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It is, in fact, possible to run people over without deliberately trying to, and thus being an imminent threat regardless of intentions.
That is not a fact, it's just your interpretation of the events, and a pretty dubious one at that. The police can't read minds, and even for us, with all the videos after the fact can't say for sure what she was trying to do.
They don't. If they were going through an involuntary spasm that would result in them pulling the trigger, you would be justified in shooing no matter what they intended. And you keep ignoring the fact that in the real world we can't read each other's minds, so the amount of justified scenarios is even higher.
In general, yes. But given that she was in the process of turning away from him in order to drive away, it's very unlikely she would hit him unless she had done it deliberately.
The fact that you can come up with a scenario in which there would still be a threat even without the intent to do harm doesn't prove that intentions don't matter. Her intentions determine the likelihood of her hitting him with her car. She wasn't going through a involuntary spasm. She was in control of the car.
By the way, I think this example is illlustrative as almost a reductio ad absurdum. I think most people would find the ideat that, had she had an involuntary spasm, he would have been justified in shooting her, to be ridiculous. The argument is the same, as you rightly point out. And you're being consistent if you think both would be justified. But it strikes me as a totally absurd conclusion. I can't imagine that a police officer would ever shoot someone in this situation, and I think the fact that your argument justifies shooting people who have involutarily lost control of their vehicles shows how weak this self-defence claim is.
Countered by the fact that she did, in fact, hit him, and by the fact that the car was delayed by the wheels spinning on ice.
That's quite literally what that means. Conversely, having murderous thoughts does not justify shooting, if someone is unable to act on them. Intentions are irrelevant.
The trajectory of her car is what it is regardless of her intentions. Many drivers miscalculate what their car will do. You are also still ignoring the fact that he has no way of knowing her intentions.
I think you're wrong, and the people who would think that are simply refusing to out themselves in the position of the cop for ideological reasons. All the cop sees is a car driving at him, he has no way of knowing whether it's because of a spasm or deliberate action with the intention to do harm. He has to react to the material facts available to him from his perspective, not guesses about the state of mind of the suspect.
I have no idea how this follows from anything you said.
How do you know that?
You don't seem to grok the concept of probabilistic beliefs. Every little thing about the situation informs his beliefs about her intentions. He doesn't have absolute certainty about anything and that lack of certainty doesn't mean that the things about which he is uncertain are irrelevant.
We don't live in a world where cops are killing people who have lost control of their cars for medical reasons and I don't think many people who find that acceptable. The reason is that when the person getting shot is seen as innocent, people instinctively look for alternative solutions to preventing accidents than just killing the driver.
No, he does have to guess about her state of mind. He has to make his decision based on the totality of the evidence, even if it is uncertain. Guessing people's state of mind is a big part of police work. It's a skill he's supposed to have.
You seem to be arguing that a police officer standing in front of a car whose driver is having an involuntary spasm, and consequently driving towards him, is justified in shooting the driver.
You can see him getting pushed back through the force of the car in one of the videos. He also suffered from internal bleeding as a result.
I grok it, I just don't think the idea is particularly useful in the situation. Many suspects don't telegraph their bad intentions, and as a result, doing the kind of analysis you describe is just an easy way to get yourself killed when doing police work.
Because most of those people don't happen to lose control of their car when police are nearby, and when the car is posing obvious danger to them or others.
No, he doesn't. It's literally irrelevant whether the driver is coming at him with murderous intent, or with nothing but love and all the warm fuzzies in the universe, he can die either way, and has a right to protect himself in either scenario.
Yes, but that does not imply the self-defense case is weaker.
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