Feds Investigating Woman Who Was Shot by Capitol Hill Police

No word on any investigation into police's use of force

Reason

The feds are investigating Miriam Carey, the woman apparently shot by Capitol Hill police after ramming into a barricade outside the White House before leading cops on a chase yesterday.

From the BBC:

An investigation is under way after a police chase through the heart of Washington DC ended with a woman driver shot dead and two officers injured.

Police and the FBI quickly sealed off and searched a house in Stamford, Connecticut, believed to be the woman's home, officials said.

The FBI is apparently investigating how long Carey was in DC and why she traveled there from Connecticut. Carey reportedly believed Barack Obama was stalking her, according to law enforcement, who found nothing dangerous in her apartment but seized her computer. Police say they 've visited her Connecticut home, but that it was not a "criminal" visit. Carey's mother says she was suffering from post-partem depression. Carey's one-year-old daughter was with her in the car during the incident. No word on whether the shooting of Carey will be investigated.

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Comments

[Rick O'Shay]

It's Obama's baby, he wasn't paying child support.

[Rasilio]

I jokingly suggested this yesterday but given that no one has even mentioned the kids father to this point I'm starting to wonder

[CE]

Time for a paternity test?

[RBS]

The FBI is apparently investigating how long Carey was in DC and why she traveled there from Connecticut. Carey reportedly believed Barack Obama was stalking her, according to law enforcement, who found nothing dangerous in her apartment but seized her computer. Police say they 've visited her Connecticut home, but that it was not a "criminal" visit. Carey's mother says she was suffering from post-partem depression. Carey's one-year-old daughter was with her in the car during the incident. No word on whether the shooting of Carey will be investigated.

IOW, we have no what happened but give us some time...

[RBS]

*idea

[Swiss Servator, Kneel to Zug!]

"No word on whether the shooting of Carey will be investigated."

No worries, Internal Affairs will give the green light some time down the road.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Policies will be reviewed.

[Sevo]

The passive voice will be invoked.

[sarcasmic]

Totality of the circumstances.

Feared for their lives.

Furtive movements.

Disobeyed lawful commands.

Officer safety.

[UnCivilServant]

You keep forgetting that procedures were folloed sarc. Don't forget that procedures were followed~!

[anon]

The President's life was at risk!

Well, the barricade was there specifically to stop people from driving up on the lawn, but STILL! Think of the damage that barricade suffered!

That's like assaulting an officer right there.

Justified.

[JWatts]

That's like assaulting an officer right there.

This is DC we are talking about. Assaulting a barricade in DC is like spitting on the Capitol's Cohortes Urbanae. Obviously, that's carries a sentence of death by firing squad.

[AlmightyJB]

Procedures were followed.

[UnCivilServant]

Nice timing.

[AlmightyJB]

Ha:)

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Postpartum psychosis, perhaps?

[Ice Nine]

Quite unlikely at one year PP.

[C. Anacreon]

Not necessarily, there could have been a postpartum depression that had psychotic features that grew worse untreated over the course of a year. However, given the behavior and the delusions, an acute manic episode seems more likely -- especially given the reported past history of depression. Very possible to be bipolar who only had depressive episodes to date, and this was the first manic break.

[HazelMeade]

On the plus side, it does not appear that anyone has accused her of being a Tea Party supporter yet.

[sarcasmic]

Of course not. Everyone knows the Tea Party is a bunch of white racists.

[DJF]

But obviously it was the Tea Party which prevented her from getting free treatment for depression. And if its not free from the taxpayer its not available.

Also the Tea Party is against Mass Transit and for deadly cars.

[DK]

Especially cars that can "ram" into barricades without sustaining damage.

[Paul.]

Had the Tea Party not shut down the government, there wouldn't be any barricades to ram!

[BakedPenguin]

It's important they get the necessary info to be able to convict her corpse.

[Dr. Frankenstien]

Shoot first, investigate later.

[DJF]

""""ramming into a barricade """

It must have been a very gentile ram since the front of the car does not appear to be very damaged.

[Tonio]

Well, it was uncircumsised.

[Tamfang]

It was a sacrificial ram.

[datcv]

Do we have proof that Barack Obama WASN'T stalking her?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Well if you take the absurd position that the President is ultimately responsible for everything his government does and then factor in the NSA...

[Tonio]

Niiiice.

[JWatts]

Well at that point, he's gone across the line from stalker to mom killing stalker.

[Tonio]

Yeah, the comments on WaPo are predictably derptastic.

Two themes I've seen:

1) We need more support for PP women and more investigation into this. (Moar free stuff from the government, more bullshit preventive care).

2) Even though unarmed, she was clearly a danger since she could have had a gun or bomb and drove at OVER 80!!1!

Also, predictably statist since DC is a company town.

[SugarFree]

Also, predictably statist since DC is a company town.

Imagine how much better off we'd be if they only paid them in scrip.

[Rasilio]

Given the quantity of dollars the Fed is printing daily how would that be any different from paying them in dollars?

[HazelMeade]

What the comments really should be are:

"This is the country we live in, where a woman with PP depression ends up dead because the capitol police don't know how to deal with mental illness in any way other than using bullets. "

It's a tragedy that this woman died. Surely they could have subdued her through some other means, intead of immediate assuming she was some sort of terrorist and shooting her.

[JW]

Yeah, the comments on WaPo are predictably derptastic

You get what you deserve, for sticking your head into that maelstrom of bootlicking.

[Robert]

more bullshit preventive care

No amount or kind of care will prevent bullshit.

[JW]

No word on whether the shooting of Carey will be investigated.

I think you already have your answer.

Besides, who are you to question unpaid heroes? HEROES, I TELLS YA!

[The Late P Brooks]

This woman was a deranged lunatic who led noble law enforcement officers (who were *donating* their time and services for the good of the nation, btw) on a high speed chase through crowds of innocent toddlers and elderly service veterans in a desperate attempt to mass murder untold numbers of public servants.

[Swiss Servator, Kneel to Zug!]

Hey, how did you get your hands on the Capital Police's press release already?!

[Ted Levy]

Heads up, Ed. It's "post-partUm"

[Paul.]

The feds are investigating Miriam Carey, the woman apparently shot by Capitol Hill police after ramming into a barricade outside the White House before leading cops on a chase yesterday.

Barricade around the white house. There's a shutdown joke in here somewhere.

[Paul.]

Carey was in DC and why she traveled there from Connecticut. Carey reportedly believed Barack Obama was stalking her, according to law enforcement, who found nothing dangerous in her apartment but seized her computer.

We're all being stalked by the Obama Administration.

[The Late P Brooks]

No word on whether the shooting of Carey will be investigated.

After an extensive independent review of the events of that day, it has been concluded that all involved personnel behaved professionally and in accordance with existing policies.

Furthermore, this panel would like to offer our heartfelt gratitude to these terrific pros who put their lives on the line to preserve order and maintain safety for our nation's most important citizens.

[Bardas Phocas]

Praetorian Guard unpaid - Women and Minorities hit hardest!

[Aresen]

Torn on this one.

Hindsight says this was a massive over-reaction, but they did not know anything about her.* The WH to Capitol building corridor has to be target "A" for any real terrorist, so the cops kinda had to assume the worst. I'm not going to call anyone out on this one.

*(Side question: What happened to those super-duper NSA computers that could have pulled up everything including her dental records from the license plate in the 3 seconds it took her to back up from the WH barricades?)

[sarcasmic]

I'm not torn at all. They had her boxed in. She was no longer a threat. Then they murdered her because she wouldn't do as she was told.

[Jordan]

Indeed. No way in hell a car is going to get anywhere near the Emperor's Palace with the security setup they have. This was a straight up execution.

[Mad Scientist]

Absolutely. If she had been a terrorist with a car bomb she would have had a dead man switch. Shooting her guaranteed a detonation. But they had no illusions she was a terrorist, so why not execute her?

[sarcasmic]

My guess is that the information they had at the time was that shots had been fired and an officer was down. So they executed her for it. Totality of the circumstances and all of that.
Never mind that all shots had been fired by officers, and the one that was down was because of his own stupidity by driving into a barrier.

[Paul.]

I'm no expert on defending against car bombs, but in the litany of car bomb attacks, does killing the driver stop the bomb from going off? Or is the driver's only job to get the car bomb into position?

[tarran]

Sort of...

Usually the driver doesn't have a dead man switch but a trigger. Often an observer also has a trigger (in case the driver chickens out at the last moment or is incapacitated).

Shooting a driver in that case can prevent the bomb from being maneuvered to where it would maximize the damage it causes. So instead of your checkpoint being obliterated, it only gets lightly singed.

Incidentally, there's a persistent rumor that the Israelis used to use a jamming system to prematurely set off car bombs for just this reason when they occupied Lebanon. On several occasion the system blew up bombs that were assembled and waiting in parked cars for use in a future operation.

[JWatts]

I could be a little on the fence at firing at her while she's maneuvering around in the car. However, at the end the car was stuck and stopped. She was unarmed and there was another passenger in the back seat. And depending on which report you read, she either got out and attempted to run or was still in the car, when they gunned her down.

There was no weapon and there hasn't even been a report that anyone thought they saw a weapon. Furthermore, the car was immobilized. This, in my mind, was excessive use of force.

[sarcasmic]

It was a straight up execution. At the time they believed shots had been fired by her. So in their minds she had attempted to kill one of them. There was nothing that she could have done to save herself. They decided they were going to kill her a half hour ago.

[Anomalous]

We need background checks for people who want to purchase motor vehicles.

[Seamus]

And an outright ban on assault vehicles. (How can you tell what vehicles should be banned? Because of scary cosmetic features. Like black paint and tinted glass. Look, no one *needs* a black Infiniti sedan.)

[DJF]

Video shows that the cop car that was totaled was self inflicted

http://youtu.be/MCu80iDid_Q

[sarcasmic]

Don't let your eyes deceive you. Public servants cannot lie. They're like George Washington and stuff.

[Lord Humungus]

holy derp!

[Root Boy]

Cops are pro's - only they are allowed to drive fast

[Loki]

Carey reportedly believed Barack Obama was stalking her

"It's like, everytime I turn on a TV, there he is, talking again. No matter what I do, no matter where I go, I just can't get away from him. It's almost like he's following me around"

[DJF]

His eyes follow me and undress me!

[Jordan]

This just proves that we need to ban AR-15s!

/Piers Moron

[AlmightyJB]

Just for women with newborns.

[anon]

Obviously this means the TSA needs to be expanded to monitor traffic. Metal detectors before boarding your vehicle, planned routes, etc.

[Eduard van Haalen]

I hear she wanted to die so the cleveland browns could etc.