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Comment by icebraining | Hacker News Reader

Moral fault? Possibly, but minor. But I certainly don't think it should be a legal fault - at most, a fine for wasting the police's time.

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Wasting the police's time is calling them to arrest the kid next door for stealing an apple from your tree.

Calling the police for a large armed response for a fake domestic violence situation is on a whole other level. IIRC, domestic violence calls are among the most dangerous that the police face, so I guess it wouldn't be a huge leap to think they would be on edge in those circumstances.

I'm sorry, wait, what? Swatting should be at most a fine? I hope I misread that.

Nope, you didn't.

This should be the legal equivalent of involuntary manslaughter. I certainly hope that's how it is prosecuted.

I agree with that - the cops should definitively be prosecuted under that charge.

I honestly don't know how to respond to your level of moral apathy towards the person who initiated a series of events that could predictably, and indeed did, lead to the completely unnecessary death of an innocent person and traumatization of a family and a police force and a city.

The police definitely share some blame, but swatting is absolutely abhorrent. It is not a victimless crime, it is not a casual prank, it is unacceptable, and your indifference is incomprehensible.

You forget that in any normal - I repeat, NORMAL - country, police would not have killed an innocent person no matter what.

I get sick when I think that one phone call and a random address can get INNOCENT HUMAN BEINGS killed. Is this the American idea of being the greatest nation on earth?

If swatting deserves more than a fine, then you're living in a deeply fucked up society and should probably focus on fixing that first.

What you're suggesting would sound utterly ridiculous to someone in Europe.

People who make hoax bomb calls in the UK get prison sentences.

12 week sentence, suspended for 18 months. http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales- news/bomb-hoax-caller-tells-judge-13811047

18 week sentence, suspended: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-42255427

12 month sentence (not suspended, I think) http://www.legalcheek.com/2015/02/breaking-news-nazi-bomb-ho...

2 years for a combined bomb hoax and blackmail: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/sep/29/g4s-employe...

Swatting is clearly harmful intend that goes way beyond wasting police resources.

Calling what they did "swatting" is already a perversion. They made a phone call. Deploying a SWAT team is not, and can not be their decision.

Knowing that the situation could very easily escalate to a lethal outcome and using that knowledge in order to attempt to achieve that outcome is not a moral fault?

What's your evidence that they had the intention of achieving a lethal outcome?

That's for the court to determine. Practically speaking though, it's hard to imagine any other reason for doing what he did.

You can't be serious. I hope the swatter spends several years in jail for this.

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