Path: utzoo!utgpu!lsuc!ncrcan!hcr!john
From: john@hcr.UUCP (John R. MacMillan)
Newsgroups: tor.general
Subject: Re: Toronto Police
Message-ID: <4800@hcr.UUCP>
Date: 27 Jan 89 15:57:52 GMT
References: <157@aimed.UUCP> <4674@hcr.UUCP> <89Jan23.093655est.38021@neat.ai.toronto.edu> <4742@hcr.UUCP> <1989Jan24.133658.23930@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu> <4761@hcr.UUCP> <1989Jan26.112904.22906@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu>
Reply-To: john@hcrvax.UUCP (John R. MacMillan)
Distribution: tor
Organization: HCR Corporation, Toronto
Lines: 41

In article <1989Jan26.112904.22906@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu> sarathy@gpu.utcs.UUCP (Rajiv Sarathy) writes:
|However, policemen often practice shooting at stationary and moving targets in
|their shooting ranges, from what I've seen on TV (I'm no Toronto Police expert).
|So if they were aiming at the tire, how did they hit the driver at the back of
|the head?

If they were aiming at the driver, and they're such good shots, why
did they only hit him once?  Because nobody's perfect.  One shot went
through the rear window.  So whether they were aiming at the tires or
the passengers, their accuracy was not too good.

|I seriously doubt that the bullet richocheted off something and then hit him.

I'm seriously convinced of it.  Reports I've read indicate the bullet
ricocheted off a support column and struck the driver in the neck.

|You took out the line I had in my original posting saying that the bullet was
|HOLLOW-TIPPED.  I've read that these bullets do VERY LITTLE damage once they
|hit something because their velocity diminishes to relatively VERY LOW once
|they hit something, and their mass is much less than a regular bullet.

Hollow-point bullets deform on impact, in an attempt to do MORE damage
to the target.  Because they deform, ricochets are "wilder" and are
moving some slower.  However, the mass is not "much" less than a
regular load, and there will still be plenty of kinetic energy to kill
if the bullet strikes a dangerous area like the head or neck.

As I recall, the driver wasn't killed instantly, as would be expected
if the shot was a direct hit in the head or neck.

|CONCLUSION:  THE BULLET WENT STRAIGHT THROUGH THE GLASS AND INTO THE DRIVER'S
|		HEAD.  THIS IMPLIES THAT THE COP WAS EITHER A VERY POOR SHOOTER
|		OR HE AIMED AT THE DRIVER.

Well, despite the way those capital letters make your conclusion more
convincing, I have to disagree.  And even if it did go straight
through, there's a good argument that the cop was a lousy shot.
-- 
John R. MacMillan	"Life is like a baseball bat. It's long and
HCR Corporation		 hard and hurts when you drop it on your foot"
{utzoo,utcsri}!hcr!john			- Christopher J. Rotherforth