OK - let me start by saying I am glad the trooper is ok.
BUT...
I live in Lynn and based on what the MSP have released so far about this incident, I am pissed about the way it went down. I am actually hoping I am missing some of the information, but based on the info I have seen, I have some complaints.
According to the paper's report, the trooper approached the suspect and the suspect apparently put something in his mouth (don't know why the trooper was approaching him to begin with - apparently the suspect was at a gas pump). The trooper then had an altercation with the suspect which got physical - give the trooper the benefit of the doubt and say the suspect got physical first. The suspect then fled and the trooper gave chase. Suspect smashes through one of the busiest intersections in Lynn, then steals another car at the scene of the accident - this is where the trooper apparently fired at the suspect. Suspect then leads a chase around the city, including much of the time after a wheel has fallen off and he is driving on three wheels. Finally the idiot stops and runs through a couple of yards before being caught.
Here's my problem: Why the hell was this guy being chased over what was apparently a very minor drug incident? At that time in the afternoon, there was kids all over the place on the sidewalks - what the hell good did it do to chase this guy? He was in idiot - chances are if the chase was broken off before he smashed into two or three cars at Franklin and Boston streets, he would have just gone home in the next day or two and MSP could have picked him up there. Instead, we have a high speed chase through a city that is packed with pedestrians and traffic at all times. Even if the idiot had gotten away completely, I'd sacrifice this one moron getting away as a trade off for the danger it caused the citizens around the city.
I'm pissed because I had a kid walking home from an after school activity (JROTC-like program) at Classical - he had no cell phone and I had no way to contact him and I was at the firestation. My older son was walking to meet him to make sure he got home safe. Instead, as soon as my older son started walking down the hill from the house, the getaway van pulled right up in front of him and the perp jumped out and ran through a yard.
Both my kids ended up being in close proximity to this guy driving erratically on three wheels over a small amount of heroin or crack or whatever the trooper suspected him of carrying? I call that bullshit. Not to mention that the shooting occurred in one of the busiest intersections of the city with virtually no safe back drop in any direction, so shooting at someone not actually in the act of trying to kill someone (versus "posing a threat" as he gets away) is quite unthinkable to me. I'm not happy about it and I can't help but think this isn't the sort of thing the MSP would have done if they had been in Marblehead or Newton.
Again, if I am missing some of the facts that make chasing this idiot a better idea than just going an picking him up at his house later or if his crime was so big an dangerous that it justified putting innocent bystanders at risk, I'm all ears, but from what they MSP themselves have released, it doesn't sound that way to me.