Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), last seen trying to undermine state medical marijuana laws, seems to think that police should be allowed to shoot fleeing drug suspects:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Border Patrol agents should be allowed to shoot at fleeing drug traffickers, a Republican senator suggested Tuesday.

The patrol's deadly force rules were questioned at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing concerning the conviction of two agents who shot a fleeing, unarmed drug trafficker and covered it up.

"Why is it wrong to shoot the [trafficker] after he's been told to stop?" asked Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma.

Johnny Sutton, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas, said the Supreme Court has ruled that using deadly force in that way is illegal. Agents also may not know if the fleeing person is a trafficker, he said. [CNN]

Um, yeah. The reason you don’t shoot people for running away is because they might not be worthy of getting shot.

These people could turn out to be innocent like Esequiel Hernandez, Jr., a goat herder who was shot from behind and killed by marines who thought he was a drug-trafficker.