New rules must restrict police shooting into cars

For the second time this year, a local police officer has fatally shot a teenager who defied orders to stop driving a car. Consider it the worst kind of reminder to police chiefs that their officers need better training in the use of force.

On Sept. 9, Palm Springs officer Douglas Rua shot 18-year-old Marc Ariot, who was suspected of trying to cash bad checks at a bank drive-through. The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office still is investigating, but a witness told deputies that officer Rua was not in the path of the car Mr. Ariot was driving when he began firing. According to the witness, the officer pulled out his gun after jumping out of the car's path. A bullet hole in the driver's side window -- as opposed to the windshield -- indicates that the officer was not in front of the car and at risk of being run over.

There are too many similarities to the Feb. 26 shooting death by then-Delray Beach officer Darren Cogoni of 16-year-old Jerrod Miller to ignore. Both victims were unarmed, teenage African-American males. Both officers were white males in their 20s with limited on-the-job experience. Witnesses in both incidents told investigators no one was in danger of being run over.

Arguably, if Palm Springs' use-of-force policy had been followed, the shooting would not have occurred. It says, in part: "Shots at moving vehicles or from moving police vehicles are generally ineffective and are not to be fired unless absolutely necessary in defense of life."

Police chiefs are correct to begin reviewing their policies and considering a uniform countywide guideline. The sheriff's revised policy could be used as a model. Effective Aug. 12, "firing a weapon at a moving vehicle is prohibited," the sheriff's policy states, unless the suspect is threatening "deadly force by means other than the vehicle" and "all other reasonable and available means of defense have been exhausted (including moving out of the path of the vehicle) and the safety of innocent persons would not be unduly jeopardized... " The policy also says deputies "threatened by an oncoming vehicle shall move out of its path instead of discharging a firearm at it or any of its occupants" and "shall not intentionally stand and/or step into the path of a vehicle, creating circumstances where the use of deadly force becomes necessary." Officer Rua had walked in front of the car while it was stopped at the drive-through window. He fired two shots in the busy shopping plaza, and a passenger -- later questioned by police and released -- was inside the vehicle.

The bad practice of shooting at a moving car warrants a good policy and even better training.