People should be allowed to speed in their cars to get to the hospital

[bluestateguy]

Watching that video of the thug cop in Dallas was just revolting.

People should be allowed to speed and ignore speed limits to get to the hospital in an emergency.

Some things are more important than "the law".

Maybe that's why we have so damn many people in jail in this country: we have a bunch of nanny state politicians (both Left and Right) and thug cops who are constantly looking for new things to make illegal.

[Fleshdancer]

1. It kills me that they were in the hospital parking lot....

So close and yet too far away for him to say goodbye to his own mother. If the cop wanted to give the guy a ticket, then fine. Why not just take his license and insurance and allow him to go into the hospital while processing the information? What the officer did was cruel.

[tridim]

2. Within reason, yes.

[RamboLiberal]

4. Agreed - shouldn't drive like maniacs

But if you can safely go above speed limit, stop at red lights to make sure no opposing traffic, etc I say it should be ok and any cop who pulls you over needs to escort you to the hospital.

How many times have we all at non-peak traffic times wasted time sitting at a red light when there's no traffic around? Not saying unless there's an emergency we go through, though I'll confess that in early morning hours(after midnight) I have done some left turns at a red left turn light (when other lights in that direction were green). Of course I checked carefully for any cops around first.

[ThomWV]

3. No. What good is any law that can be broken at the discression of the lawbreaker ?

[RamboLiberal]

6. Yeah - I bet you obey every traffic law every day

and never go over a speed limit, and stop fully and look at every 4 way stop, etc.

[onenote]

5. and if they have an accident and someone gets hurt because they were speeding

should they be forgiven?

The problem in Dallas was that the cop (a) should have not acted like as asshole and (b) shouold have exercised his discretion to let the driver off with a warning.

Cops can't tell looking at a car whether its speeding bdecause its on the way to the hospital with someone in need of immediate medical attention or whether its speeding because the driver is trying to get to the liquior store befere it closes. So cops are going to pull over speeders. If they see that immediate medical attention is needed for someone in the car, the right, and typical thing, is to either call for an ambulance or to escort the driver to the hospital so it can reach there safely. But the cop can't simply say...okay, go ahead and continue speeding to the hospital, since all that means is that another cop probably would stop the car.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. Speeding, yes. Running stop lights, no.

[Inchworm]

8. At least the lawbreaker was allowed to argue

I'd be in county with pepperspray burns or taze marks if I "talked back" like that.

x(

[panader0]

9. Years ago I came home to find my neighbor's huge dog

laying bleeding under a tree. He has been mauled by javelina and was near death. I loaded him into the back os my pickup and sped to the vet's. Nearly there a cop tried to pull me over but I kept on until I got there. The cop was furious as I carried the dog in. I was cited for speeding and failure to stop. (Or something) The dog lived, the judge threw the tickets out.

[Stevenmarc]

10. Allowed to speed, no ... given a little slack when caught, yes

[theoldman]

11. It's obvious the cop had no training in how to handle this situation.

The driver should have stopped and explained the situation. Of course when someone is dying you don't think straight.

[KT2000]

12. Childbirth works better

A friend was recently pulled over for speeding while trying to get his wife to the hospital to give birth. She has a history of short labor. There was no way the cop wanted to deliver a boaby so he told them to carry on.
By the way - the husband is a policeman!

[Obamanaut]

13. No. nt