• Madrigal@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    The officer concluded that Sacco “was experiencing an episode of road rage which caused her to actually and intentionally increase the speed of her vehicle and strike (the victim) against her will.”

    Police arrested Sacco on charges of leaving the scene of a crash involving injuries and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

    Why not attempted murder?

    • 474D@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      Because it would be the easiest way to lose the case. Attempted murder in the legal sense and common sense are two wildly different things

      • Brave Little Hitachi Wand@feddit.uk
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        5 days ago

        Regrettably accurate. It does often feel as if car murderers get off really easily in the US.

        If I was going to be an assassin, all I’d need was an average truck.

      • potatopotato@sh.itjust.works
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        5 days ago

        This always confuses me because if you’re being arrested and you so much as sneeze on the officer you’re gonna get charged with attempted murder of a peace officer.

        • tazeycrazy@feddit.uk
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          5 days ago

          It’s usually assault on a peace officer. They are laws written for law enforcement protection and sometimes apper to ignore self defence or resistance as a automatic response. So if a cop assaults you you can’t assault back.

        • cravl@slrpnk.net
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          4 days ago

          I would love to live in a society where police are genuinely and unironically referred to as peace officers. It would be a step in the right direction—the destination of course being a society where they need not exist, at least in their current form.

          Unpopular ^(or popular but unspoken) opinion: Despite what the ACAB crowd would proclaim, I believe there are plenty of officers out there who may deserve such a title already, for trying their best in spite of being painfully aware of the system’s shortcomings and the public’s perception thereof.

          • Fluke@feddit.uk
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            3 days ago

            There are not “plenty”. I will concede that there are, in theory, a few.

            Those that join the police force with such positive things in heart and mind either get ground down and quit, a burned out cynical husk of a person, or get corrupted.

            Very few have the diplomatic skills as well as the temerity to be able to stick it out. Those very few that can and do are working within a system that is at best so obsessed with measurable statistics there is no leeway for officer discretion, and at worst actively designed to incarcerate as many as possible.

            Which version of the system you get exposed to is mostly a matter of one’s skin colour and apparent wealth, which strongly suggests the number of “good ones” is so vanishingly small as to be statistically insignificant.

      • psx_crab@lemmy.zip
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        5 days ago

        I guess over there there isn’t a law particularly meant for addressing causing death by driving dangerously?

    • SippyCup@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      Because to get a warrant for an arrest the police have to pretty conclusively show something is true*. The prosecutor can always add charges before trial. This gives them time and an excuse to collect evidence without allowing the suspect to flee.

      *Unless that person is black.