I do sympathize with this fellow and his wife. http://calladus.blogspot.com/2008/02/fr ... -home.html

Must’ve been a pretty harrowing situation. I don’t doubt that his wife was probably pretty traumatized, and certainly she’s in no way to blame for what happened.

But based only on his account, it seems to me that the Fresno police deserve some praise here. A car thief fled into an apartment building. And instead of calling out the SWAT team, kicking down doors, or deploying concussion grenades, they simply surrounded the place, used an amplified intercom, and tried to coerce the suspect out without confrontation. They didn’t throw his wife to the ground, rough her up, or humiliate her. Once they realized she wasn’t a threat, they were apparently quite kind and polite to her. I’m not sure how they could have handled it any better.

I highlight a lot of bad police behavior on this site. But I do think it’s important to note that there are times when innocent people are going to traumatized through no fault of their own, and through no fault of the cops. In this case, it seems hard to cast blame on anyone other than the fleeing suspected car thief.