As a follow-on from our last “bad stuff” note, this one comes from Des Moines IA. At about 8:15 on a Saturday night there was a hit and run, where the driver at fault fled (on foot) the scene. Two people from the other vehicle initiated a search for the at fault driver, and found him some 1.6 miles away (wow?). At this time the fleeing driver was with a 30-year-old male who was armed with a baseball bat. The bat wielding man raised the bat. When that happened, one of the searchers shot the bat wielding man out of fear. The shot man was taken to a hospital where he later died.
As of the time of the report, no charges have been filed.
I note a couple of questions out of this incident. First is that the pursuit team traveled over 1.6 miles from the accident scene to where the fleeing driver was found. Was this a protracted search by determined individuals? The second question is whether a strong flashlight in the eyes of the bat wielding man, at an appropriate stand-off distance, might have reduced the chance of tragedy?
Here is a map of the distance traveled according to the news report:
