Police Chief Daniel Oates on Monday apologized to the innocent bystanders that got caught up in the search for the suspect. Oates also said the ends justify the means since the suspect was caught.
About 19 vehicles were stopped Saturday afternoon for about two hours.
Oates would not discuss the tracking technology used, but called it a “virtual certainty” that the suspect was among the 40 people stopped and handcuffed.
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Oates said because of the description of the suspect a lieutenant made the decision to stop everyone in the area. Oates called the stops lawful and necessary.
“The law is clear that investigative detentions are lawful for a reasonable period of time,” Oates said. “Reasonableness is determined by the facts and circumstances at issue, and the facts and circumstances were the suspect was in one of 19 cars.”
Oats said the police department has received about five complaints regarding the methods used, but none of them came from any of the 40 people who were detained.
Sorry about the above picture. It is the best that I could find to give you an understanding of what happened visually.
So was it excessive to pull over, point guns at, and handcuff 40 people in order to find a banker robber or was it a necessary police action?