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Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

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Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#41
post #33
post #29

I was about to lament how reckless the police were to be in a high-speed pursuit, but it's hard to fault them when this began with a fatal shooting of an officer at the beginning of the encounter. Just a really sad turn of events.

>there was a physical altercation between police and 26-year-old Gerardo Diego Ayala that ended with a fatal officer-involved shooting. That doesn't necessarily mean the officer was shot.

It was not. A man got out of the vehicle, the police shot him, and then the chase began.

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2013/05/santa_ana_pede...

He died of his injuries. His name was Gerardo Diego Ayala.

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#42
post #25

I just wanted to say two things here. One, this is an incredibly damaging tragedy. I truly wish the best for the community, for the Reisse and Oculus VR family. Secondly, my father has been an officer of the law for more than 25 years -- can we please not turn a thread which is being used to inform the community at large of a tragedy as a way to defame those who wish to do good in their community. I ask out of respec…

So because your father is a cop, you don't even want people to question the actions of the cops in the story? And anyway, so what? It sounds like the gang members were the ones out of control, not the police. If the police had struck Reisse that would be different, but they didn't. But then what if the police had done something reprehensible? Nothing should be said because we need to respect your good natured father?…

This site is about hacking and startups, not political ranting. There are other sites for that.

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#43
post #5

[deleted]

I usually don't feel anything when I hear of a innocent person dying on the news, but maybe because he's involved in tech, I too am very angry. Why does the police have to chase anyway? Why can't they just identify the car and silently follow it until it stops. Damn it.

yeah, why the police bothers trying arresting criminal... can't they stay in their office eating donuts ? ... They risk their lives to keep yours safe. And on the other side you have criminals. And you ask why police chase them and not why they ran away ??? Seriously ?

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This article isn't available in full online (well, without paying), but it's all about why in the LA area there are so many police chases: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/01/23/060123fa_fact_fr... I haven't read it since it came out in 2006, but suffice it to say that the Los Angeles area has vastly more police chases per capita than the rest of the United States, and therefore if something like this was going…

> That doesn't answer why the police chase, because obviously it's done far less elsewhere, though it does happen. From the article: > The L.A. freeways are its public stage, its Colosseum. Pursuits are L.A.'s ultimate reality show, I'm not some scholar on Los Angeles, but it really seems to be part of the culture there to watch car chases, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if there is positive feedback encouraging…

While that may play some role, I'd argue that LA being a massive sprawl has more to do with it. Simply identifying the car and "silently following it until it stops" may not be so easy, at least not without a helicopter.

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#47
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I usually don't feel anything when I hear of a innocent person dying on the news, but maybe because he's involved in tech, I too am very angry. Why does the police have to chase anyway? Why can't they just identify the car and silently follow it until it stops. Damn it.

Because it's more fun for them if they chase. Really, very rarely should it make sense for cops to endanger countless civilian lives to catch a criminal.

It very rarely does make sense for police to endanger bystanders with high-speed chases, which is why most departments heavily restrict them. Friends of mine whose parents are officers have always told me their parents were more or less forbidden from ever initiating pursuit.

You can search for "[name of city] police general order pursuit", or some variant thereof, to get the policy for your local district.

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#48
post #24

This is extremely sad, but it made me think of an important topic: contingency planning. Pretty much every organization I've worked for was missing a "key developer got hit by bus" plan for at least one major project.

If that key developer did get hit by a bus then:

1) A new key developer would be hired to maintain the project, and things would be a little rough for a couple months but the company would survive.

2) Every decent person would care more about the key developers life than the "major project".

This so called "bus factor" has always bugged me. Documentation is good, but talk of untimely death by bus is silly.

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#49
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I usually don't feel anything when I hear of a innocent person dying on the news, but maybe because he's involved in tech, I too am very angry. Why does the police have to chase anyway? Why can't they just identify the car and silently follow it until it stops. Damn it.

Because it's more fun for them if they chase. Really, very rarely should it make sense for cops to endanger countless civilian lives to catch a criminal.

Are you just guessing this is the reason, or do you have a link to an article you didn't include in your response?
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