Long story short: Atlanta police officer inadvertently runs over pedestrian, killing him. Family up in arms, accuses officer of speeding. Caveat: pedestrian was jaywalking when it occurred.
What we have here is a scenario where nobody wins. Pedestrian obviously loses, because he’s now dead. Family loses, because they can point their fingers all the way, but a police officer isn’t going to get more than a slap on the wrist because he ran over a guy that was breaking the law, regardless of how innocuous jaywalking seems. And frankly, the police officer himself is going to lose, because accidental or not, he’s got blood on his hands, and has to live with it for the rest of his life.
But the fact is, I’m most definitely pro-police in this debate. Jaywalking might seem harmless, and I’m not going to pretend like I don’t capitalize on a deserted road when I have them to cross, but on that same token, I’d be on the side of the driver that ran me over if I were run over while I was jaywalking. It’s still illegal and it’s still done at your own risk, with nobody but yourself to blame if you get hit while doing it.