My lucky day, we were watching Fox News today at work as they televised a police chase of an armed carjacker in Arizona. The chase was dragging on and on, running from the highway in Phoenix well out into the desert into Roadrunner and Coyote land. I kept waiting for it to end as I had a sandwich waiting, but I wanted to see the finish first. So I waited and we kept watching, and finally the car turned off the road into the desert and it stopped. The driver got out, fiddled around in the back seat for a bit, then took off running on foot. At this point, we're all like "dude, where you going to go? It's like 40 miles to shade, much less a hiding place. You're caught. Just stop."
But he was running now, and he had something in his hands. To a couple of us in the know, it looked like he was running with a gun. People hold guns a certain way and this guy's body language was screaming "gun". Sure enough, he ran for a few seconds, turned to look back in the direction of his car, then he put the object to his head and fell to the ground face-down. He'd just shot himself.
Instantly, the scene cut away to a very shocked-looking Shepard Smith, Fox anchor, who was just sitting there yelling "get it off! Get it off!" Oops. Cut again to a commercial. Then another commercial. And another. Finally the News came back on, and Smith delivered a somber, lengthy apology for having failed to cut away from the video feed before the "disturbing" scene.
Disturbing? Heck, we were high-fiving here. One less criminal to feed and house.
But then we're kind of a jaded bunch here.
For those who want to see it:
I'm pretty much with you on this one. It's always a tragedy, but the guy made a fatal choice.
ReplyDeleteWhat Rev. Paul said. He pulled the trigger, not LEO.
ReplyDelete+1 on what everybody else said.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet...would he have been so willing to off himself as the alternative to going to prison and the very real probability of being raped while there? Seems to me it's a commentary on the sort of brutal prison experience we condone, if not outright approve of.
ReplyDeleteIf you can't do the time, DON'T do the crime!
ReplyDeletePoor Shep. He wasn't responsible for that. Asshole made his own decisions. And it was not even that graphic. Not nearly as bad as some of the jhihadi executions of alleged criminals or the beheading of American citizens. Fox may be partisan, but they are not inhuman. Blaming them for this is crap.
ReplyDeleteI have decided that there is not enough alcohol to see me through to the zombie apocalypse. Thank goodness we moved to the boonies. I gotta learn how to ferment the wild muscadines that grow in my back yard.
Give Murphy a big kiss from me.
I was watching it too. For some reason I wasn't horrified-just sad that some misguided person had turned so far from God. But yeah, a little relieved that we won't be housing his sorry butt for the next 20 years!
ReplyDeleteAt least HE did it, not suicide by cop!
ReplyDeleteI don’t know what he was apologizing for. The news wants sensationalism, why else are you televising some petty car theft in AZ on national TV. Smith (and the networks) want drama to bump their ratings. They got it.
ReplyDeleteSo the viewers got to see the real world; not the cleaned up version. Need more of it. The first responders don't get that option.
ReplyDeleteI too saw this as it happened, the guy must have been on some serious hallucinogenic drugs, as it look like something was chasing him, I'm sure he had demons in his head, but WOW seeing that live was WFT just happening, I don't blame FOX at all, they showed news, just sad to see a life wasted !
ReplyDeleteIf you are not willing to suffer the consequences, don't do the crime (yes, 'can't do the time, DON'T do the crime' but in this case the time is in HELL.)
ReplyDeleteOne side of me says, 'good riddance to bad rubbish' but at the same time he was a human being.
No, I don't shed a tear for him but it's sad they destroy their own lives by their actions.
Dude seemed run like a little girl. Just sayin'.
ReplyDelete