Well that's a bit of info that wasn't previously posted .. and in that case, yes, if the vehicle is being used as a weapon.

It's amazing to me, the trouble that people get into these days. Well I guess the ATV operator won't be getting into any more trouble.

 

Yeah, I should of figured people didn't know how that whole use of deadly force thing works. I don't know that much about it, my friends know alot more about it than I do.

 

I spoke with a guy who's brother is a Trooper who rides ATVs and asked him what happened.

He said while he didn't have every detail here it what happened.


The ATV rider was with a friend on a dirt-bike, they were both drunk and riding down the middle of the road with no helmets. The Trooper stopped them for both infractions and asked to see ID from both. The guy on the ATV supposedy gunned the engine with the Trooper standing next to him and the Trooper out of instinct grabbed onto the guy's shirt and was yanked off his feet, somehow he manged to grab onto another part of the quad when he lost grip of the guys shirt as it was too late to let go. He didn't know exactly what kind of quad it was but it was fast enough for the Trooper to think hanging on and pleading with the driver to stop was the best plan to stay on one piece. The Trooper supposedly yelled at the driver to stop a number of times but the driver would not. He was not sure how many times the Trooper shot the guy, but he said there were several warning shots fired as well.

The ATV rider had just lost his license for DWI, and this was supposedly why he was running.

So here we have a guy riding an ATV on the street, with no helmet, no license, obviously no insurance, multiple offender of DWI, running from the cops, dragging a cop for a mile and who knows what else.... ......... I cannot feel bad for anyone except the Trooper who now has to live with the fact he had to kill a man over something so friggin' stupid...

 

Amen to that brotha'! Funny how you don't hear a big move to ban alcohol after something like this, but there will be an anti-atv twist to this story somewhere.

 

Sounds to me like a situation which escalated very fast and unnecessarily. The riders were certainly stupid and deserved to go to jail. I can even see how the atv rider could have been charged with assaulting a police officer. But because the atv rider did not cause the officer to grab hold in the first place or force him to keep hold after starting to move, I do not feel the rider deserved to die. I can certainly understand the panic and the desire to halt the atv rider that the trooper must have felt, and I too can understand the desire to fire upon the person dragging you. Basically, I can understand how the situation developed as it did but I do not feel that the outcome was just on either side. The officer should not be blamed for the dragging or charged for his use of force by any means, but the rider did not deserve his fate, at least not from his actions in this situation.

 

maddog,

Yea that is a harsh penalty to pay for what amounts to a few motor vehicle violations and a possible assault assuming that could have been proven.

But at the same time when you get on or in a vehicle of any kind, and you are drunk, you are risking your life and anyone's life who might get in your way. I just wonder if it would have been any more or less tragic had the guy hit a tree and died.

I supppose the truth is we will never know exactly what was going on in either person's head at the time. The whole thing it just bad.

 

In my book, regardless of past offenses, he attacked the Trooper and did something that could have easily killed the Trooper, so I feel he deserved it.

 

so before you speak down on someone who is no longer with us I think you should know more of the story. The fact behind this was that Brad didn't drag a state trooper at all. I grew up with Brad. I knew exactly where he was riding. I know exactly who was with him when this happened. He did not put a troopers life at risk. He was crossing a road where the trail brings you. The troopers had it blocked because they were searching for Bucky Phillips on an atv. They drove stopped but attempted to go around. The rest is history. He is not a moron or a dumb@ss please think before you post