Brickbat: Tropa de Elite

Navy.mil

Video shows police firing weapons from a helicopter at a car they are pursuing through the streets of Rio de Janeiro. Officers say they were pursuing drug dealer Marcio "The Mathematician" Pereira. Pereira was found dead in another car the following day, so they appear to have gotten him. But the video shows that many of the rounds they fired also struck nearby buildings.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Stringfellow Hawke probably would have been just as indiscriminate if he had been up against drug dealers rather than just Soviets.

[PS]

Well lookie here, Chuckie finally got his link mojo.

[invisible furry hand]

I can't work out if "The Mathematician" is a bad-ass soubriquet, or just bad

[LTC(ret) John]

Bad-ass.

Math is hard.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Yeah, it's pretty bad-ass.

[Robert]

It means he's one of the people who count.

[Agammamon]

How about "El Contador"?

[sarcasmic]

It's only a matter of time before our government starts using helicopter gunships against us.

[mad libertarian guy]

You mean like they already have? In 1985.

In 1981, MOVE relocated to a row house at 6221 Osage Avenue in the Cobbs Creek area of West Philadelphia. Neighbors complained for months that MOVE members were broadcasting political messages by bullhorn at all hours and also about the health hazards created from piles of compost. On May 13, 1985, after the complaints as well as indictments of numerous MOVE members for crimes including parole violation, contempt of court, illegal possession of firearms, and making terrorist threats,[8] the police department attempted to clear the building and arrest the indicted MOVE members. This led to an armed standoff with police.[9] The police lobbed tear gas canisters at the building. MOVE members fired at the police, and the police returned fire with semiautomatic weapons.[10] A police helicopter then dropped two one-pound bombs made of Water gel explosive, a dynamite substitute, targeting a fortified, bunker-like cubicle on the roof of the house.[11]

The resulting fire ignited a massive blaze which eventually destroyed 65 houses nearby.[2][12][11] Eleven people, including John Africa, five other adults and five children, died in the resulting fire.[13] Romona Africa, one of the two survivors, claimed that police fired at those trying to escape the burning house, while the police stated that MOVE members had been firing at police.[14]

[Robert]

And during the fire, they kept from using the water cannons they'd previously trained on the roof.

[mr lizard]

Blue Thunder in Rio Revenge.

[Zakalwe]

The credits say "no super models were harmed in the making of this film," so at least we've got that.

[Suthenboy]

They have running gun battles in the streets of Rio all the time. I remember once there was a gun battle/pursuit of cops and bank robbers in the streets, I forget how many rounds fired, and they all ran out of bullets.

They stood across the street from each other cussing, screaming and throwing rocks and bricks at each other. Then the robbers ran off and got away. No cops or robbers were shot, but plenty of bystanders were.

[Agammamon]

*Many* rounds? Looks like almost all of them struck nearby buildings.

I guess Brazil is just trying to kill two birds with one stone - assasinate drug dealers *and* slum clearance at the same time.