Airsoft in the local news not so good this time.....

[Elvis]

Now my question is if one of these kids was shot and killed who would the family have sued? The teacher, the cops, or the student holding the camera?

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=57305

[Cheeze_IZ_G00d]

No one was shot and killed. Actually, I was in their criminology class. Quite frankly, the teacher had nothing to do with it. He basically told us to re-enact some sort of crime. However, they were stupid in that they brandished their weapons in a parking garage. Although they were only using a
Glock, not the M4 pictured. Unfortunately, the news reporter has taken a bunch of facts out of context and blown it way out of proportion. Were they stupid, absolutely. Was it necessary that the media got involved, no way.

[Doc Hollywood]

Now my question is if one of these kids was shot and killed who would the family have sued? The teacher, the cops, or the student holding the camera?

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=57305

I, and unfortunately, do personal injury law, and can answer the question.  The parents woudl have sued EVERYONE, the cops, the city, the school, the teacher, and anyone else they could drag into it.  Then comes the shakedown... playing the insurance companies to see if there is an easy settlement without having to actually litigate and prove the case.  Therein lies the problem....

Anyone can sue anyone for any reason - silly or otherwise.  That a lawsuit is filed doesn't mean you get your day in court.  You have to sue for a legally recognized cause of action to make it past first base in a lawsuit, and here, the case would be dismissed pretty early I think.  Negligence would be the tort, and to prevail the parents would have to prove that someone's conduct fell below the standard of care, and as a direct result the kid died.  That just didn't happen.  The teacher warned the kids to not do anything illegal, and has no duty to supervise the activity off school property - Teacher and school off the hook.  The cops did their job and followed the standards and policies, even if they had fired, they could have done so based on the appearance of the scene.  They have no duty to stop and ask whether the bad guys have toy guns or real guns.  Bang! Cops anc city off the hook.  The real kick in the nuts is that the kids could have informed the police what they were doing and if they had done so there would have been no incident.  By failing to take simple steps for their own protection they endangered their own lives.  So the only ones responsible for the assumed death (yes, I know it didn't go down like that!) are the kids themselves.

On a side note, if one kids had been shot, the others would have been charged, and likely convicted, of at least negligent homicide.  

Fukkin lawyers anyway!!!

[RangerBob]

I'll have to see if my wife can dig it up, but in Florida there apparently was a kid at a school waving an airsoft gun around or some such nonsense...And the cops shot and killed him.

I'll try to find a copy or see if she remembers what news source she read it from.

In any instance, it's silly to blame the guns or the cops if something bad were to happen.  People complain if cops don't shoot soon enough and some bystander is hurt or killed and they complain as much or more so if they shoot early and the only "victim" is the one doing wrong.  The person to blame for the trouble is the individual acting in such a jack ass manner.  
A cop should be able to sue the kids family for the mental stress of knowing he killed a teenager who he didn't have to...Parents should whip their kids a little more.

[-MAD- SARGE]

An airsoft gun is a toy i guess but it holds the same responsibilities of a real weapon.  We all should know this, if it looks real you will treat it as the real thing.  So, never brandish an airsoft gun anywhere than the AO, unless you want to trade plastic for lead.  Just stating the facts for those readers.

[KOBO]

I have to question the class as well, the whole idea of re enacting a crime unsupervised can be dangerous, like what just happened. Yeah I know you can do it in a responsible educational way, but I am just saying that it can open the door for trouble like this.

[gdaqb]

I'll have to see if my wife can dig it up, but in Florida there apparently was a kid at a school waving an airsoft gun around or some such nonsense...And the cops shot and killed him.

I'll try to find a copy or see if she remembers what news source she read it from.

Right here: a video article from cnn http://www.cnn.com/video/us/2006/01/13/ ... clude.html

[Cheeze_IZ_G00d]

I have to question the class as well, the whole idea of re enacting a crime unsupervised can be dangerous, like what just happened. Yeah I know you can do it in a responsible educational way, but I am just saying that it can open the door for trouble like this.

No, no, no, no, I was in the same class. My group and I created a video very safely, with no incident. The teacher has no way to supervise everyone. What they did wrong was not calling police, or neighbors to clue them in on what they were doing. There is no way you can fault the teacher for this. Quite frankly, the media has blown this thing so far out of proportion it is unreal. For instance, the M4 pictured in the paper was not even in the video.

[-MAD- SARGE]

Unfortunately the media will almost always blow up/twist a story to make for a better read or they get their facts wrong.  I too have experienced how the media works at times. But like you said, the problem still lies with the students who decided that waving a gun around in a public area was a good idea.