Chase and shootout involving hijacked UPS truck in Florida lead to four deaths

[Bailey Guns]

I can't imagine a worse scenario, frankly, aside from something with a WMD of sorts. Speaking just in terms of "ordinary" violent crime this is about as bad as it gets regarding risk to hostage and innocents.

[Bailey Guns]

Does the hostage change the situation though?

Yeah, I think it does. Unfortunately, when the bad guys start shooting, that changes things, too. You have the bad guys controlling everything. All the cops can do is react. And sometimes it goes very badly.

[FoxtArt]

Pretty sure the SOP with a hostage isn't to unload every available magazine in the direction of suspects if they fire a shot upon officers.

Pretty sure it's to keep distance, negotiate, use SWT/CRT, and precision if termination of a perp is required.

But it's not like I'm a Florida officer. Maybe they practice full auto magazine dumps there at classic "no shoot" hostage targets and consider it a win if they have less than ten hits.

One question I have, is at the time, was everyone aware the driver was a hostage? It is possible to believe it's a hijacked truck (no driver)

[Irving]

With respect to the hostage, I was referring to the pursuit of the vehicle in general. The shooting doesn't seem like the best option.

[FoxtArt]

Good question what actual SOP is for that. I'm sure it's a bit different if it's e.g. a kidnapping-by-stranger call, but it might even be a seat of the pants thing. Has to be exceedingly rare to have kidnapping pursuits, esp if you don't count domestic bs.

[Duman]

Pretty sure the SOP with a hostage isn't to unload every available magazine in the direction of suspects if they fire a shot upon officers.

Looking at the locations of officers, I'm surprised they didn't shoot each other, especially the 5 in the lower left/center of the photo.

[Gman]

I think the lesson to any Florida UPS driver that's taken hostage in the future is to just roll out the door while the truck is in motion. The odds of survival may be better.