Blame the cops first

Four people are dead in the Feltonville section of Philadelphia, three of them are children. The first place to look for blame in this tragedy in Philadelphia? The police, of course. Inky:

Fleeing police after allegedly stealing the motorcycle at gunpoint, Cradock plowed his car into Smith's stoop, killing the three children - ages 7, 6 and 11 months - and critically injuring Smith. Yesterday, relatives still reeling from the previous night's horrors learned that Smith, 22, had succumbed to her injuries, too.

(...)

With citizens and vehicle-safety advocates questioning whether a police pursuit preceded the tragedy, police officials hurried to quell such criticisms, saying that the incident never evolved into a pursuit. They even took the unusual step of playing police-radio communication before the crash to demonstrate that no pursuit had occurred. (See accompanying story, Next Page.)

"In this situation, it did not get to that point," Commissioner Charles Ramsey said. "He's [Cradock] the one who killed those people. No one else but him. It was reckless. Hopefully after this is over, we won't see him on the street anymore."

Still, Ramsey added, a pursuit would have been justified in this case. Departmental policy allows pursuit if an officer believes it will prevent someone's death or serious injury, or if it's necessary to nab someone who committed or tried to commit a violent felony or who possesses a weapon.

Road-safety advocates AAA issued two statements yesterday, raising pursuit concerns. In the first, it called for an inquiry into the police pursuit. But after police officials denied a pursuit had taken place, a spokeswoman amended the statement to: "Philadelphia Police say an officer was following the suspect, but not in 'hot pursuit.' Nonetheless, something went horribly wrong when the suspect crashed in a group of innocent bystanders - and many questions have yet to be answered."

Even though the police say there was no hot pursuit---and even though Ramsay says in this case, hot pursuit would have been justified--these "concerned citizens" still have "unanswered questions."

By all means, lets focus on the cops in this case. Even though the cops say there was no chase, even though there were no skid marks, lets not even entertain the utter lack of regard these two animals have for private property much less the lives of people in the neighborhood. Oh, and did I mention....

Though just 18 and 20, respectively, Donta Cradock and Ivan Rodriguez already had racked up 13 arrests between them. And though they were wanted on bench warrants, they had no plans to lie low.

And from NBC10:

Vanessa Cradock told NBC 10 that she called her son’s probation officer more than a month ago to take her son and put him back in a juvenile facility.

But, no one would come to get him, she said.

Cradock said her son, 18-year-old Dante has been in and out of juvenile facilities since he was 13 years old. He has a record for armed robbery and has stolen cars.

His parents said he came home from a Pittsburgh facility around Easter time for a visit, but refused to go back.

Cradock said she also raised Ivan Rodriguez, 20, the other suspect involved in the events leading up to the car crash. Rodriguez is her stepson.

I really don't have any unanswered questions.