Night Owl Shooting

Death when it comes to the young is always woefully tragic. There's a deep sense of loss, not only for the life but also for the sweet promise of what was yet to come.

So I can imagine the grief and shock of the parents of Aminul Rashid when he was gunned down by the police during a six-kilometre car chase on the wee hours of a Monday morning. Seems the 15-year-old boy allegedly sped off after being stopped by policemen and ran several red lights. An outraged nation has immediately called for an inquiry into his sudden death with a few hysterical voices calling out for an immediate youth curfew.

My utmost condolences to his grieving family.


Coming in guns-ablazing!
A series of unfortunate events led to his untimely death but perhaps we're all pointing fingers at the wrong people. In our zeal to find immediate justice, we seem to have missed something. Negligence on the part of the police officer aside, I think the person who taught the boy how to drive should also share the blame in his unforeseen death. Certainly a rap on the knuckles if not a bullet to the head.

At the age of 15, the boy shouldn't have been allowed to drive in the first place so how did he get his hands on the wheel? According to reports, the car was taken without permission but surely some irresponsible, addle-pated fool must have taught him to how to shift gears at the least. He couldn't have picked up driving skills from playing Grand Theft Auto incessantly, could he?

What would have happened if he'd run over the police officer in chase? Should they only have stood by to be served as roadkill? From the numerous cases I've seen in the intensive care, no one actually recovers from blackened tyre marks on the torso. Emboldened by a lack of political will to stop them, mat rempits and illegal racers play cat-and-mouse with our frustrated boys in blue. Panicking and fleeing from questioning would easily be the equivalent of waving a red flag in front of our trigger-happy officers.

Or even worse, what if the unlicensed kid had actually run over an innocent bystander? Another juvenile rebel out past midnight ( on a Sunday night?! ) for the jollies?

Impulsive trigger-happy cops shouldn't be allowed on our streets but that doesn't mean we should allow pre-teen kids joyriding on the highways as well. Caretakers and parents, take heed. Don't leave the parental policing only to the boys in blue.