Did the flashlight save his life?

http://www.break.com/index/drunk-driver-shoots-at-cop.html

I noticed the first thing the cop did (whether intentionally or not) was to shine his light into the gunmans face.

Seems to me there's a real possibility that act alone might have bought that cop the extra second he needed...

Opinions?

I dunno. I'm glad he was fine - there's a reason an officer will stand behind your shoulder; it really takes a looooooooooooooong move for you to get anything pointed there. Most of the "light saves life" stories I hear are from seeing; but I suspect that a mag-charger will dazzle aim, especially drunk aim.

I would say you might be right. It appears as though the driver withdraws his weapon after being lit up and then tries to fire at the cop who, while not out of the line of fire, is already moving towards the rear of vehicle. Whatever the case was, bad guy came out on the losing end. Bottom line, cop goes home to his family.

Looked like he physically deflected the gun/hand away from him in his escape maneuver.

Didn't look like there was much ambient light, so any decent flashlight directed at the guy's face would have dazzled him for a moment - which is probably a factor in saving the cop's life.

From the comments, a lot of people said the gun didn't fire the first time the trigger was pulled.

Roger999 said:

From the comments, a lot of people said the gun didn't fire the first time the trigger was pulled.

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So he had a problem with the gun, fixed it in THAT situation, then fired?

Sorry, I'm not buying that...

AnAppleSnail said:

Most of the "light saves life" stories I hear are from seeing; but I suspect that a mag-charger will dazzle aim, especially drunk aim.

Click to expand...

Not discounting the physical effect of alcohol/drugs on the pupil's reaction time (and it's ability to react to light) I'd say training & equipment (namely the Mag-charger) significantly increased this Policeman's chances for a beneficial outcome :thumbsup:

Maybe I'm looking at the wrong things here but I reckon the only thing that saved that officer's life was sheer luck. If the pistol had fired as soon as it went out that window he'd be dead. Looks to me like it misfired just as the bloke pokes it at the officer's head.

Luck is a factor in anything involving human endeavour

The gun not chambered and the light both helped.

Dude Dudeson said:

So he had a problem with the gun, fixed it in THAT situation, then fired?

Sorry, I'm not buying that...

Click to expand...

The guy stuck the gun out of the window, gun doesn't go off, sticks it back into car, brings it back out a second later and shoots.......What do you suggest might have happened? The shooter forgot how to pull the trigger?

M@elstrom said:

Luck is a factor in anything involving human endeavour

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Don't you mean destiny? lol Jk.

Really I think it was either just a conincdince that he pulled the light up at the same time as the gun came out the window.
OR either the driver reaching for something made the officer pull the light. Or the driver decided to pull the gun based on the officer pulling something from his belt/side.

Roger999 said:

What do you suggest might have happened? The shooter forgot how to pull the trigger?

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I'm with you.

It doesn't seem that the shooter forgot to pull the trigger to me. It may be backgound noise but I'm hearing a click the first time it came out at the officer's head just as though he snapped it on an empty. Then he pulls the gun back into the cabin and half a mo later out it comes again and fires.

Maybe he just left the safety on.....or even just plain forgot to rack it back first. If it was an auto...I cant really see

Wow, im very glad I live in the UK.

Interesting that nobody has commented on how many times the cop fired at the fleeing vehicle! Did he conflate himself with Steven Seagal?

That has to constitute excessive/dangerous use of a firearm in a public place surely? That sort of irresponsible behaviour from a LEO would never be tolerated in Australia.

Granted, the guy in the truck was obviously a psycho, but by spraying the area with all those rounds, the cop achieved absolutely... zilch. And only potentially endangered the lives of any other bystanders/passersby.

I'm glad I live downunder when I see this sort of stuff!

—Jack.

Did you see any bystanders, I would rather he at least tried to stop that physco

moving towards the rear of the vehicle the deputy effectively placed himself in the blindspot of the car, its a very awkward direction to move your arm at if your sitting in the driver seat. I think this is what saved him, not necessarily the light. IIRC chambering a pistol requires both hands, I only saw one arm...its more likely that the safety is on that caused the brief "delay" between "pulled gun" and "pop"

from the relative direction in which his service piece was aiming at, its likely that the suspect either incurred wounds, or sped off with his head under the steering wheel to crash into the pole.

Jack Reacher said:

Interesting that nobody has commented on how many times the cop fired at the fleeing vehicle! Did he conflate himself with Steven Seagal?

That has to constitute excessive/dangerous use of a firearm in a public place surely? That sort of irresponsible behaviour from a LEO would never be tolerated in Australia.

Granted, the guy in the truck was obviously a psycho, but by spraying the area with all those rounds, the cop achieved absolutely... zilch. And only potentially endangered the lives of any other bystanders/passersby.

I'm glad I live downunder when I see this sort of stuff!

—Jack.

Click to expand...

Umm, the drunk shot at a police officer and could have easily shot any innocent bystanders beyond the traffic stop. I thought it was excessive at first until I thought about it. I would think that was his training kicking in. When I took a gun safety course, I was taught to never point a gun at a person unless you plan to shoot them and never shoot unless you plan to kill. The man shot first. I think the officer was well within his rights and it was justified.