ok touchy question but try to put emotion aside and think about what is truly just.?

Question

ok so today in Phoenix Arizona two news TV helecopters went down while covering a polie chase of a guy who had stolen a car then hijacked a second vehicle, the helecopters apparently (they dont know for sure what happened) ran into eachother while they were trying to get in position to get a good shot of the chase. now it is very sad to say but both helecopters crashed and everyone inside them died, a total of four very good people that everyone around here knows. terrible tradegy. now here is where things get complicated, there is talk of prosecuting the guy who was being chased and holding him liable for the deaths of the news crew that perished in the crash. everyone seems to be just jumping on this band wagon, like they want to punish someone for these guys dieing but does this seem right? he is a criminal yes and he will do time for his crimes but is he really at fault for news helicopters crashing? it was there job to cover the chase and he had nothing to do with why they crashed

also let it be known that they werent involved leaglly in the effort ot catch the guy, there were also police helecopters in the sky and it was THERE job to track him not the news choppers, the news choppers were for all intents and purposes onlookers who brought themselves to the scene on there own accord, the criminal didnt come there way or contact them in any way. also it was either pilot error or mechanical error and too many choppers in one place that caused the crash. if you think he could be liable for there deaths do explain your reasoning.

Answer 1

Charging that man being chased with the deaths of the people in the helicopters is rediculous. They chose to follow him, we chose to watch.

Answer 2

This is a very serious question indeed. It must be look at with logic.
The way i see it is that the friends and family wants some one to blame.

Is it right the charge the helicopter crush on the actions of the hijacker? You could argue that, if the hijackers actions did not exist then there wouldn't of been reason for the two helicopters to be there. Thus no crush would of happen.

On the other hand;
Is it not the pilots fault for not focusing on controlling the helicopters, and keeping it safe?
And for that matter. If riding in a helicopter is part of you job. Then wouldn't crashing it be a work hazard!

What if it was over a war zone? Who would be blamed then? Isn't that part of the job description?

I don't know the Answer to your question. However the little amount i know about courts.

I would guess he will be charged with the Helicopter crash. Only because people want closure. And blaming him fills that need.

My opinion would be that public demand will be a large influence on this case. And it will be dragged out over many months.

I hope this helps. Emotion and Logic are many time as opposite as black and white.

Either way, i hope the family can over time forgive what happen. no matter what is the out come should be. Bye.

Answer 3

Ok so here we go again...I live in AZ and i just want to clear this up for everyone.

Yes he can be punished for them crashing. (1) they wouldnt have been out there if he wasnt running from the police
(2) They were warning the public about what was happening. Which is infact helping the police by telling everyone where this is happening so they can get away so they arent involved.
(3) there is no clear explination of what happened but by my understanding it was a complete accident and some sort of vacum was created that sucked them into eachother.
(4) i dont know if anyone else heard this but yes a third helicopter was involved but did not crash. The third helicopter was getting pulled closer but the piolot gained control and got away safely

Hope this cleared things up for everyone

Answer 4

That is just plain scary that he would be charged with this,,, If it were a police helicopter, I could understand, but the media should not have tried to boost its ratings by so closely following a police chase that it endangering other civilians on the ground. I hope that the guy has a good attorney.
I have a question. Was the talk of this erroneous prosecution coming from the media or from the D.A.?

Answer 5

He had nothing to do with the helicopters crashing so he has no responsibility for their deaths. If this was to miraculously get to court, he would never be convicted.

whatchagonnado-"While he didn't crash them himself, it was his actions that led them to that moment." So are you saying that if I am having some kind of party where news helicopters are watching over it, and two crash, it is my fualt? Since ince if it wasn't for my party they wouldn't have been in the helicopters?

stlcardsfan4life15- you are wrong. Felony murder is when the criminal act is the thing that directly results in someones death. Yes, the police chase directly resulted in the two helicopters being in the air, but it did not directly result in the two helicopters crashing into each other.

Answer 6

If people weren't so obsessed with getting the best angle that they put their own lives at risk then they would still be alive. If his driving had put a vehicle at risk due to reckless driving that would be one thing. These people were in the air and the fault was pilot error. If anything the dead chopper pilots are to blame but you can't really take it out on them. I think it is just one of those cases where people want someone to blame for a tragedy and he is the easiest scape goat.

Answer 7

I certainly would agree with the idea of holding a fleeing suspect responsible for any accident he caused in the attempt. But, I really can't see how he caused the helicopter accident. Sure, if he hadn't been making a spectacle out of himself, they'd have been somewhere else covering something else, but, that sounds a lot more like coincidence than culpability. Nothing the car did could have caused a helicopter to crash. Both pilots were presumably trained, they should have been able to keep from colliding with eachother. It was probably the fault of one or both of them, or perhaps of whatever regulations govern the use of helicopters by the media in such situations.

Answer 8

In some states the law does allow that if people are in the act of committing a felony and a person dies as a result of their actions, they may be charged with their death. In this case I think it would be difficult to prove the deaths were a result of the criminals action. But it does not mean he will not be charged.

Answer 9

He should not get tried at all. The people in the helicopter were doing their job. Without the man running from the cops, they would not have a job.

If a man gets hit by a car on his way to work, he does not sue his company...right?

There will probably be a court battle over this, but the judge should throw it out due to the pilots own negligence.

This is not manslaughter. He had zero intention for the people to follow him and he did not physically attack the news reporters.

Answer 10

no - the criminal is not to blame whatsoever.

the pilots were working for a news company, they had no beneficial purpose in the first place, the two helicopters crashing is due to (very) bad piloting.

IMHO if anyone is to blame its the news companys for not training their pilots correctly, its not easy to crash into a helicopter if you know what you are doing.

criminal gets what hes charged for, familys should sue the news company.

Answer 11

i could understand if a police officer died trying to apprehend someone and the criminal was charged, or if someone was charged in the death of a firefighter in an arson case...but no, not in this instance...the news choppers were there to boost ratings for their respective stations and help generate $$$$ for the station owners, nothing more...it's tragic, to be sure...but the situation did not require the choppers to be there at all, much less (apparently) jockeying for a better shot...