Man seeks millions after being shot by police in game-related swatting incident • Hacker News Board

Re: Man seeks millions after being shot by police in game-related swatting incident

#21

Post by helterskelter » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 9:35 PM UTC

infinite_spin wrote: post #17

helterskelter wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIRC "To serve and protect" was originally from a movie. Cops don't have a duty to protect you, and there in fact many cases of a cop not intervening during a violent crime due to concerns for their own safety, even when the asailant only had a knife.

> "To Serve and Protect," is a phrase made famous by the Los Angeles Police Department and adopted, in various forms, by law enforcement agencies across the United States. https://www.policemag.com/articles/to-serve-and-protect-v2 > In February 1955, the Los Angeles Police Department, through the pages of the internally produced BEAT magazine, conducted a contest for a motto for the police academy. The conditions of…

Huh, yeah you're right. I swear I remember hearing about this on an NPR radio piece about how police really don't need to do anything to protect you.

Re: Man seeks millions after being shot by police in game-related swatting incident

#22

Post by WarmWash » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 9:35 PM UTC

getstowly wrote: post #2

I don't understand why more police agencies aren't being super careful with this stuff, especially if they're being sent to a house / location where no other crimes have been reported. It would be one thing if you have a call to a house that's had domestic violence calls, other shootings, etc. Instead, they're just getting a call and thinking, "Oh no! Danger!" and running in, guns blazing. I love the protection from…

There is something like 50 million police-public encounters annually. Stuff like this is exceedingly rare.

So while Pima PD should be held responsible, and those cops should face criminal charges, it's logically non-nonsensical for this to make you terrified of police (or the other 5-10 similar stories annually). I mean cars are genocidal military dictators by comparison.

The downstream effect of this is people doing incredibly rash and stupid things because they think the cops are just going to start blasting them during a traffic stop ("I need to shot them/run away because I am dead anyway").

Re: Man seeks millions after being shot by police in game-related swatting incident

#23

Post by kulahan » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 9:36 PM UTC

HiPhish wrote: post #20

efnx wrote: post #5

They need to get sued _hard_ and lose millions, as well as have cops put in jail before real change happens. I feel sorry for this kid but he's doing the right thing.

> kid The man is 24 years old.

Not done growing until 26. The law says you’re an adult at 18, but that’s not even a little true. 18 year olds are children.

Re: Man seeks millions after being shot by police in game-related swatting incident

#24

Post by kaikai » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 9:37 PM UTC

There needs to be insurance for police, just like there is for doctors. Once an individual cop has repeated judgements against them they won’t be insurable, instead of the current result of them moving to a different city.

Re: Man seeks millions after being shot by police in game-related swatting incident

#25

Post by kulahan » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 9:38 PM UTC

keeganpoppen wrote: post #12

whoa. feel bad for the people of tuscon, because they didn't do anything wrong, but holy shit this case looks absolutely awful for the city and i hope they lose. big.

Don’t feel bad for them. It’s not something to feel bad about. We pay taxes specifically for instances including when something goes wrong.

Feel mad if this is a pattern and the citizens don’t do anything about it.

Re: Man seeks millions after being shot by police in game-related swatting incident

#26

Post by mzhaase » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 9:40 PM UTC

kaikai wrote: post #24

There needs to be insurance for police, just like there is for doctors. Once an individual cop has repeated judgements against them they won’t be insurable, instead of the current result of them moving to a different city.

How about firing them and sending them to jail?

Re: Man seeks millions after being shot by police in game-related swatting incident

#27

Post by AngryData » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 9:41 PM UTC

getstowly wrote: post #2

I don't understand why more police agencies aren't being super careful with this stuff, especially if they're being sent to a house / location where no other crimes have been reported. It would be one thing if you have a call to a house that's had domestic violence calls, other shootings, etc. Instead, they're just getting a call and thinking, "Oh no! Danger!" and running in, guns blazing. I love the protection from…

Why would they? What downside do they face? Cops get paid bonuses for raiding houses, they get bonuses for seizing money and valuable goods, they get bonuses for charging people with crimes. While they face almost zero consequences for abusing and extorting people, can lie with impunity, and often even get away with straight up cold blooded murder. Corruption within their organization is almost completely ignored and they hire people based on how sociopathic and unempathetic they are and enforce those traits in "training" even more because harsh draconian enforcement brings in the largest amount of money for cops and courts.

Unless you live in a community where the median income is $200K+, the primary funding for cops is through charging people with the easy crimes that they can't afford lawyers to fight, often drugs because they have massively inflated fines and fees. And the next best source of funding they have is special grants and programs which are often doles out based on how "dangerous" an area is, and killing "criminals" makes an area seem more dangerous and deserving of special funds and recognition and fancy armaments and killing toys.

Re: Man seeks millions after being shot by police in game-related swatting incident

#28

Post by utternerd » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 9:41 PM UTC

It explicitly said in the article that he pulled out a gun. He shouldn't have been swatted, obviously. That said, if you pull out a gun when police are responding to what they believe is an active shooter, the chances of you being shot are extremely high.

Additionally consider what would have happened if this had been an active shooting and they simply disregarded the phone call.

Re: Man seeks millions after being shot by police in game-related swatting incident

#29

Post by bartread » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 9:43 PM UTC

mzhaase wrote: post #26

kaikai wrote: post #24

There needs to be insurance for police, just like there is for doctors. Once an individual cop has repeated judgements against them they won’t be insurable, instead of the current result of them moving to a different city.

How about firing them and sending them to jail?

I like your way better. I like your way a lot better.

A: It’s actual justice, and

B: Otherwise it just becomes another way for insurance companies to make money - in this case by charging swingeing fees that will come out of public coffers.

Re: Man seeks millions after being shot by police in game-related swatting incident

#30

Post by autoexec » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 9:44 PM UTC

kaikai wrote: post #24

There needs to be insurance for police, just like there is for doctors. Once an individual cop has repeated judgements against them they won’t be insurable, instead of the current result of them moving to a different city.

There should be a national license that can be revoked making officers ineligible to hold any position in law enforcement anywhere in the country.