TX DPS Helicopter Shooting

[UserX]

Just like they were suspected drug dealers, they are also suspected illegal immigrants. Their status and nationality hasn't been released. And as far as fleeing, there is only one driver. Two people are dead.

[Downs]

I don't see an issue either. Don't run from the cops. Seems simple. How many people have gotten killed by drivers running from the cops and hitting other folks?

I was down in Liberty Hill last year for the Laure Range day and the DPS chopper came out and did a few "gun runs". Basically it's two guys with AR15s riding in the side door shooting down. Looks like a fun job.

[Goose]

Lesson #1 Dont Mess with DPS. Everybody know's that rule.

[CexMashean]

i can't see a problem with the story.

[houstondallas]

Heres another made up story.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/blogs/burkablog/?p=9471

[houstondallas]

I guess this story is just made up then eh?

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/loc...ey-3791291.php

As easily as you googled to find that little article, you could have googled this information.

The procedure for suing the state is set out in the Civil Practice & Remedies Code:

(a) A resolution that grants a person permission to sue the state has the
following effect and the permission is granted subject to the
following conditions:
(1) the claimant may sue for any relief to which the
claimant is entitled as a result of the described claim;
(2) the suit must be filed before the second
anniversary of the effective date of the resolution;
(3) service of citation and other required process
must be made on the attorney general and on a person named in the
resolution as a representative of the affected state agency;
(4) the suit must be tried as other civil suits;
(5) neither the state, nor any of its employees,
agents, departments, agencies, or political subdivisions, admits
to liability for, or to the truth of, any allegation asserted by the
claimant;
(6) the alleged cause of action must be proved under
the law of this state as in other civil suits;
(7) the state does not waive any defense, of law or
fact, available to the state or to any of its employees or agents;
(8) the state reserves every defense, except the
defense of immunity from suit without legislative permission;
(9) the state's ability to plead res judicata to any
issue is not affected;
(10) the state does not grant permission to recover
exemplary or punitive damages;
(11) the state's sovereign immunity under the Eleventh
Amendment to the United States Constitution is not waived; and
(12) the state does not grant permission to be sued in
any federal court.

[89FivePointOh]

In order to sue the state of texas, you have to be given permission from the state. This is why DPS has no pursuit policy, can shoot out tires on cars and basically do whatever. Aside from major violations, no civil action is coming against the state.

Fuck that. Must be a Rick Perry law that he sees "fit".

[GE]

In order to sue the state of texas, you have to be given permission from the state. This is why DPS has no pursuit policy, can shoot out tires on cars and basically do whatever. Aside from major violations, no civil action is coming against the state.

I guess this story is just made up then eh?

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Purported-ID-theft-victim-sues-DPS-saying-they-3791291.php

[houstondallas]

This can't be true...

In order to sue the state of texas, you have to be given permission from the state. This is why DPS has no pursuit policy, can shoot out tires on cars and basically do whatever. Aside from major violations, no civil action is coming against the state.

[OrangeChevyII]

They knew the risk..

[A+]

DPS can do whatever they want. They cant be sued. Thats what separates them from other police departments in the state.

This can't be true...

[houstondallas]

DPS can do whatever they want. They cant be sued. Thats what separates them from other police departments in the state.

[UserX]

I saw this in the L.A. Times. How can they justify opening fire like this? I understand it's wrong to run from the police, but to gun down a car full of people? The passengers could have been begging the driver to stop.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-texas-helicopter-shooting-20121026,0,6104028.story

Texas trooper in chopper shoots, kills 2 suspected illegal immigrants

HOUSTON -- Two people were killed in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley after a state trooper flying in a highway patrol helicopter opened fire on a fleeing pickup authorities thought was smuggling drugs, officials said.

No drugs were found inside the truck. Troopers found three people shot inside the truck, two of them dead. The third person was hospitalized and seven others were taken into custody, including one who initially fled, according to the statement. All the passengers and the injured person are suspected to be illegal immigrants, officials said Friday. They did not release the identities of those killed.

A Texas Parks and Wildlife warden tried to pull the truck over about 3 p.m. Thursday on a farm road near La Joya, about 75 miles north of the border, according to authorities. “The vehicle refused to stop and sped up,” Mike Cox, a spokesman for the agency, told The Times.

As the driver fled, the warden followed in pursuit, radioed for backup, and a Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter and ground units were called in to assist, Cox said.

Troopers suspected the driver was smuggling drugs, according to an agency statement released to The Times on Friday by spokesman Tom Vinger. The truck had "a typical 'covered' drug load in the bed," the statement said.

During the pursuit, the truck driver "was traveling at reckless speeds endangering the public."

Eventually, a trooper “discharged his firearm from the helicopter to disable the vehicle,” according to the statement.

"Once the vehicle was stopped, it was determined that no drugs were on board the pickup truck," the statement said.

Agency officials declined to identify the nationality of the passengers. Staff at the Guatemalan consulate in Houston told The Times on Friday that they were investigating.

The Texas Rangers, a division of the Department of Public Safety, are also investigating the shooting. Investigators have interviewed the surviving occupants of the truck, according to the statement. The trooper involved in the shooting has been placed on administrative leave according to department policy, the statement said.

Vinger declined to comment beyond the statement.

The Department of Public Safety has a fleet of 16 helicopters and eight airplanes. They respond to various law enforcement support requests including pursuits, manhunts, search and rescue, disaster relief, surveillance, aerial photography, criminal transport, domestic marijuana eradication and border security operations.

The agency has increased the number of troopers patrolling the border in recent years as violence has surged in northern Mexico. They patrol by land, by armored boat on the Rio Grande and by air in helicopters where marksmen armed with powerful rifles scan the terrain for suspects.

Last summer, the agency began using two gunboats armed with .30-caliber machine guns. It has also used unmanned drones to patrol the border, but stopped using them in 2010 due to costs and logistics.

Troopers patrolling by land are often involved in high-speed chases, some ending with suspects driving into the Rio Grande in an attempt to escape, in so-called “splashdowns.”

Gov. Rick Perry and the agency's director have defended the stepped-up border patrols, saying federal agencies have failed to secure the border even as smugglers have become more aggressive, using secondary vehicles and homemade spikes to stop troopers.