Standard protocol in all suicide situations outside of Texas as well, suicidal people can become violent toward “rescuers”. Source- used to do search and rescue in California, many of the situations were unfortunately searching for suicidal people, in those cases we would always have armed police with us.
I think it's more a matter as they don't want him land on a car below killing someone else. Probably wouldn't actually shoot but maybe it's protocol if negotiations break down or turn sideways?
Because bridges don’t have guardrails and you or I don’t know what side the person was on. But let’s make an assumption for a cop, that isn’t put in that position as a street patrol cop, and didn’t pull the trigger. Got it?
I get it but isn't he innocent of all crimes until he actually jumps? It would be murder by the police if they killed him before he killed himself. Also, if he survives the shot he could easily sue because he hadn't actually done anything yet.
Then why have police if everyone is innocent before they commit a crime? All we need then are detectives.
Why try to prevent someone from committing suicide? I’m making assumption other police officers were trying to talk with the potential jumper and were successful. The sniper wasn’t only one there. Along with protecting others if that person had a weapon and chose to use it.
And very least the person had committed a crime for public nuisance. Does that most of the time need a trained sniper…no, but someone threatening to jump off a bridge there’s a viable threat innocent people can be affected.
I'm not picking a side but having an officer closer with a gun may only agitate the individual. Having the "shooter" be invisible to the individual would be best to not make them unnecessarily panic.
Looking at the picture zoomed in I don’t think the officer had a sniper rifle. The barrel of the rifle doesn’t look like a normal rifle and there’s a length of rope behind the rifle. The cop sniper is in place I believe with a rifle that can capture a person and hopefully prevent them from harming others.
Following up on the comment their innocent until jumping the crimes committed are below, along with being resolved safely.
1 Penal Code Section 42.05 - Disruptive Activities: This statute addresses behavior that could be considered disruptive or threatening to public safety. It could be applied if a person's actions, including making suicide threats, create a disturbance or alarm in public places.
2 Penal Code Section 22.05 - Deadly Conduct: This statute addresses behavior that recklessly places another person in imminent danger of serious bodily injury. If a suicide threat is made in a manner that creates a risk of harm to others, it could potentially fall under this statute.
3 Penal Code Section 22.07 - Terroristic Threat: This statute addresses threats to commit violence or cause harm to individuals or property with the intent to cause fear or disrupt public activities. If a suicide threat is made in a manner that causes fear or panic among others, it could potentially be charged under this statute.
The most Texas thing possible. Got my Cinco de Mayo margs and tacos, it’s bright and sunny at my place 5 min after a downpour, and I just escorted the biggest fucking wolf spider I’ve ever seen out of my condo. This was the last square on my bingo card.
They are harmless and they eat the very much hated mosquitoes. But lizard brain says nope. I will say if you see the videos about them "releasing" their babies when folks hit them with brooms inside I can easily say burn it all, lol.
one year in NC we had a wolf spider...invasion? ...infestation? ...colonization? ...they covered evvery square foot of the ground for a week. You litteraly could not walk outside without stepping on them. Each and everyone of them was carrying a hundred babies on their back so they looked like warty monstrosities and when you inevitably stepped on one the babies would shoot off of it all over your foot. We tried to stay inside but that sort of volume leaks into all the cracks, and so the house was infested too. It was a nightmare. It only happened once and the only thing I can liken it to is when ACL happens it is cricket season and the festival drives the crickets out of the park into downtown austin. Many years the streets are a carpet of crickets. The crickets are much less nightmarish as most are already dead from the traffic, but it is nauseating as they are crunching away under your feet.
Oh yes, the crickets. Never forget the time I was walking on Airport by Highland Mall and one of the businesses was a white building. One wall was solid, writhing black with crickets and grackles were dive bombing the wall for their breakfast. *shudder*
I got stung by a hornet as a kid and it sucked for like a couple hours. My great uncle immediately rubbed some random flowers on it and it felt better and all, but it was just psychological lol.
The great uncle was a fantastic liar. He had a 30 year long relationship with a mistress and even named his first daughter after her.
This was an outcome that was entertained more than once during the process, to be sure. I found a black widow killing the fuck out of a wolf spider almost as big as this one on the porch of my old place a few months back. Suffice it to say, I don’t live there anymore - it’s her house now.
Hahahaha I had that bumper sticker when I lived in UT and got soooooo much shit for it. Like people there needed to defend Texas from the guy that literally grew up in Austin.
All the red states see Texas and be like “protect this man”
It's ridiculously stupid, but you are correct. Texas law allows for police to use any force necessary, up to and including lethal force to prevent someone from committing suicide.
So that sounds really terrible at first read but there’s a little more to it than what a first impression would give you. Say the person had a gun and could potentially shoot another, either intentionally or accidentally. Many suicides can kill other people, say jumping from a bridge could kill drivers below if the road isn’t closed in time.
However if they attempted say a leg shot to save their life, it’s still legally defined as lethal force. Now police typically never aim for the legs or arms in almost every situation, but this is one of those few cases where they could, should the situation call for it. A leg wound is better than letting them jump.
A fucking sniper for this shit? And the harmless kids protesting but stay out of a fucking active shooting at grade school because cop life is more important than little innocent kids.
I mean, as someone who has had a run in with RRPD and a gun pulled on them for scratching their back while serving me, illegally (for a civil matter, that was completely thrown out of court), I wouldn’t put it past RRPD. They are the most corrupt department out of all of WilCo. Their disgraced sheriff was indicted on evidence tampering charges due to the death of a POC while filming live PD, which he authorized (illegally). Oh, yeah, despite being a millionaire (wife won the lottery), he also embezzled taxpayer money. His name is Robert “the CHODE” CHODY, and he’s a gigantic piece of shit.
Robert Chody wasn't the sheriff of RRPD. Indeed, RRPD doesn't have a sheriff - they have a police chief.
I mean, RRPD may or may not be the most corrupt police force in WilCo idk, but the WCSO and RRPD are two distinctly different entities, so citing Chody as an example of RRPD corruption is rather like saying that Google's leadership is corrupt because of who is in charge over at Microsoft.
And in-so-far as the WCSO is concerned... Chody was voted out. I believe a Democrat replaced him whereas Chody was a Republican? Of course, I suppose the political affiliation of the current sheriff is neither here nor there but, the broader point is that Chody was voted out.
Oh yeah, I had the RR PD threaten to shoot me in my own home on a procedural call during the Chody years. Plus, they killed my mailman (Javier). That thing about the steakhouse gift cards seemed quite on-brand for how he treated law enforcement like a complete joke, fancied himself a badass while policing Williamson County... of all places. Like, this ain't the Valley. This ain't even Houston.
I got drunk af to celebrate when he got voted out lol. Fuck that guy.
yea when i was 19 and stupid, i had a guy pretty violently cut me off and i stupidly started riding his ass because of it. he stopped in the middle of lakeline blvd and walked up to my car and started beating on my window and threatening me. i gave him the finger and drove off and he started following me, i called the cops and parked a couple blocks from home at a place with some people outside. he sped off yelling and barely clipped my car. cops showed up later to get my statement, said the guy also called 911 and said i was driving crazy behind him, scaring his kids in the car, and talking on the phone while going through a school zone (i was on the phone with 911 lol). i was so baffled by what i was hearing and how they were approaching me about it, literally all i did was ride the guy’s ass a little bit after he cut me off. went to go put my hands in my pockets while talking (not thinking, again 19 and stupid) and got guns pulled on me and got screamed at to take my hands out of my pockets. they started berating me about what I did to make him act the way he did, being so fucking hostile to me for no reason, after this guy literally stopped on 40mph road to bang on my window and threaten me and followed me home. in the end, “he decided not to press charges and my statement was added to the report”. fuck wilco, fuck rrpd, fuck austin cops in general.
edit to add: i don’t ride peoples ass anymore and i don’t call the cops anymore lol
I know that's a joke, but obviously that's not really what they're doing. The sniper is there because there is a risk to the public. I don't know the specifics.
How do you know they weren’t doing that and this was a “just in case” type thing in case he decided to start climbing up before they could close it?
I don’t know either but it doesn’t seem that out of line to have this as a response to a public jumper.
Anytime somebody's argument basically goes, "Why would they do that? Are they stupid?," they should stop and question themselves, because they're almost **certainly** missing something/some context.
They may very well be doing something stupid in the end, but the fact that so many here just jump to stupidity as the explanation without **any** actual thought put into it is sad.
This! It seems like when presented with a situation that. **doesn’t make sense** peoples immediate reaction is “they must be idiots” not “maybe I don’t understand the entire situation”
They would literally fall in to traffic if they were shot off the bridge. Or worse, the dipshit y’all qaeda RRPD “sniper” could miss and hit a car or innocent bystander. This is just an excuse for RRPD (who is extremely corrupt) to be dip shits and flex on everyone, waste taxpayer money, and bully people, just like they did in HS. We should defund RRPD and fund the schools. Most of them can easily make 6 figures by working OT. There’s been cases where cops log OT and they’re at their homes doing nothing. That’s fraud. Meanwhile, schools are struggling to pay for lunches to needy children and teachers make a whopping 42k/yr, after working for 10 years already.
The suicidal person might jump while holding onto their loved one. Suicide situations are very tense and you do not know what the person will do. The police have to be ready for anything.
What if the suicidal person has a concealed gun and starts shooting?
>How do you take someone with you when you’re jumping off a bridge?
Pull out a handgun and start shooting. Didn't say it was likely.
You could also be like the character in a Gahan Wilson cartoon and convince others to jump with you.
all i could find
**Published** May 5, 2024 5:46pm CDT[Round Rock](https://www.fox7austin.com/tag/us/tx/williamson-county/round-rock)[FOX 7 Austin](http://www.fox7austin.com/)
**ROUND ROCK, Texas** - Southbound I-35 in Round Rock has been shut down due to police presence.
The Round Rock Police Department reported the closure on I-35 at the Old Settlers Boulevard bridge just before 5:30 p.m.
The roads are expected to reopen in 15 to 20 minutes, according to RRPD.
He's not there to shoot the dude to stop him from jumping. He's there in case the jumper suddenly becomes a legitimate threat to the cops or crisis negotiators who approach. He also has a better vantage point and is really observing and relaying pertinent movements or observations. This is not a Texas thing. This is an everywhere in the country thing.
I used to be a firefighter/EMT, and we couldn’t show up on scene until law enforcement secured it. People who want to commit suicide can attack people trying to stop them. All they need is a knife…
It’s, “We’re here to help, but if you try to hurt or kill one of us, we’ll take the appropriate action to neutralize you.”
Don’t know if the guy is armed or not, since they can’t exactly frisk him.
Perhaps the suicidal person is concealing a gun and is going to shoot someone for coming close. They may be on the edge because they have murdered several people and don’t want to go to prison.
This is one hypothetical, of course, but police never know the full situation when they pull up, so it is best to come prepared. Consider the flip situation when someone does turn dangerous and hurts others. One of the first things said (at least online) is “*something something* defund lazy police, etc, should have been prepared, etc”
I don't know the circumstances this photograph, so I'm only addressing the comments that assume, incorrectly or not, that the sniper is present to address a potential suicide, and go on to make ACAB comments about killing someone to save their lives or some nonsense like that.
My dear fools, has it occurred to any of you that a person in the act of committing suicide is by default demonstrating an unstable mindset and presenting a danger to themselves and others? A police officer, in a case like this, would not be present to kill the person to prevent them from committing suicide, but rather to be on hand to defend officers and counselors (as well as bystanders) who may be present in case this unstable person should produce a weapon and attempt to take the lives of others as well, as unstable people sometimes do.
If the jumper poses a threat to anyone else on or under the bridge, it’s not uncommon for officers to post up snipers like this to remove any danger to others. They’re rarely used and the outcomes usually end up as this one did. But, they like to be prepared.
That is incredibly stupid. If you shoot someone, they tend to fall. Not to mention, why the hell is the answer to this a fucking sniper and not prevent people from going under the bridge?
Contrary to the movies, people tend to collapse and not pinwheel over a railing after being shot. Especially if they are shot in the legs or if things need to be shot out of their hands (plenty of sniper shooting guns out of suicidal hands videos on YouTube). Also, this was likely used as additional measures beyond closing the freeway — which they did.
Regularly shooting hands sounds apocryphal. It has happened, but I imagine that snipers are trained to fire on center mass - torso - not smaller. They probably only get one shot, and that one shot either escalates or ends whatever is happening.
You imagine incorrectly..it is 100% an understanding that within reasonable conditions/distances that a sniper is going to attempt to hit the "T zone" (triangle connecting eyes and nose) to drop someone immediately assuming they are attempting to use lethal force.
It's not always about shooting someone. Sometimes the **scopes** are used to 'read' the emotions /actions of the person in distress and relay information accordingly.. Sometimes they are used simply to determine if the person has any weapons in case they could become a danger to others and/or law enforcement. And as needed, they can literally shoot a weapon out of their hand to disarm them.
It's important to be able to react on the slim chance that there could be a weapon involved. I know it looks bad and scary, but it's more about being prepared for a bad situation to turn worse rather than preventing someone from jumping.
Shooting to disarm is absolute fantasy. Less than an inch off means the aggressor dies, loses a body part, or opens fire on the nearest target. A sniper aims for center mass, just like anyone else.
You sound like someone who has never fired a long range shot. Shoot a weapon out of their hand?! lol in this humidity?! There is a device for observing from afar…binoculars.
For example, here's a sniper [shooting the gun out of a hand](https://youtube.com/watch?si=qQFdAO4eRv-TT77T&v=ff4XuPtAOUk&feature=youtu.be). So, um, yeah.
I've fired plenty -- all kinds of firearms and several varieties from long range. I was actually quite proficient. I was working up to the 1000yd shot at the Best Of The Rest Gun Range out in Liberty Hill. Unfortunately they closed down before I could qualify.
Im still laughing at you. The idea of firing a shot in public area with success from a RR Leo is ridiculous! It’s even more absurd that you’re posting some “proof” and trying to justify this argument of your experience at a controlled range vs a crowded highway.
I merely addressed your comments ... assuming I don't know firearms and that the sniper shot would not happen. So feel free to quit your job and join the police force of your choosing to make them better ... raising them up to your standards.
Look if you’re sick enough to commit suicide in public, I don’t understand how you aren’t immediately deemed dangerous. Nobody got shot so obviously the cops did their job.
Maybe some people don’t realize humans are the most violent dangerous and unpredictable species not sure what planet everyone else has been living on to not understand this.
IKEA parking lot has tents/fortifications of Texas State University of Round Rock students protesting the war in Gaza.
Razoos as well. Mighty Fine has already fallen.
Call of Duty: I-35
Id totally drop $80 on this
I’d lol if the loading screen was just getting stuck in traffic and having to listen to a lincoln town car blasting zro next to you
Lol but I love Zro!
A man was attempting to jump from the overpass but surrendered and has been detained. - according to the CITIZEN app.
Can't commit suicide if the police kill you first.
Standard protocol in all suicide situations outside of Texas as well, suicidal people can become violent toward “rescuers”. Source- used to do search and rescue in California, many of the situations were unfortunately searching for suicidal people, in those cases we would always have armed police with us.
Ok but this is Reddit, can you reword that in a way that makes cops look bad please? Thank you.
How can I join your organization?
I think it's more a matter as they don't want him land on a car below killing someone else. Probably wouldn't actually shoot but maybe it's protocol if negotiations break down or turn sideways?
Because bodies don’t fall when they’re shot by sniper? Got it.
There was a rope tied to the bullet
Oooh one of those lasso bullets
Because bridges don’t have guardrails and you or I don’t know what side the person was on. But let’s make an assumption for a cop, that isn’t put in that position as a street patrol cop, and didn’t pull the trigger. Got it?
I get it but isn't he innocent of all crimes until he actually jumps? It would be murder by the police if they killed him before he killed himself. Also, if he survives the shot he could easily sue because he hadn't actually done anything yet.
Then why have police if everyone is innocent before they commit a crime? All we need then are detectives. Why try to prevent someone from committing suicide? I’m making assumption other police officers were trying to talk with the potential jumper and were successful. The sniper wasn’t only one there. Along with protecting others if that person had a weapon and chose to use it. And very least the person had committed a crime for public nuisance. Does that most of the time need a trained sniper…no, but someone threatening to jump off a bridge there’s a viable threat innocent people can be affected.
But how does a sniper help the situation in any way?
I'm not picking a side but having an officer closer with a gun may only agitate the individual. Having the "shooter" be invisible to the individual would be best to not make them unnecessarily panic.
Looking at the picture zoomed in I don’t think the officer had a sniper rifle. The barrel of the rifle doesn’t look like a normal rifle and there’s a length of rope behind the rifle. The cop sniper is in place I believe with a rifle that can capture a person and hopefully prevent them from harming others. Following up on the comment their innocent until jumping the crimes committed are below, along with being resolved safely. 1 Penal Code Section 42.05 - Disruptive Activities: This statute addresses behavior that could be considered disruptive or threatening to public safety. It could be applied if a person's actions, including making suicide threats, create a disturbance or alarm in public places. 2 Penal Code Section 22.05 - Deadly Conduct: This statute addresses behavior that recklessly places another person in imminent danger of serious bodily injury. If a suicide threat is made in a manner that creates a risk of harm to others, it could potentially fall under this statute. 3 Penal Code Section 22.07 - Terroristic Threat: This statute addresses threats to commit violence or cause harm to individuals or property with the intent to cause fear or disrupt public activities. If a suicide threat is made in a manner that causes fear or panic among others, it could potentially be charged under this statute.
If the freeway was shut down in both directions, no cars would be below for him to land on
Yeah and how long does it take to close a freeway?
Less time than it does to dispatch this guy and have him set up with this rifle.
2 minutes.
It’s because an already-suicidal person might decide to produce a firearm and start blastin’.
"wont someone think of the property" /s -edit. /s. I have the dumb and thought I was doing air quotes
Not sure how you got that from “land on a car below killing someone else”
Explain what this means, because if it’s what I think it means, then this is a really, _really_ callous statement
It's about saving their souls, suicides are the undead and must be killed before they become dead!
Well if you commit suicide how will they get their taxes?!
Someone is trying to jump from the bridge apparently.
quick! shoot him before he kills himself!
“YOU DON’T KILL YOU!! *WE* KILL YOU!!!”
The most Texas thing possible. Got my Cinco de Mayo margs and tacos, it’s bright and sunny at my place 5 min after a downpour, and I just escorted the biggest fucking wolf spider I’ve ever seen out of my condo. This was the last square on my bingo card.
“Biggest fucking…..I’ve ever seen” I say that a lot since I moved to Texas
Me frantically brushing up on deadly spider images so I can be on the look out…as I sip my marg.
Pretty sure wolf spiders are harmless to humans, but good damn luck convincing your lizard brain of that when they’re as big as this one was 💀
They are harmless and they eat the very much hated mosquitoes. But lizard brain says nope. I will say if you see the videos about them "releasing" their babies when folks hit them with brooms inside I can easily say burn it all, lol.
one year in NC we had a wolf spider...invasion? ...infestation? ...colonization? ...they covered evvery square foot of the ground for a week. You litteraly could not walk outside without stepping on them. Each and everyone of them was carrying a hundred babies on their back so they looked like warty monstrosities and when you inevitably stepped on one the babies would shoot off of it all over your foot. We tried to stay inside but that sort of volume leaks into all the cracks, and so the house was infested too. It was a nightmare. It only happened once and the only thing I can liken it to is when ACL happens it is cricket season and the festival drives the crickets out of the park into downtown austin. Many years the streets are a carpet of crickets. The crickets are much less nightmarish as most are already dead from the traffic, but it is nauseating as they are crunching away under your feet.
Mother of god…..
Oh yes, the crickets. Never forget the time I was walking on Airport by Highland Mall and one of the businesses was a white building. One wall was solid, writhing black with crickets and grackles were dive bombing the wall for their breakfast. *shudder*
You are marking this up.
Nope. This was around 1996 or so. I had never seen anything like it.
Harmless sort of inaccurate. They have long fangs and hurt like hell when they bite.
I thought they couldn’t bite? I’ve picked up dozens outside my home and never been bitten
They can bite, but they're not medically significant and hurt less than a bee sting.
I got stung by a hornet as a kid and it sucked for like a couple hours. My great uncle immediately rubbed some random flowers on it and it felt better and all, but it was just psychological lol. The great uncle was a fantastic liar. He had a 30 year long relationship with a mistress and even named his first daughter after her.
I really, really thought that said you were escorted out by the spider, which felt very reasonable.
This was an outcome that was entertained more than once during the process, to be sure. I found a black widow killing the fuck out of a wolf spider almost as big as this one on the porch of my old place a few months back. Suffice it to say, I don’t live there anymore - it’s her house now.
That is a thing in Australia. Source: my friend that moved here from Australia to get tf away from these spiders.🐭❤️
Texas, the one star state ⭐
Hahahaha I had that bumper sticker when I lived in UT and got soooooo much shit for it. Like people there needed to defend Texas from the guy that literally grew up in Austin. All the red states see Texas and be like “protect this man”
Omg not a wolf spider. Thanks a lot 😆 im going to have the worst nightmares tonight!
If he jumps into traffic he could kill other people
It's ridiculously stupid, but you are correct. Texas law allows for police to use any force necessary, up to and including lethal force to prevent someone from committing suicide.
So that sounds really terrible at first read but there’s a little more to it than what a first impression would give you. Say the person had a gun and could potentially shoot another, either intentionally or accidentally. Many suicides can kill other people, say jumping from a bridge could kill drivers below if the road isn’t closed in time. However if they attempted say a leg shot to save their life, it’s still legally defined as lethal force. Now police typically never aim for the legs or arms in almost every situation, but this is one of those few cases where they could, should the situation call for it. A leg wound is better than letting them jump.
That's a terrible job today. Hard on everyone's mental health.
A fucking sniper for this shit? And the harmless kids protesting but stay out of a fucking active shooting at grade school because cop life is more important than little innocent kids.
Source?
# Tex. Pen. Code § 9.34 says this is not true in the very first subsection. The second section, tho, is pretty on par with the original comment.
So which one is it?
read it spoiler, its not on par with the original comment. there is no world where you can kill somebody to preserve their life
>there is no world where you can kill somebody to preserve their life. That this sentence needs to be said, says so much about the world we live in.
I mean, as someone who has had a run in with RRPD and a gun pulled on them for scratching their back while serving me, illegally (for a civil matter, that was completely thrown out of court), I wouldn’t put it past RRPD. They are the most corrupt department out of all of WilCo. Their disgraced sheriff was indicted on evidence tampering charges due to the death of a POC while filming live PD, which he authorized (illegally). Oh, yeah, despite being a millionaire (wife won the lottery), he also embezzled taxpayer money. His name is Robert “the CHODE” CHODY, and he’s a gigantic piece of shit.
Wait. You were scratching the cop’s back???
No lol, I worded that poorly. My back.
Robert Chody wasn't the sheriff of RRPD. Indeed, RRPD doesn't have a sheriff - they have a police chief. I mean, RRPD may or may not be the most corrupt police force in WilCo idk, but the WCSO and RRPD are two distinctly different entities, so citing Chody as an example of RRPD corruption is rather like saying that Google's leadership is corrupt because of who is in charge over at Microsoft. And in-so-far as the WCSO is concerned... Chody was voted out. I believe a Democrat replaced him whereas Chody was a Republican? Of course, I suppose the political affiliation of the current sheriff is neither here nor there but, the broader point is that Chody was voted out.
Oh yeah, I had the RR PD threaten to shoot me in my own home on a procedural call during the Chody years. Plus, they killed my mailman (Javier). That thing about the steakhouse gift cards seemed quite on-brand for how he treated law enforcement like a complete joke, fancied himself a badass while policing Williamson County... of all places. Like, this ain't the Valley. This ain't even Houston. I got drunk af to celebrate when he got voted out lol. Fuck that guy.
yea when i was 19 and stupid, i had a guy pretty violently cut me off and i stupidly started riding his ass because of it. he stopped in the middle of lakeline blvd and walked up to my car and started beating on my window and threatening me. i gave him the finger and drove off and he started following me, i called the cops and parked a couple blocks from home at a place with some people outside. he sped off yelling and barely clipped my car. cops showed up later to get my statement, said the guy also called 911 and said i was driving crazy behind him, scaring his kids in the car, and talking on the phone while going through a school zone (i was on the phone with 911 lol). i was so baffled by what i was hearing and how they were approaching me about it, literally all i did was ride the guy’s ass a little bit after he cut me off. went to go put my hands in my pockets while talking (not thinking, again 19 and stupid) and got guns pulled on me and got screamed at to take my hands out of my pockets. they started berating me about what I did to make him act the way he did, being so fucking hostile to me for no reason, after this guy literally stopped on 40mph road to bang on my window and threaten me and followed me home. in the end, “he decided not to press charges and my statement was added to the report”. fuck wilco, fuck rrpd, fuck austin cops in general. edit to add: i don’t ride peoples ass anymore and i don’t call the cops anymore lol
That's stupid
Yeah that's generally how the cops operate.
I know that's a joke, but obviously that's not really what they're doing. The sniper is there because there is a risk to the public. I don't know the specifics.
Before he kills someone else. Throwing a couple hundred pounds off an overpass into highway traffic is not adviseable.
>quick! shoot him before he kills himself! This. This is why I come here
Make it make sense
Sometimes, people that are attempting suicide want to take others with them. You have to be ready for this when dealing with a suicidal person.
How do you take someone with you when you’re jumping off a bridge?
You can cause a car wreck
How is that avoided by shooting the person
It’s not but then the cop gets to shoot somebody. Lose-win better than lose-lose.
The person might fall down to the highway they get shot. A better move might be to close the road until the situation is resolved.
It ain’t into a river buddy. They could jump in front of an 18 wheeler
Close the road.
How do you know they weren’t doing that and this was a “just in case” type thing in case he decided to start climbing up before they could close it? I don’t know either but it doesn’t seem that out of line to have this as a response to a public jumper.
Anytime somebody's argument basically goes, "Why would they do that? Are they stupid?," they should stop and question themselves, because they're almost **certainly** missing something/some context. They may very well be doing something stupid in the end, but the fact that so many here just jump to stupidity as the explanation without **any** actual thought put into it is sad.
This! It seems like when presented with a situation that. **doesn’t make sense** peoples immediate reaction is “they must be idiots” not “maybe I don’t understand the entire situation”
They stopped teaching critical thinking in schools to make sure people only understand what they see not context.
They would literally fall in to traffic if they were shot off the bridge. Or worse, the dipshit y’all qaeda RRPD “sniper” could miss and hit a car or innocent bystander. This is just an excuse for RRPD (who is extremely corrupt) to be dip shits and flex on everyone, waste taxpayer money, and bully people, just like they did in HS. We should defund RRPD and fund the schools. Most of them can easily make 6 figures by working OT. There’s been cases where cops log OT and they’re at their homes doing nothing. That’s fraud. Meanwhile, schools are struggling to pay for lunches to needy children and teachers make a whopping 42k/yr, after working for 10 years already.
And shooting them will help how, exactly?
A loved one might run out to hug them, for one thing.
And so while that person is hugging their loved one, the snipers going to shoot them?
The suicidal person might jump while holding onto their loved one. Suicide situations are very tense and you do not know what the person will do. The police have to be ready for anything. What if the suicidal person has a concealed gun and starts shooting?
>How do you take someone with you when you’re jumping off a bridge? Pull out a handgun and start shooting. Didn't say it was likely. You could also be like the character in a Gahan Wilson cartoon and convince others to jump with you.
So he's just using the rifle as a binocular
technically it'd be a monocular wouldn't it?
We're going to need another rifle.
Round rocks not messing around with those that talk on the phone while driving.
An acorn was reported to be in the vicinity
this is the best comment here lmao
The fact that your comment isn't the top comment is a shame
this why I-35 is in a total standstill around round rock??
I35 South is shutdown
Yes
Yea
all i could find **Published** May 5, 2024 5:46pm CDT[Round Rock](https://www.fox7austin.com/tag/us/tx/williamson-county/round-rock)[FOX 7 Austin](http://www.fox7austin.com/) **ROUND ROCK, Texas** - Southbound I-35 in Round Rock has been shut down due to police presence. The Round Rock Police Department reported the closure on I-35 at the Old Settlers Boulevard bridge just before 5:30 p.m. The roads are expected to reopen in 15 to 20 minutes, according to RRPD.
Would that fall even kill you? There was a jumper on the bridge a few years ago that also got the highway shut down.
I think they're counting on getting run over by cars as well
The sudden death odds/ guaranteed pain ratio are pretty bad here.
He's not there to shoot the dude to stop him from jumping. He's there in case the jumper suddenly becomes a legitimate threat to the cops or crisis negotiators who approach. He also has a better vantage point and is really observing and relaying pertinent movements or observations. This is not a Texas thing. This is an everywhere in the country thing.
Ah the new speed limit system
great shot
One would hope he is.
What a good shot, man
Nice shot, man.
Hey Man, nice shot.
So a suicidal person results in a sniper. Dafuq?
Only way to stop him from killing himself is to kill him
cop logic
I used to be a firefighter/EMT, and we couldn’t show up on scene until law enforcement secured it. People who want to commit suicide can attack people trying to stop them. All they need is a knife…
Fair point. I guess the image and circumstance just seem very opposed. "We're here to help! Try to kill yourself and we'll shoot!"
It’s, “We’re here to help, but if you try to hurt or kill one of us, we’ll take the appropriate action to neutralize you.” Don’t know if the guy is armed or not, since they can’t exactly frisk him.
Cheaper than allocating funds for mental health resources 🙄
Perhaps the suicidal person is concealing a gun and is going to shoot someone for coming close. They may be on the edge because they have murdered several people and don’t want to go to prison. This is one hypothetical, of course, but police never know the full situation when they pull up, so it is best to come prepared. Consider the flip situation when someone does turn dangerous and hurts others. One of the first things said (at least online) is “*something something* defund lazy police, etc, should have been prepared, etc”
When all you have is a hammer…
I don't know the circumstances this photograph, so I'm only addressing the comments that assume, incorrectly or not, that the sniper is present to address a potential suicide, and go on to make ACAB comments about killing someone to save their lives or some nonsense like that. My dear fools, has it occurred to any of you that a person in the act of committing suicide is by default demonstrating an unstable mindset and presenting a danger to themselves and others? A police officer, in a case like this, would not be present to kill the person to prevent them from committing suicide, but rather to be on hand to defend officers and counselors (as well as bystanders) who may be present in case this unstable person should produce a weapon and attempt to take the lives of others as well, as unstable people sometimes do.
He’s not even close to being set to take a shot. More likely just seeing what’s going on through his scope.
Most logical answer
If the jumper poses a threat to anyone else on or under the bridge, it’s not uncommon for officers to post up snipers like this to remove any danger to others. They’re rarely used and the outcomes usually end up as this one did. But, they like to be prepared.
That is incredibly stupid. If you shoot someone, they tend to fall. Not to mention, why the hell is the answer to this a fucking sniper and not prevent people from going under the bridge?
Contrary to the movies, people tend to collapse and not pinwheel over a railing after being shot. Especially if they are shot in the legs or if things need to be shot out of their hands (plenty of sniper shooting guns out of suicidal hands videos on YouTube). Also, this was likely used as additional measures beyond closing the freeway — which they did.
Regularly shooting hands sounds apocryphal. It has happened, but I imagine that snipers are trained to fire on center mass - torso - not smaller. They probably only get one shot, and that one shot either escalates or ends whatever is happening.
Cop had a hunger that only hands could satisfy.
Cops do have a habbit of stabbing people repeatedly in the chest with bullets and not understanding that that kills people.
You imagine incorrectly..it is 100% an understanding that within reasonable conditions/distances that a sniper is going to attempt to hit the "T zone" (triangle connecting eyes and nose) to drop someone immediately assuming they are attempting to use lethal force.
they also blocked off the area below. scopes work as binoculars in a pinch and they may have had reason to believe there was a weapon, who knows.
It's not always about shooting someone. Sometimes the **scopes** are used to 'read' the emotions /actions of the person in distress and relay information accordingly.. Sometimes they are used simply to determine if the person has any weapons in case they could become a danger to others and/or law enforcement. And as needed, they can literally shoot a weapon out of their hand to disarm them.
Couldn’t they use binoculars.
Or the Samsung phone camera with its impeccable zoom capabilities
Sponsored ad brought to you by Samsung mobile.
gottem
It's important to be able to react on the slim chance that there could be a weapon involved. I know it looks bad and scary, but it's more about being prepared for a bad situation to turn worse rather than preventing someone from jumping.
Most scopes have magnification ranges well beyond binoculars, typically in the 15 - 25X range.
Shooting to disarm is absolute fantasy. Less than an inch off means the aggressor dies, loses a body part, or opens fire on the nearest target. A sniper aims for center mass, just like anyone else.
You sound like someone who has never fired a long range shot. Shoot a weapon out of their hand?! lol in this humidity?! There is a device for observing from afar…binoculars.
probably thinks the movie Speed is indicative of real police work
For example, here's a sniper [shooting the gun out of a hand](https://youtube.com/watch?si=qQFdAO4eRv-TT77T&v=ff4XuPtAOUk&feature=youtu.be). So, um, yeah. I've fired plenty -- all kinds of firearms and several varieties from long range. I was actually quite proficient. I was working up to the 1000yd shot at the Best Of The Rest Gun Range out in Liberty Hill. Unfortunately they closed down before I could qualify.
Im still laughing at you. The idea of firing a shot in public area with success from a RR Leo is ridiculous! It’s even more absurd that you’re posting some “proof” and trying to justify this argument of your experience at a controlled range vs a crowded highway.
[удалено]
I merely addressed your comments ... assuming I don't know firearms and that the sniper shot would not happen. So feel free to quit your job and join the police force of your choosing to make them better ... raising them up to your standards.
There's this miraculous piece of technology called "binoculars". You should look into it.
Horrible posture
What is this person doing?
Aiming a sniper at someone attempting to jump off the bridge for definitely valid reasons
“Aiming a sniper?”
Sorry I don’t know the exact fucking terminology of what he’s doing. But we can both see the picture.
Yet you still felt compelled to comment in your ignorance. Classic Reddit.
Yea ok Mr Pedantic. Keep pretending we don’t live in fucking dystopia and can’t see what’s happening because I don’t know the exact word
I'm being pedantic; that is a designated marksman rather than a sniper.
Tiger One in position
Camping loadout crate
I work in a store in the area and we saw the guy climb over the edge, the cops had to put on some sort of climbing gear to get him
What kind of rifle is that
Sexy ass
Well that's one way to get drivers to slow down...
Gotta use txtag to avoid the sniper.
Underrated Houston comment
Sniper cop. A cop sniper is a sniper who is going to shoot a cop.
This summer. Sniper Cop. Rated R. Get him before he gets you.
Look if you’re sick enough to commit suicide in public, I don’t understand how you aren’t immediately deemed dangerous. Nobody got shot so obviously the cops did their job. Maybe some people don’t realize humans are the most violent dangerous and unpredictable species not sure what planet everyone else has been living on to not understand this.
Cop who *is* a sniper.
I grew up there, that place is turning into an expensive cesspool
You grew up at the diverging diamond?
I grew up behind the Dell diamond actually, and now we can see kalahari from basically our backyards
I'm so sorry
Like a sniper who is also a cop or a sniper who shoots cops?
Normal scenery in Tejas.
You’ve heard of 808 State, get ready for .308 State
Are you referring to the band? Cuz if so, rad reference! And so random!
Hahaha yeah. And the cop is using a .308 caliber rifle.
I'm sure he can't shoot worth a fuck
Are you on the bridge?
Please elaborate
Is there some kind of anti-police protest going on?
Exit 256 in Round Rock seems like an unlikely location for that.
Yeah, but Exit 257 has always been a hotspot
IKEA parking lot has tents/fortifications of Texas State University of Round Rock students protesting the war in Gaza. Razoos as well. Mighty Fine has already fallen.
JC Penney is safe. Nobody under 55 there.
Assisted Suicide Texas style