driving recklessly through the streets of Keene in police cars. What did they have to gain? They already had two individuals. who were accomplices in the burglary, in custody and surely the police could have gotten them to give up their buddy. Or, as anyone who’s been to court, Keene prosecutors love to offer plea deals to those willing to provide information or testimony for the state. The police know this, yet they decided take action that made Keene less safe anyways.
When the man continued to flee, the police shot him. This article mentions nothing about the ‘suspect’ attempting to run over the police officers but I’m sure that will be the story. Most will not only believe the police version of this but they’ll justify the officer’s actions because this man attempted to rob a store and then flee. Yet, the problem really starts with the government’s control over the valued service of protection. It was also magnified by the officer actions to chase a suspect they had no reason to chase.
Believe it or not the police are commonly bring violence into peaceful Keene and if you want to end it, you have to end the government’s control over our protection. Allow Keene Police to work directly with homeowners and businesses for a rate they decide, for services they need. Some may think that’s crazy but some think it’s crazy for police to fire guns in the streets at petty robbers.
