Are Police Safe? NYPD Told To Open Fire On Vehicles Used In ‘Ramming Attacks’

The New York Police Department told its officers in a new memo that they are allowed to open fire on vehicles to prevent a “vehicle ramming attack,” referencing to the terror attack in Nice, France, where a cargo truck crashed into a Bastille Day celebration last July killing 86 people and leaving more than 200 injured.

“A ‘vehicle ramming attack’ is the type of extraordinary event that this clause was intended to address. The objectively reasonable use of deadly physical force to terminate a mass casualty terrorist event would be legally justified and within department guidelines,” a directive sent out Monday to the New York Post.

The memo clarified a patrol-guide regulation that said police should only draw out their weapon at or from a moving vehicle when “deadly physical force is being used against the member of service or another person.”

The message said vehicle attacks on crowds have “emerged as a frequent and alarming worldwide trend. … inflicting maximum carnage. These events have generated significant media attention.” The memo particularly targeted the attacks that happened over the last year, which might have prompted the new policy.

It touched base on the ramming attacks that took place in Berlin, Germany, last December where 12 people were killed and 48 others were injured at a Christmas market; Israel, where four soldiers were killed leaving 17 others injured when a truck slammed into them early January; and on the campus of Ohio State University last November where a student stabbed people with a butcher knife, which sent 11 people to the hospital.

Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Associa­tion, said he stands behind the new change, which could prevent possible attacks on pedestrians in the near future.

"The change in policy is essential to the safety of all New Yorkers and to the men and women in the NYPD who will respond to incidents where vehicles are being used to cause mass casualties in acts of terrorism,” he said. “I’m happy the Commissioner amended the policy.”