Iowa cop kills 19-year-old because...

Lesson learned: smoking kills

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James Comstock refused to buy a pack of cigarettes for his 19-year-old son, Tyler, and now he’s planning his son’s funeral.

“He took off with my truck. I call the police, and they kill him,” James Comstock told The Des Moines Register on Tuesday. “It was over a damn pack of cigarettes. I wouldn’t buy him none.

“And I lose my son for that.”

Well, shit. How did this happen?

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Police began pursuing Tyler Comstock of Boone after his father reported the truck stolen.

Oh. A dangerous high speed chase of the "easily identifiable green-and-white lawn care truck" ensues...

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During the chase, an unidentified Ames police staffer twice suggested that police back off their pursuit, according to dispatch audio obtained by the Register through a third-party service.

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Ames Police Officer Adam McPherson pursued Comstock into the heart of ISU’s campus. During the chase, Comstock rammed McPherson’s car. The truck eventually stopped, but Comstock revved the engine and refused orders to turn it off.

McPherson fired six shots into the truck. Comstock died from two gunshot wounds, according to the Iowa state medical examiner’s office.

This reminds me of one of those stories the freshman philosophy professor would give us so that we'll spend the rest of the hour arguing over who was the most to blame for some tragedy and why.

I'd agree with the last part if one of the two parties hadn't shot the hell out of the other

Hawaiian Shirt wrote:

I'd agree with the last part if one of the two parties hadn't shot the hell out of the other

None of which would have happened had the idiot father not called the police on his son instead of solving the problem himself.

It also wouldn't have happened at the fucking idiot not ran from the police after stealing a truck. Obviously the string of police decisions leading the shooting could have been made better to prevent it (don't get out of your fucking squad car when the suspect's only weapon is a truck), but they shouldn't have ever had the opportunity to fuck up those decisions.

Also, I can't help but think nothing of value was lost. A 19 year old smoker who couldn't find five bucks for some smokes and will steal a truck over this is dead. It really seems like we got to remove a liability from the balance sheet.