“Just Hitting Another Brick Wall”
Is The Prosecution Over-reaching?
Two TV News helicopters collided while filming a high speed police chase on live TV, killing all four people on board.
Both of the helicopters went down in a grassy park in central
TV viewers did not witness the crash since the cameras aboard the aircraft were pointed at the ground, but they saw video from one of the helicopters breakup and begin to spin before the station suddenly switched to the studio.
The crews aboard the two helicopters were covering a police pursuit of a work truck. Moments before the helicopters collided, the driver had jumped out of the nearly disabled vehicle and carjacked another truck. The suspect was later taken into custody by a SWAT team, after barricading himself inside a house.
Police identified the suspect as Christopher J. Jones, 23. He was booked into jail late on Friday night on two counts of vehicle theft, four counts of aggravated assault on a police officer and one count of resisting arrest with other charges expected to be filed later.
One of these other charges being contemplated is charging Jones with the deaths of the four news men.
Now, I am very much a law and order type of person, and I believe that those who have committed crimes, if found guilty should be punished, but I DO NOT believe that Jones should be charged in the death of the newsmen. They were doing their job. Jones had no control over them, nor did he know that they would be up there filming him.
From what I have been hearing so far, is that the newsmen/pilots weren’t paying attention to what they were doing, as they were all focused on what was happening on the ground, failing to notice that they were getting way to close to each other. It would be a stretch to somehow charge Jones with their deaths and it would be a travesty of justice.
Jones may not be a very nice person, as he had a prior arrest record, but there is no way that he should be held responsible for the deaths of the four newsmen. Nobody forced them to take that job, and it was their responsibility to pay attention to what they were doing.
It is getting totally out of hand, the way the TV stations feel that they all have to hurry up and get choppers in the air whenever there is a police chase, just for ratings. Why does there have to be three, four, five or more helicopters all flying around in close proximity to each other, when one or two “pool helicopters” would do? If anyone is to blame for the deaths of the four news men, it is themselves and the TV stations that employed them, NOT JONES.
What say you?
“Abouna” Gregori
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