Brickbat: The Human Shield
Police in Victoria, Australia, stopped several automobiles and ordered them to fill all the lanes on the road. At first, the motorists thought it was a routine traffic check, but they quickly realized they police were using their vehicles, which they were still in, as a roadblock to stop s driver who was fleeing from them. It worked. The fleeing driver stopped but only after slamming into the cars.
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This is what comes of having that warm fuzzy feeling of belonging when the government owns you. I am told I should be ok with belonging to the government, with being owned.
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"Thanks for your cooperation."
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"ironically, the driver was fleeing an earlier roadblock attempt to stop a known litterer, and charged with failure to obey a police officer's commands"
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They couldn't use police cars - a cop might get hurt.
Who is in charge of the Dunphy signal again?
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The cops did what had to be done. If anyone was killed because the police used them as roadblocks, well, it was a necessary sacrifice to maintain the power of the state over all our lives. Oh bless our wonderful and mighty governments. They know what's best for us little folk.
/statist dumbfuckery.
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You didn't need to go all the way to Australia, Charles. Houston police did a similar thing to motorists in 2010. That time, the crash ended up causing brain damage to the two hapless guys stuck in the roadblock. They sued for $50 million, and given the 5th Circuit shot down their opponents' attempts to appeal from the District Court judgment, i'm guessing they won something.
It was disgusting when the police did it then, and it's disgusting now.
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This must have been what Hayek was talking about when he wrote "The Road To Serfdom".